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CNN Live At Daybreak
More Questions Arise About Background of FEMA's Embattled Director; Monetary Help is on Way to Victims of Hurricane Katrina
Aired September 09, 2005 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Friday, September 9.
More questions arise about the background of FEMA's embattled director. "Time" magazine is reporting Michael Brown's emergency management experience may not be all it claims to be.
Also, monetary help is on the way to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We'll take a look behind the numbers of that huge aid bill.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DESIREE DUFRENE, 911 DISPATCHER: They were giving us their next of kin. They were telling us, you know, call this, call my family. This is my mother, this is my father, this is my aunt or uncle and you need to tell them that I said good-bye.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And the cries for help when the storm surge hit and the agony of those who could not go to the rescue.
ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.
COSTELLO: And good morning to you.
We'll have more on the questions about Michael Brown in a moment. Also ahead, USS Comfort arrives off the coast of Mississippi. We'll talk to its captain about relief efforts from there.
And taking the fight to save New Orleans to the home front, literally.
But first, now in the news, more money for Katrina relief. President Bush signed a nearly $52 billion emergency aid bill let's late last night. When added to the funds approved earlier by Congress, it means more than $62 billion is now available for the disaster relief effort.
Democrats are demanding a 9/11-like independent commission that has free reign to investigate failures before and after Katrina hit. We'll have a live report from the White House at the bottom of this hour. The first lady, Laura Bush, is denouncing claims that race played a role in the government's slow response to the hurricane disaster. She calls the accusations disgusting and adds the fact that poor people were most vulnerable is a wake up call.
To the Forecast Center and Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Tease your NOAA Web site, because that has really great information for people.
MYERS: It sure does. It's www.noaa.gov, N-O-A-A.gov. And if you click on it and you go onto Katrina and go onto the images, there's 7,000 pictures, images, because they were taken from an airplane that flew all the way from Mobile all the way over to Lafayette. And you can really find so many places that were hard hit and some places that weren't. So if you're stranded in Chicago or Biloxi or wherever you are, you can actually maybe even click on and see some things that you couldn't see without that low level low jet.
COSTELLO: And you're going to actually physically show us at 6:45 Eastern time.
MYERS: In 40 minutes we'll do it right there.
COSTELLO: All right.
We'll be here.
Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: OK.
You bet.
COSTELLO: A series of complaints about FEMA's response to hurricane Katrina has put Director Michael Brown in the spotlight. And now there are more questions about his past.
"Time" magazine is reporting a glaring error in Brown's resume. FEMA's Web site says Brown was once an assistant city manager in Edmund, Oklahoma and in that job he had emergency services oversight. But in "Time's" reporting, city officials say Brown didn't manage anybody, he was more like an intern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROLINA MIRANDA, "TIME" MAGAZINE: In a 2001 press release from the White House, it lists Brown as having worked for -- as an assistant to the manager in the City of Edmund, Oklahoma from 1975 to 1978, "overseeing the emergency services division."
Now, what we found is that during that time period, he was not an assistant city manager, he was an assistant to the city manager, which is a purely administrative position, and did not have oversight over anybody or anything, or certainly not any city agencies in Edmund.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: FEMA is firing back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATALIE RULE, FEMA SPOKESWOMAN: Mr. Brown has always stated that he was an assistant to the city manager in Edmund, Oklahoma, where he did everything from assisting the city manager in contingency planning to overseeing fire and police negotiations, and certainly has never made any claim for it to be more than that, but has also picked up fantastic experience in that way that has helped him now in his leadership role at FEMA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Several people, including House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and the New Orleans "Times-Picayune" newspaper have called for Brown's removal.
We'll have more on other questions about Brown's past at the bottom of the hour.
And along that same line, today's "Washington Post" reports that five of the top eight FEMA managers have virtually no disaster experience. The newspaper account says Director Mike Brown and his top deputies are cronies of the Bush 2000 campaign. Quoting the "Post" article: "Inexperience in FEMA's top ranks is emerging as a key concern of local, state and federal leaders, as investigators begin to sift through what the government has admitted was a bungled response to hurricane Katrina."
Again, more at the bottom of the hour.
Now to the headlines in this morning's mission critical update.
The mandatory evacuation of New Orleans could start at any time. Police officers say they're just about done with the voluntary evacuations and are warning remaining residents that they will be back to get them.
An official in Jefferson Parish is blaming looting on FEMA's failure to act. Emergency management chief Walter May stresses he was told FEMA would be bringing aide 48 hours after the storm hit, but he says it took four days for FEMA to reach the parish.
