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CNN Live Sunday

Interview with Ed Shultz; Hurricane Ophelia Makes Way Towards Carolina Coast

Aired September 11, 2005 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, nearly two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, the rescues continue. We'll take you live to New Orleans, A City in Recovery.
And a developing story off the Carolina coast, Hurricane Ophelia. The governor of North Carolina declares a state of emergency as the meandering storm eyes the coastline.

And then Remembering 9/11: The nation pauses to remember the victims of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil.

Welcome to a special edition of CNN LIVE Sunday, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta. We'll have more on today's 9/11 observances, but first we begin with a look at the state of emergency in the Gulf Coast region.

Still no final death toll in storm battered areas along the Gulf Coast. In New Orleans the search for bodies go on, but Lieutenant General Russell Honore tell CNN he expects the death toll to be much lower than the 10,000 first anticipated. In neighboring Mississippi the death toll, right now, is 211.

FEMA says it has paid $699 million, nationwide, to families affected by Hurricane Katrina. And the agency says it has registered nearly 575,000 households for family benefits.

It's an emotional day for some residents of southeast Louisiana. Some storm victims in Plaquemine Parish are returning to see how badly their homes and businesses have been damaged. The hurricane sent a storm surge into that parish causing massive flooding.

Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast recovery is coming along in baby steps, but there is some progress, nonetheless. For the first time since Katrina hit, the Coast Guard is allowing limited commercial traffic in Biloxi's harbor. The storm hurled debris into the city's bay and dumped pollutants into the water making the area hazardous for ships.

We begin in New Orleans where CNN's Ed Lavendera is covering rescue and recovery operations with the 82nd Airborne as well as with the U.S. Coast Guard -- Ed.

ED LAVENDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Fredricka. We just came off the water with the Coast Guard and the 82nd Airborne. We've been off the water for several hours and we've come here to take a break. The soldiers and Coast Guard are getting lunch break. You can see these are the airboats that we've been out on throughout the morning. And you can see that we're over on Two Lane Avenue that takes you right into downtown New Orleans, right down there. And it's been an interesting morning riding along with these guys. They said they've been doing this for about a week now, and they said in the first several days of their operation, they were picking people -- people were calling out for them to come out to help. It's been much quieter today and the soldiers tell me they suspect it's because -- they know there are people out there in these waters. You can see the water in many places five, six, seven feet deep and they're navigating the streets using maps and hoping that street signs are still sticking up out of the water to navigate their way through houses and the neighborhoods.

But they know that the people who are still in here who have not left their homes are the ones who are a little bit more hardcore about staying. These are people who are bunkered down and many times, often have large supplies of water and food. We rescued, we were along for a witness, one rescue this morning where a man was finally talked into jumping into the boat with us, but he said he had plenty of food and water to last him another three weeks.

So they are encountering many people who just don't want to leave their homes. And the reason behind, this one gentleman told us, was because he doesn't where he's going to be sent next. And the idea of that bothered him quite a bit, but the soldiers and Coast Guard says that what they're perfecting, these days, is the art of persuasion. Informing these people, letting these people know that the situation here is very dangerous. The waters, not only smell atrocious, but many have been calling it the "toxic soup" and the soldiers and the Coast Guard very careful about even touching the water, any time water gets on the boat they're using the bacterial cleansing gel to clean off immediately. So, they're trying desperately not to touch any of this water and getting as many of these people out. But, at this point, it's the power of persuasion that's getting the job done -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ed Lavendera, thank you so much.

We'll CNN's Dan Simon is by the Mississippi River near the USS Iwo Jima, which is an aircraft carrier where the president is expected to land a couple of hours. What are you seeing from your vantage point, Dan?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're hearing a helicopter hover above us, but it is not the president. As you mentioned, he'll be here in a couple of hours. One of the things that Ed just alluded to is the daunting challenge facing the city of New Orleans and that's getting these holdouts out of town. You know, there's been so much speculation that the police department would have to use force to get these people out of their homes, but now we are getting indications, and I want use that word "indications" cautiously because we're not quite sure. We spoke to a woman named Kay Marie...

