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FEMA Changes: Brown Is Out, Debit Card Plan Halted; New Orleans Body Count Expectations Lowered as Floodwaters Recede; Tropical Storm Ophelia Could Hit Carolinas as Hurricane; Celebrity Telethons for Katrina Victims Hit Airwaves

Aired September 10, 2005 - 7:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: I'm Soledad O'Brien. Katrina claims her first political casualty. After days of criticism FEMA Director Michael Brown is relieved of hurricane disaster duty. This, as FEMA stops giving out those $2,000 debit cards, too, which evacuees have been lining up for. So what now for the hundreds of thousands who need help? We have a live report ahead.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: I'm Miles O'Brien. In New Orleans flood waters slowly receding and authorities now say predictions of up to 10,000 deaths may be greatly exaggerated.

S. O'BRIEN: And keeping a close eye on an unpredictable Ophelia. She's a tropical storm now, but expected to strengthen as it heads toward the Carolina coast. You're watching a special weekend edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you. And good morning to you. Welcome back.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Nice to get a shower yesterday.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I bet. Good work out there.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

Now, let's get right to the story this morning. You're watching our special weekend edition, obviously. And we're going to start with "Mission Critical" news.

The death toll in New Orleans might be far less than some officials feared. The city's Homeland Security chief says initial recovery efforts have turned up fewer bodies than they thought. The mayor had estimated about 10,000 dead.

Another glimmer of hope, the Amy Corps of Engineers now says it might take as little as one month to drain the water out of New Orleans. They originally predicted it would take about 80 days.

And FEMA says it is discontinuing it's debit card program for Katrina victims. FEMA officials say the program required too much staff. The agency is now switching to bank deposits -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen is now overseeing relief efforts around the Gulf Coast. In a surprise move Friday FEMA Director Michael Brown was pulled from the disaster zone, ordered back to Washington. Elaine Quijano, live now at the White House.

Elaine, what's the latest from there?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Good morning to you.

Well, Michael Brown had of course been under intense scrutiny, intense criticism for his handling of Hurricane Katrina, and the aftermath. Now, of course, FEMA has a new point man on the ground, as you mentioned. He is Vice Admiral Thad Allen, the chief of staff of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Now, Allen, is widely regarded as a no-nonsense person, someone who can lead the massive recovery effort. The change was announced yesterday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

As for Brown, in an interview with the Associated Press, he said, quote, "I'm going to go home, and walk my dog, and hug my wife, and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff Margarita and a full night's sleep and then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims."

Now Brown had become a lightening rod for criticism, for perceived missteps by the federal government. But senior White House officials here are insisting that the decision to pull Brown was initiated not by the president but by Secretary Michael Chertoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO (voice over): Michael Brown's fate was practically sealed Wednesday morning. In a private meeting at the White House, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the president he wanted to remove Brown from the front lines of the disaster.

"I trust you has head of Homeland Security," the president told Chertoff. "And I support the decisions that you make."

With that, Chertoff flew back to the Gulf Coast. Thursday, as he toured the region with the vice president, he told Mr. Cheney what he wanted to do. That day the vice president got an earful about Brown from state and local officials, including some Republicans. They were worried, not just about Brown's leadership in the immediate aftermath, but about his ability to lead current and future efforts.

That night, Chertoff called White House Chief of Staff Andy Card to say he was pulling Brown from the disaster zone and sending him back to Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: So, will Brown ultimately be fired? That is certainly not this administration's style. But President Bush made clear to Secretary Chertoff he holds him responsible. And the president's green light to remove Brown from the disaster zone is a sign that so far the president does not see the results as acceptable -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Elaine, the president is headed back there again tomorrow. What's on the agenda?

QUIJANO: Well, certainly the president very much wanting to show that the government, of course, is on top of things. The White House well aware of the criticisms that have been aimed at the federal government, and particularly, Michael Brown. What they want to do, essentially, is show that this is a president who is fully engaged, fully in touch. So look for that tomorrow. The president, of course, making another trip. His third time back into the region -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano at the White House. Thanks much.

FEMA plan to give evacuees at the Houston Astrodome debit cards worth up to $2,000 each is being scrapped now. More than 4,000 evacuees got the cards before the plan was abruptly dropped. Betty Nguyen has been following the ups and downs of the debit cards from the Astrodome in Houston.

All right, Betty. Is this the final chapter on this one? And why did they finally decide to scrap them?