The Red Cross says their relief efforts in New Orleans were put on hold by state officials. Their shipment of supplies arrived the Thursday after the storm, but officials say they were told they couldn't enter the city due to logistical problems.
New Orleans' mayor, Ray Nagin, took a trip outside his beleaguered city. He traveled to a Dallas, Texas shelter to meet personally with evacuees.
Vice President Dick Cheney made his first trip into New Orleans since the storm hit. Cheney also toured the damage in Gulfport, Mississippi. The vice president said there would be no talk of a tax increase in order to pay for the rescue and relief efforts.
Police in New Orleans say they're 80 percent finished with the final voluntary evacuations. That means the mandatory reallocations could start any time soon.
For more on that, I'm joined by CNN Radio's Jim Roope, who is in New Orleans this morning -- good morning, Jim.
JIM ROOPE, CNN RADIO: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Tell us about that.
ROOPE: Well, they are getting close to the forced or the gentle nudging of the evacuees who are a little bit more stubborn. The problem is with getting the ones out who want to go is that the floodwaters have been so high in so many areas, that those places have been non-accessible. And so now, as the floodwaters do recede and are being pumped out, they're able to get into these places they couldn't before. And they're working on 9/11 call sheets and calls for help that are, in many cases, 10 days old.
So they're working on the last 20 percent or so, getting the folks out who want or are willing to go. And then they'll go in there and gently force the ones who are still there, the stubborn ones, get them out.
COSTELLO: Yes. I'm looking at a picture on the cover of the "Washington Post" this morning and it certainly looks frightening. If we can get a shot of that right now. You can see a member of the National Guard -- actually, it looks like he has "police" on his t- shirt. And they're using battering rams to beat down the doors of some people to see if anyone is inside.
Are these mainly the tactics they're using? I know that the National Guard, well, of course, they're armed.
ROOPE: Well, yes. And I've got to tell you that a cop yesterday told me, an officer told me that there hasn't been one place they've gone that they haven't found somebody that wants to go. They are getting that resistance. They do have to break down the doors because a lot of people aren't answering the doors. If they knock on them or if they shout, people who don't want to go are staying back and not saying anything. They're really afraid if they're forced out they can't get back. And that's their biggest fear. That's the first fear.
Other ones are not really sure or they don't know because they haven't been communicated with for such a long time. They haven't had television. Their radios are now dead. The batteries are now dead so their radios haven't been working for several days. They don't know how toxic the floodwaters are. They don't know how contaminated the running water is, if they have running water. And once you tell them, they're glad they're gone.
So there's that two-pronged resistance. They don't want to go because they don't want to leave their homes, afraid they can't get back. They don't want to go because they really just don't know how bad things are. And when you tell them, they do want to go. I think most people will, once those mandatory evacuations are starting to be forced on people, I think there'll be less resistance because people are just giving up. They're just tired. They need to get out of there.
COSTELLO: We hope so.
Jim Roope from CNN Radio joining us live from New Orleans this morning.
We've all seen the horrible pictures of devastation along Mississippi's Gulf Coast, but now we're hearing more about what actually happened when hurricane Katrina crashed ashore.
CNN's Ted Rowlands has the story of what happened when hope ran out.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: Biloxi police and fire.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: Yes.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the hurricane came ashore, 911 dispatchers in Biloxi, Mississippi had been moved to the city's storm proof operations center. They were ready for a long night, but had no idea what they were about to go through.
DUFRENE: The calls kept getting worse and they kept getting more serious, with people actually starting to die and starting to drown in their own homes.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: Your house is underwater?
ROWLANDS: At the height of the storm, police and fire crews were pulled off the street. It was simply too dangerous for anybody to be out.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: Just get to the safest part of the house, sir.
ROWLANDS: Unable to send help, dispatchers tried to get people to save themselves.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: They need to get as high as they can, OK? But I mean they, you know, it's just -- right now we can't get out.
HEATHER GRAF, 911 DISPATCHER: And then you get the same people calling back over and over. And they keep saying the water is rising, the water is rising. Look, you need to do what you need to do to save your life.
Well, they were begging for their lives. They were saying you have to come get me out of my house. I have children. I'm elderly. You have to come get us, we're drowning.