WHITFIELD: Dan...

SIMON: And she... WHITFIELD: Dan...

Let me interrupt you for a moment. We'll try to get back with you, because right now we want to go straight to Baton Rouge where FEMA officials are updating folks. Let's listen in.

ADM. CRAIG VANDERWAGEN, DR. U.S. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE: And Dr. Kevin Stevens, who's the commissioner of health for the city of New Orleans. And I am going to start -- just yesterday, Kevin and Fred and I and a team went down to New Orleans, spent the day together examing a variety of things and I will report a few things to you, but I wanted to underscore the fact that anything that we do in the ESF8 (PH), the health components of this response, in our view, must be driven by the state and local authority. We have assets that we can provide to assist them and we are and we will to the degree they want them, and that begins by us having a very close relationship with the important players and decision makers here in Louisiana for health and that's Fred and Henry, at least in most of the things that I deal with.

Yesterday we examined a number of the hospitals in the New Orleans area and I'm happy to say that we have at least five hospitals that are fully functional in the city of New Orleans at this time. And there are at least 500 vacant or available beds that are fully staffed, and we're providing direction to our EMS people in the street, to our federal partners elsewhere in the environment, that any hospital patients should be taken to those hospitals in New Orleans so they could be cared for close at home and so that those hospitals can maintain, their stood-up, as we like to say, their operating status.

We're working very closely with the hospitals. I have a team in New Orleans, based at Ochsner that meets almost on a daily basis for an hour or two, each day with the leadership of the hospital, management, and the medical staffs of those facilities to make sure we're coordinating activities and communication.

Secondly, we visited a -- again I'll use the term I like, and that is a "stood-up" public health department in Orleans Parish and we believe this is really the first stand-up of capacity in Orleans that's really targeted at the health and welfare of people within that particular parish. It's located at the Kindred -- I guess it was, Kindred Souls Extended Care facility which was vacated. Their patients were evacuated and the owner has graciously allowed to use -- allowed us to use that facility. We've installed all communication links and so on and so forth. The state epidemiologist is working out of that office with us. The commissioner health for New Orleans has an office in that space with us. The EPA, NIOSH, OSHA, in addition to the traditional CDC public health assets are all co-located in that building, along with DOD to assure that we have a well coordinated approach to further public health and environmental survey activity that is directed by the state and the city of New Orleans. We feel very pleased that they are partnering with us in this regard and that they found a good use for the assets that we can bring.

I'm also here today to announce that we will begin spraying for mosquitoes and flies in the New Orleans area. And I believe that we will step that off tomorrow evening in the greater New Orleans area. I think, initially, targeting the Orleans Parish, is what I understand. We're doing this at the request, and with the support of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. They've worked to develop a management plan to try and address the fact that with all the standing water, we're going to have problems with flying bearers of disease.

The Ariel applications are going to be applied by elements of the Air National Guard, I believe, from Ohio, who've brought their equipment here. The pesticide we will be using is one that's routinely used here in southern Louisiana, it's called Malid. It is approved by EPA. It will be applied according to the standard application rates prescribed for this agent, and we feel very comfortable that the risk to humans, whether they're inside or outside is very, very minimal, given all the studies that have been done on this particular agent. We think that the most concerning thing would be irritation of eyes and so on from the mist.

We will continue to monitor mosquitoes and flies in the region. As everyone knows, these airborne insects do carry disease, West Nile and other diseases and we think that their control and abatement is a critical public health function that needs to be addressed and we will begin aggressively dealing with that tomorrow.

And with that, I'll take a few questions and then Captain Havens, who's one of my colleagues in the PHS uniform, who's working with MBMS, will have some comments about the assets there.

QUESTION: What are the five hospitals that are open?

VANDERWAGEN: Uh gee, well, I know three for sure, West Jefferson, East Jefferson, Ochsner, and there were two others that we were apprised of yesterday and I don't have them right here in front of me, but we can get you that answer pretty quickly.