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I believe it is the final chapter. Here's the front page of "The Houston Chronicle". It says, "Debit Card Plan Scrubbed". We understand that, as you mentioned, 4,000 debit cards were handed out yesterday. And folks here with FEMA say they pretty much handled 90 percent of the evacuees who wanted debit cards.

You have to remember there is only about 7,300 people still here in the four main shelters in Houston. And if it is one per household, 4,000 accounts for a whole lot of people that were in line waiting for those FEMA $2,000 debit cards. (AUDIO GAP) ...the supply. They are people (AUDIO GAP) to want those debit cards (AUDIO GAP) for them to (AUDIO GAP)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. We're having some satellite problems with Betty's shot. We'll try to get back with her in just a little bit. Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's move to this question. Questions this morning about the deaths of 31 people in a nursing home southeast of New Orleans in St. Bernard Parish. A nurse at St. Rita's Nursing Home says she doesn't understand why no one came to evacuate those patients, most of whom were sick and elderly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAMMY DAIGLE, ST. RITA'S NURSE: I can't understand, if there was mandatory evacuation scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Why they did not get these people out? I don't understand why Arcadian Ambulance Service did not go there. I don't understand why the parish officials, the fire department, somebody, anybody, didn't go there and get these people out.

They knew they were elderly, they knew they were incapable of getting out on their own. They were sick. They were infirm, they were -- they deserved to live. They did not deserve to drown and not know what happened to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: That nurse tells CNN that she was told by other staffers that administrators had no plans to evacuate the 60 residents there. Several concerned relatives called the home and some of them picked up their own family members. The Louisiana attorney general's office says it is going to investigate.

A federal judge has issue a temporary restraining order saying that emergency officials cannot prevent the media from covering the removal of bodies from New Orleans. FEMA issued the zero access order because of privacy concerns. CNN is seeking a permanent injunction to that order.

Searchers are out this morning, in fact, looking for more bodies, busting the doors, looking through windows, too. Meanwhile there is word that the death toll may not be as high as first thought. Jeff Koinange is in downtown New Orleans and he's been following that search for survivors and also the recovery of bodies as well.

Jeff, good morning.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, you know what, you've been here, you've seen for yourself, even a couple of blocks from where we're standing right now the water level is still pretty high. That's just speculation right now that the fact that the number of bodies wouldn't be as many as speculated. It's a little optimistic.

But once that water begins to recede, Soledad, they're definitely -- and officials here agree -- there will definitely be bodies washing up. Especially, when emergency officials start going into nursing homes, into people's private home, schools, all kinds of buildings were people were hold up, waiting for some kind of help. They definitely be bodies washing up, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, that's a number also, Jeff, not only did we get that number from the mayor, as you well know, but I heard that number consistently with some of the law enforcement officials and the parishes, as well.

Let's move on and talk a little bit about Michael Brown, though. What's the reaction where you are, the fact that Michael Brown is now heading back to Washington, D.C.?

KOINANGE: We actually were talking a drive around yesterday with some emergency services and we discussed this issue. They said, you know what, there's been so much finger pointing, so much criticism towards the federal government. They said the federal government was late in responding. It took four, five days to get people on the ground to start feeding people at the convention center, to start moving people.

One of the officials told me, "Don't be surprised if more heads start rolling in the coming days and weeks."

S. O'BRIEN: Well, there are certainly people calling for that. Jeff Koinange, for us this morning. Jeff, thanks. Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: We are also keeping our eye on this morning another tropical storm, Ophelia. Bonnie Schneider is at the CNN Center in and the Weather Center with more on that.

And, Ophelia is still a threat?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh absolutely, Miles. Even though this storm is a tropical storm, it has weakened a bit overnight. And you can see kind of these thunderstorms stretching out over a wider area as the upper level winds sheered it just a little bit.

This storm is going to slow down in the next 12 hours and eventually turn back towards the U.S. mainland tomorrow. That's why we're so concerned about it, because as it comes back over some of this warm water Ophelia is likely to strengthen back into a hurricane.

Currently, we have maximum winds at 70 m.p.h., but as we put this map into motion you'll see the track of Ophelia likely to become a hurricane sometime today or tonight and then eventually stretch its way back to the coast of the Southeast. Potential landfall, very difficult to pinpoint at this time, but we are expecting it sometime in the early part of Tuesday, possibly into Tuesday afternoon, potentially anywhere from the Carolina coastline, down through Georgia needs to keep a close watch on Ophelia.