ROWLANDS: At one point, a dispatcher had to explain to a caller that it was even too dangerous for police boats.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: We can't, ma'am. We were in a boat and the wind gusts and the waves got too much for our boat, to put our officers at danger. And we're taking addresses and as soon as it calms down a little bit, we're going to try and get back out. We have about 60 homes that people have stayed in.
ROWLANDS: Dispatchers say the most difficult calls came from children.
GRAF: You know, there was a couple of children who called and you can hear the mom in the background just screaming.
Are you only 12?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Yes, I am.
GRAF: Where is your parents?
ROWLANDS: It go so bad, according to dispatchers, that some people knew they were going to die and asked that the dispatchers contact their loved ones.
DUFRENE: They were giving us their next of kin. They were telling us, you know, call this, call my family. This is my mother, this is my father, this is my aunt or uncle. You need to tell them that I said good-bye.
GRAF: There was no help we could send them, you know? We didn't have anything. That's the toughest thing that we have to live with and you feel like it's your fault. What could you have done?
DUFRENE: Knowing that you're the last person they talked to and that -- I'm sorry. And I hope their families understand that we tried and that we did the best we could.
ROWLANDS: Ted Rowlands, CNN, Biloxi, Mississippi.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Some comfort is coming to the Gulf Coast. The U.S. Navy hospital ship that was deployed to ground zero after the 9/11 attacks has been called into action with hurricane Katrina recovery. The Comfort is due to arrive in Mississippi in the next hour.
And joining us to talk about that is Captain Thomas Allingham, the ship's commanding officer.
Good morning, Captain.
CAPT. THOMAS ALLINGHAM, USNS COMFORT: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Where exactly are you?
ALLINGHAM: We're off the coast of Louisiana, southern Mississippi right now, in the Gulf of Mexico.
COSTELLO: Do you know exactly where you're heading?
ALLINGHAM: No, ma'am, we don't right now. We have not received final word as to our destination.
COSTELLO: Is that unusual?
ALLINGHAM: Not really, because they're still making the final assessment as to where we can do the most good for the most individuals, whatever the mission that they give us.
COSTELLO: I know you're coming from Baltimore.
When did you get the call to go and how long have you been waiting to go?
ALLINGHAM: Well, we officially were tasked with leaving Baltimore last Wednesday or -- yes, a week ago Wednesday.
COSTELLO: So why...
ALLINGHAM: And we got underway on Friday. And we've been sailing to here since Friday.
COSTELLO: Why isn't it clear right now where you're going to dock?
ALLINGHAM: There is a number of factors involved with the ship, not only where we can do the most good for the most individuals, but also physically where the ship can pull in. Some ports are not able to take the ship because of its size and the amount of depth that's required under the water for the ship to pull in and because navigation aids have been moved around by the storm and the bottom may have shifted, there's some issues with which ports we can actually pull into, as well.
COSTELLO: Do you know what your mission will be once you arrive?
ALLINGHAM: We anticipate the mission would be, of course, providing whatever medical care is required in the area that we're in, as well as potentially housing rescue workers, recovery workers, such as we did in the 9/11 tragedy in New York City.
COSTELLO: Yes, I know this is, in essence, a hospital ship, and unfortunately during 9/11 there weren't may survivors, so your ship was not used for that purpose. Here, most of the people have been gotten out of the City of New Orleans and away from the damaged areas in Mississippi, so it's probably more likely you're going to be sort of a home base for rescue workers who aren't able to take a shower, aren't able to go anyplace where there is air conditioning, etc.
ALLINGHAM: Yes, ma'am, that's pretty likely. That's -- it's a place where people can sleep, can get hot meals, take showers. So if used for that mission, it's very, very effective in that way.
COSTELLO: OK. Well, we'll get back to you to find out where exactly where you're going to dock and what exactly you're going to do.
Captain Thomas Allingham, thank you for joining us this morning.
Still to come, more help on the way. We'll go behind the numbers of that multi-billion dollar aid package just signed by the president. Where are your tax dollars going?
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had to basically sleep with one eye open at all times because we had an environment there that was ripe for chaos. We had 25,000 people living in subhuman conditions. It was hot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It was a scene of super stress for the New Orleans police officers in the Superdome. More details of what went on inside, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time now for a little "Business Buzz."
The effects of hurricane Katrina on the nation's job market coming in. The Labor Department says 10,000 workers who lost their jobs because of Katrina have already filed for unemployment benefits. The Department anticipates higher numbers of claims in the weeks ahead.
President Bush has signed a huge new spending bill dedicating nearly $52 billion to relief and recovery efforts for hurricane Katrina.