QUESTION: How do you spell Naled?

VANDERWAGEN: N-a-l-e-d. That's the active ingredient in a brand named agent that is called Dibrome. D-i-b-r-o-m-e. But Naled is the active agent in that compound.

QUESTION: How is this being applied? In a crop-duster-type fashion or...

VANDERWAGEN: Application of this agent will be provided by a C- 130 from the Internal Guard especially fitted for spraying for insect infestation. The equipment, as I say, is brought to us by our friends in that uniform and this is equipment specifically designed to do that process, been used in a variety of settings.

QUESTION: Admiral Vanderwagen, could you say why tomorrow or this week was chosen as the time to begin the spraying? There's still estimates from local law enforcement in New Orleans, we told the yesterday there, that there were about, you know, several thousand people, is the best estimate now, you know, there are obviously concerns about, perhaps, the long lasting effects of pesticide contacts with humans.

VANDERWAGEN: Yeah, As with most questions in public health there is a balance of trying to do the most good for the most people and inevitably life doesn't always offer us clean and simple choices. While there are people in the affected area, again this agent, multiple studies has been demonstrated to be relatively innocuous to human health. And we feel that the risks from allowing that airborne vector of population to grow certainly outweigh the small, small potential risks from the spray. So, we feel pretty confident that people are not going to be affected adversely by the spray, on the other hand we think we will get a very positive good -- by eliminating those insects, but it's a good question.

QUESTION: Has Dr. Stevens and Mayor Nagin in signed off?

VANDERWAGEN: Indeed, Henry was to be here with us today, but again, he and Fred are busy on another issue at the moment, but we would not proceed without an agreement from them.

QUESTION: I apologize, Dr. Steven's first name is Kevin. Who is Henry sir?

VANDERWAGEN: I said Fred or did I say Henry? I'm sorry, keep dropping his front name and calling him Henry, it's Kevin Stevens, the commissioner of health in New Orleans. Again, we were together all day yesterday and we discussed this very fact, big concern for him.

WHITFIELD: All right, a few housekeeping tips coming out of FEMA there on that briefing out of Baton Rouge. Primarily, tomorrow they will begin spraying for mosquitoes and flies in the mostly Orleans Parish, to try to take care of what is being called "flying bearers of disease." Obviously, still a lot of standing water, some places four feet, still some places eight feet of water and they want to get most of that under control.

And the other interesting note coming out of there is that in Orleans Parish, in downtown New Orleans area, specifically, there are five up and running hospitals that are fully staffed, so anyone among those stragglers who decide not to leave who may need some sort of medical care, five hospitals are up and running there with 500 vacant beds fully staffed.

Well, when people fled New Orleans, 20,000 -- upwards of 20,000 people ended up in Houston's Astrodome. But that number is dwindling fast. We'll have a status report from Texas at the bottom of the hour.

Two families left homeless by Katrina find a new home, in of all places, North Dakota, thanks to a new charity fund.

Still to come, why one radio talk show host wants Americans to consider a different kind of adoption.

Also up next:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) Michael N. Flisick (PH), David Pador (PH), Michael N. Bota (PH).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Remembering the day that forever changed America.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A morning of song and prayer in Algiers, Louisiana as hurricane relief workers remember another tragedy, one that happened exactly four years ago today: The terror attacks from September 11. New York firefighters and police officers who were working on hurricane recovery in Louisiana held a memorial service marking that anniversary. Two-thousand, seven hundred, forty-nine of the nearly 3,000 people who were killed on 9/11 died in New York. All were remembered today during an emotional ceremony at ground zero. CNN national correspondent, Mary Snow was there and joins us live -- Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Frederica, church bells continue to toll here in lower Manhattan, here at ground zero, earlier in the day, a very solemn ceremony lasting about four-and-a-half hours. Siblings of the 2,749 people who were killed here on September 11 four years ago -- siblings read their names one by one. Some like, Chris Burke, offered personal messages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS BURKE, LOST BROTHER IN 9/11 ATTACK: We hear you, our hearts may be broken, our spirit is not. That's what we need to say. True honor, true honor demands nothing less.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: Today as we recite the names of those we lost, our hearts turn as well towards London, our sister city, remembering those she has just lost as well, and to Americans suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, our deepest sympathies go out to you this day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Four moments of silence were held throughout the day. This to mark each time a tower was struck and subsequently collapsed. Also family members walked down a ramp about 70 feet below street level. This is the bedrock of where the tower stood. Now they are replaced by small pools of water and family members who are still here at this point are offering flowers, laying them down in these small pools -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Mary Snow at ground zero in Manhattan, thank you so much.