The main thing to note today, though, even though we don't have rain and we don't have any watches or warnings posted, because the storm has pulled away. The main thing to note is you will see rough surf and riptides all along the coastline, from Cape Hatteras southward. So not a good day to be out in the ocean, though the sun will be shining it is kind of misleading. It is going to be dangerous to be out in those rough waves -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks very much.

From rock to gospel to top entertainers joined forces again in telethons to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. Unlike last week when the rapper Kanye West lashed out at the president, this time musicians pretty much stuck to their script. CNN's Sibila Vargas has our report this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR: Tonight we call upon soul, spirit and the compassion of the American people.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: America's top entertainers came out to support Katrina relief efforts in a trio of high-profile fundraisers.

The "Shelter from the Storm" concert simulcast on all six of the nation's broadcast networks and numerous cable outlets, took a somber but hopeful tone.

Highlights include the surprising paring of Mary J. Blige and U2, Louisiana flavored songs from Foo Fighters and Paul Simon, and a few songs with a very gospel-like feel, especially Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" reworked with new lyrics.

KANYE WEST, RAPPER: If I didn't know where my family was, if I had to lose my home, if I had to stay in the Superdome...

VARGAS: Like 2001's "Tribute to Heroes 9/11" telethon, Hollywood's biggest names manned the phones as viewers were encouraged to make donations to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

Queen Latifa and Steve Harvey hosted the "S.O.S. Saving Ourselves Telethon", on Black Entertainment Television. It gave voice to the suffering of hurricane victims, many of whom were African- American.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our telethon. These are our people. We have to hit these phones, we have to take care of our people.

VARGAS: Political figures, including Senator Barrack Obama and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made taped appearances. And former President Bill Clinton phoned in. While Patti LaBelle and Jill Scott sang songs echoing the plight of Katrina's victims.

Tim McGraw kicked off CBS's "Fashion Rocks" which included performances by Destiny's Child.

Sibila Vargas, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: The benefit concerts aren't over yet, MTV is going to hold its telethon tonight.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come, life on the coast of Biloxi. We'll look at how Katrina has impacted the poorest residents there. Live report coming up.

S. O'BRIEN: Plus, thousands of evacuees scrambled for their lives, leaving behind important papers, mortgages, car payments, health records. How do they put their lives back together? More on that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Ships flying the NATO flag arrive on the shores of Mississippi. Those troops from Belgium came ashore in Biloxi on Friday, carrying some relief supplies.

The trail of destruction from Hurricane Katrina gradually becoming clear, besides New Orleans the storm destroyed entire neighborhoods in southern Mississippi. CNN's Allan Chernoff has been covering Mississippi recovery in Biloxi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

We're here in Biloxi and as you can see the devastation is nearly complete here. And this is one reason that you can easily understand why the death toll has gone up to 211. Houses, neighborhoods, just completely destroyed here. They of course are hoping to get some semblance of normality here, hoping to get at least some electricity.

Down the street you can see that there are some lights coming back up. But even right here, that's not going to happen because the power lines are down right in front of us. Now, this is one of the poorest neighborhoods of Biloxi, the east side of Biloxi. There are poor people, but also some of the most grateful.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF (voice over): When the flood waters reached five feet in Daniel Jackson's home, he, his wife and daughter, began to pray.

DANIEL JACKSON, KATRINA VICTIM: We prayed and 10 minutes after we prayed, you know, the water started dropping in the house.

CHERNOFF (on camera): What prayer did you say?

JACKSON: Oh, man, we prayed -- I prayed, you know, "The Lord is my shepherd." I shall not want.

CHERNOFF (voice over): His desires are few, but now after the hurricane, Mr. Jackson's needs are great. His wife and daughter left for a shelter. He stayed even though virtually everything in the house is ruined. And the stench of mildew is everywhere. The house itself was pushed off its foundation.

(On camera): Say that the weather forecasters were predicting yet another huge storm to hit the Mississippi Coast? Are you staying?

JACKSON: I would stay. You know, I would stay. Like I said, we stayed before, I put my faith in God. Because, you know, I feel like -- by me staying here, I mean, it couldn't be no worse than this. You see what I'm saying? Because hurricane was a lot worse than Camille. If I passed this test, I think I could past the rest of them.