For a closer look at exactly where all of that tax money is going, J.J. Ramberg joins us to break it down -- good morning.
J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
You know, I just want to say one thing about those unemployment benefits before I get to this. Sort of the cruel irony of that whole thing and the reason they think the numbers are going to go up is because people couldn't even get to the offices because so many claims offices have closed.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes.
RAMBERG: But anyhow, let's get to the bottom, because these numbers are so huge, right? $52 billion. That's hard to get your hands around. So we just want to break it down and explain where this money is going to, because costs are continuing to grow here. It's the most expensive disaster in U.S. history and no doubt those numbers are going to go up.
So out of the $52 billion aid package, $23.3 billion will go to housing and grants. Now, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Defense Department, the Health Department and Transportation Departments, they will get $11 billion. $7.7 billion got set aside for reimbursing state and local governments. And then $1.6 billion will go to temporary housing. And then finally $4.6 billion is designated for FEMA logistics. That's search and rescue, emergency supplies and other things that FEMA needs to do.
Most of this money right now is under FEMA's control. Obviously, there is a lot of criticism of FEMA right now, so we'll see if that stays that way or not.
But already, you remember last week, there was that $10 billion, the more than $10 billion money...
COSTELLO: Right. So we're up to like $62 billion.
RAMBERG: $62 billion. And we just burned through that $10 billion in a week. They said that the burn rate right now is $2 billion a day. They expect that to be reduced to about half a billion dollars a day. But still, nobody expects this to be the end of it.
COSTELLO: I have heard it could go up to $100 billion.
RAMBERG: Or more, by some people's estimates. The problem right now is that New Orleans is still underwater and so once that drains, there are going to be all kinds of new assessments of how much it's going to cost to rebuild that city.
COSTELLO: Yes, to rebuild an entire city. I mean not just the downtown area, but the surrounding areas in Mississippi. Parts of that were completely destroyed. They have to rebuild those homes. It's just going to be astoundingly expensive. And then you put that together with what we're spending on the war in Iraq, and it's -- I mean you have to wonder where we're getting all this money.
RAMBERG: It's a big bill. Yes. I mean we'll see what happens to taxes. We'll see what happens to the deficit.
COSTELLO: Well, Dick Cheney came out and said there would be no raising of taxes to pay for this.
RAMBERG: Let's see.
COSTELLO: We will see. RAMBERG: Yes.
COSTELLO: The latest gas -- that's why I had my computer up, because I have the latest average price for a regular gallon of gas.
RAMBERG: Yes.
COSTELLO: And I always like to tell our viewers every day that. $3.01. That's down $0.012 from the previous day. Gas is nearly $0.04 below the record reported on Labor Day, where it stood at $3.05.
RAMBERG: Right. That's good news.
COSTELLO: That is good news. A bit of good news this morning.
RAMBERG: Got something.
COSTELLO: Thanks, J.J.
The hot seat gets a bit hotter for the FEMA director, Michael Brown. More details for you coming up.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): From his driveway, Bennelli (ph) dispatches patrol cars and sends officers to new assignments. What used to be the sex crimes unit now handles a little bit of everything.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: Taking care of their own. Drew Griffin introduces you to the pair of New Orleans' cops whose new precinct has all the comforts of home.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.
COSTELLO: And good morning to you.
Thank you for waking up with us.
Chad will have your Friday forecast in just a moment.
Also coming up this half hour, the FEMA director, Michael Brown, in the spotlight again. This time it's about his resume.
And a little relief for evacuees at the Astrodome. We'll have a live report from Houston for you.
But first, now in the news, President Bush has signed a new $52 billion aid package for hurricane Katrina relief. Congress approved more than $10 billion in emergency spending last week, but that money has pretty much run out already.
The Pentagon also has taken a big hit from Katrina. It's estimated that repairs from hurricane damage will cost nearly a billion dollars. That's to fix bases in Louisiana and Mississippi.
The head of NASA says there is damage to two NASA facilities on the Gulf Coast. That means the shuttle lunch scheduled for next March may be up in the air.
To the Forecast Center and Chad -- good morning.
MYERS: And good morning, Carol.
That's where they take those big fuel tanks and they refurbish them. And that was right in Bay St. Louis, which was right in the heart of the eye there. So, yes, they're going to take $1 billion to fix those facilities.
COSTELLO: Wow!
MYERS: That's a lot of money.
(WEATHER REPORT)
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