Well, ceremonies commemorating the victims of 9/11 are being held across the country and overseas. President Bush and Vice President Cheney observed a moment of silence at the White House. And ceremonies where held in honor of the 184 people who died when the terrorists crashed a plane into the Pentagon. In Pennsylvania, a memorial service for the victims of the fourth hijacking. It's believed flight 93 was headed for Washington when the passengers revolted against their hijackers. The plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field. The passengers' heroic efforts were remembered a service at that crash site.

And in Afghanistan U.S. soldiers took time out today to remember the lives lost on 9/11 as a whole. Less than a month after the attacks, the U.S. launched the military campaign in Afghanistan the offensive was intended to wipe out Al Qaeda and the Taliban government that sheltered its leaders.

And back in the U.S., the Tibetan religious leader, the Dalai Lama, is holding a spiritual service for this country on this fourth anniversary of 9/11. The event is expected to begin in about 40 minutes in Sun Valley, Idaho. You can see the live pictures right now where people are getting into position waiting for it to all begin. The Buddhist leader is delivering what's being called a "healing address of compassion." Several celebrities will be on hand including: Tom Hanks, Willie Nelson, and Sharon Stone.

The Dalai Lama is tonight's guest on "Larry King Live" and he'll take your calls. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern.

Lessons learned from 9/11.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you've got here is a structure designed to withstand massive forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We will take you inside the first building to rise from the ashes of ground zero. That story, straight ahead.

And up next, one man's new mission to find a new home for Katrina evacuees. We'll tell you how you can help him by helping to get the homeless back on their feet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All across America many are reaching out to the victims of the storm. In Fargo, North Dakota, radio talk show host Ed Schultz, and his wife, have started a charity called Adopt a Family of Hurricane Katrina. They recently returned home with an adopted family, in fact two, I understand, from Mississippi. And Ed joins us now.

Good to see you, Ed.

ED SCHULTZ, FOUNDER OF ADOPT A FAMILY OF HURRICANE KATRINA: Good to see you Fredricka. It's nice to be on with you.

WHITFIELD: Well, thanks so much. I understand that you know what it was like to be a flood victim, you lived through one yourself back in 1997, and so you really did empathize and sympathize with a lot of the people you were seeing, the rest of America was seeing on television and in newspapers, etcetera and so immediately, that kind of provoked you into saying, "I want to go to Mississippi and I want to find some families that need my help?"

SHULTZ: That's exactly how it turned out, I mean, we went through the flood in 1997. We saw a lot of people who were devastated up here and the pictures we saw on CNN and all the networks just was a big reminder of what people had been through and after a few days when you seeing these hordes of people being put into the Astrodome and into the Superdome, I just felt, you know, this is all about communication. All we have to do is tell people that we want to help. And so what we did was we started up a trust fund and we asked people across the country on the "Ed Schultz Show" to donate money and this is direct response. This is about getting money directly to the families and giving them an opportunity to put their lives back together. So, I went down to Mississippi with the National Guard, the 119th out of Gulfport, where they're working, and then now they've moved over to New Orleans. And I called back and a guy who's in aviation, Toby McPherson, I told him, I said, "Look, we're taking some families back, come on down here and see if we can identify a few and let's bring them back with us," and that's what we did.

WHITFIELD: But, what made you so sure some of these families were going to take up your offer? I mean, to come out, you know, out of the blue, and come to Mississippi, and then confront some of these families and say hey, "You want to just come on home, make new home in Fargo, North Dakota with me?" I mean, did you expect that you would have any takers?