CHERNOFF (voice over): Jackson, a 59-year-old former maintenance worker has a herniated disc in his back and a bum knee. With only $600 in the bank, he and his wife, who has cancer, live off of disability checks. Jackson had no flood insurance so he expects his policy may not pay out.

(On camera): Are you angry at all?

JACKSON: Not at all. No, not a time to be angry. You know, it is a time to rejoice. We don't worry about material things, at these times. What we're concerned about here is our lives.

CHERNOFF (voice over): Daniel Jackson is a man of faith. The National Guard and Red Cross are providing for him now, and he says the Lord will provide for him in the future.

JACKSON: I feel I'm a blessed man.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: Certainly puts things in perspective, doesn't it? Think about that if you are waiting, if you are, on a gas line sometime this week -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to hear much more this morning, Allan, from the mayor of Biloxi, who is going to join us later this morning. Thanks, Allan.

Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Ahead on the program taking first steps on the road to recovery. What victims of Hurricane Katrina need to know to get their finances in order, everything from car and mortgage payments, to getting money from the insurance companies. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: With so many thousands of people along the Gulf Coast who have lost everything, getting personal finances in order is going to be a huge task. Andy Serwer here with more on that -- Andy.

ANDY SERWER, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. Let's talk about the million or so people who have been victimized by Hurricane Katrina and start off and talk about banks and insurance companies, the private sector, if you will.

First of all, your mortgage, what do you do? The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are going to be suspending payments for up to three months. And they're asking banks to be very lenient when it comes to payments. Some will be reducing payments for up to 18 months.

Here -- and this is true of all these entities, Miles. Get in touch with the banks and insurance companies. Don't hide your head in the sand.

M. O'BRIEN: Communications is very important. When you say suspending, does that just extend the length of the note, or will they have to pay those back, double up, later on?

SERWER: It will be extending the length of the note, basically. Now, car payments, the Big Three, Ford, GM and Chrysler, will be allowing up to three deferred payments. That is for now, they may do even more than that.

Insurance companies, again, call them up. Don't wait for them to call you. Suspending payments for several months at least. Now this emergency expenses, the "loss of use benefit", if your house has been destroyed or badly damaged they will start to pay you immediately for up to 15 or 20 percent of the coverage amount. And that is cash that you probably need at that point to get your life back in order.

M. O'BRIEN: Of course, it's going to be hard to get a hold of all these people. But imagine, thinking about insurance companies, mortgage companies, they're bad enough. Dealing with the government, and given all the stories that we've been telling people about that red tape out there, what do you recommend?

SERWER: Very important to, again, try and get in touch with these folks. The post office, unemployment benefits, the IRS, etc cetera. Start off with jobless claims here, you can file if you are out of state. If you've been moved to Texas, you moved to Mississippi from Louisiana, you can still do this. You'll be eligible also for federal disaster unemployment assistance as well for up to 26 weeks following the storm.

Let's talk about taxes. If you still haven't paid your '04 taxes in the extension period, as they say, you'll have till January 3 of next year. They're moving that deadline out. And they're waiving fees for requests for previous returns. In other words, say all your tax records were destroyed. You can get those from the IRS for free.

Now, we'll talk about Social Security, that agency says they are doing everything they can to get Social Security check to the people who are supposed to receive them. But a huge job there.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, and of course the problem is, checks aren't necessarily useful in many cases. Either people are displaced, they don't have banking arrangements set up. I guess, they are going to be able to cash their Social Security checks somewhere around the Astrodome? Presumably.

SERWER: Yes, that is definitely right. They're going to be setting that up.

The Post Office is another place, you have to take care of that, as well. Getting your mail forwarded. Saying you're just staying with your aunt's house up in northern Mississippi. Get your mail forwarded there. Because it is important to get that on stream. Mail can be sent to shelters.

And here's something interesting. The Astrodome has a zip code, 77230, that they've set up for those evacuees. And they are suspending the 30 day limit on forwarding. It used to be they'd only do it for 30 days. Now, they're letting you do it, if you're a victim here, for as long as necessary.

M. O'BRIEN: Of course, normally what you do is you send your forwarding information to your home post office. That can be problematic. Can you do it to any post office and they'll figure it out?

SERWER: Yes, yes. They're saying that you can simply go into any local post office and get the job done.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy Serwer, lots of good, useful information there.

SERWER: All right. Thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, tracking the path of Tropical Storm Ophelia, expected to strengthen as she heads toward the U.S. mainland. The very latest is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)