SHULTZ: Well, I told them there was absolutely no obligation. We just wanted to help. It seemed to me, from what I could see of people on television, that they'd go just about anywhere. And the stories that were coming out of there were just horrific. And then when I saw all the devastation in Gulfport, I knew that these folks would come back with us.

WHITFIELD: And so, Jim Jeffries, who's an aviation out of Lake Providence, Louisiana, had a church right next to him with 200 families. He went into a room and asked if anybody wanted to get on a plane with a talk show host in North Dakota who was going to take them back and give them some stability, and a few people raised their hand, and the rest is history. And so, these two families have got apartments, they've got job offers lined up. The kids are in school. Brittney is already enrolled at North Dakota State University as a biology student.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

SHULTZ: And I, of all the coverage that I've seen, I wanted these folks to be an example to the rest of the country that there is hope out there, that people do want to help, and that all you have to do is ask people and motivate people on the radio and communicate. The money started coming in, and this money is going directly to these folks. We got a grandmother and Candis Kessy (PH) and her two grandchildren, they're already enrolled at Oak Grove Lutheran School, and I went to the football game the other night and she's already involved at volleyball practice, so....

WHITFIELD: Well...

SHULTZ: All we have to do is open up our arms. I knew or community of Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota was going to help out because they went through the flood in 1997...

WHITFIELD: Yeah...

SHULTZ: It's a story of hope, it's a story of people putting their lives back together. And if they want to stay here, that's great. If they don't, they're under no obligation...

WHITFIELD: Yeah. Well Ed...

SHULTZ: They may want to go back to New Orleans...

WHITFIELD: You mentioned these families from Gulfport, Mississippi. In fact the president is expected to make his way to Gulfport, Mississippi as early as tomorrow. Right now on the right side of your screen you are seeing Marine One which has just with the president on board, arrived at Andrews Air Force Base just outside of Washington, D.C. He's embarking on Air Force 1 or some other aircraft. We think it's going to be Air Force 1. And then he's going to be making his way to the Louisiana coast specifically right along the Mississippi is the USS Iwo Jima, which is a marine amphibious assault ship.

He will be over nighting on that ship before making his way to Mississippi later on to see firsthand making another visit to the region to see firsthand the devastation. So Ed, while we are looking at that picture and we are going to eventually see the president emerge and disembark from Marine 1.

Let's go back to your families out of Gulfport, Mississippi how they have learned to assimilate themselves there in North Dakota. Have they expressed any interest in going back to Gulfport once perhaps their town is rebuilt?

SCHULTZ: Well, they are from New Orleans, Louisiana. I was down in Gulfport and we rendezvoused there, is where I first met them and then we flew back to North Dakota. Larry McKenzie is already talking about bringing his mother up her. He thinks the hospitality is so great in this part of the country and he's also talking about bringing his niece and her fiancee. It's just connecting people.

I want to say that I was down in Gulfport. I believe this is the president here getting off Marine 1. And I think it's important for the president to stay visible down there and he's doing that. I was down there in Gulfport and I flew some Blackhawk missions on recovery and resupply and I can tell you that the Mississippi International Guard is doing a phenomenal job. The man who ran the air operations in Iraq is controlling the air operations out of Gulfport right now and that's Colonel Brad McNally. He did a phenomenal job. I saw these guys firsthand do what they are doing to these people in rural Mississippi. It is phenomenal the work that they are doing. I think what the president is doing, going down there and staying visible is certainly the right thing to do. You have to give these people hope. And if we can be a part of that and also explain to the American people that there are people out there all over the country and what we are doing -- this is them asleep in the airplane coming back. They were pretty tired. If we can tell the story, it's a story about any community in America that is willing to help right now. It's a matter of direct response, identifying these people, do they want to get into communities all over the country and judging from what the McKenzie's and Candi Kessy (ph) showed us, they definitely want an opportunity to put their lives back together.

WHITFIELD: Well Ed Schultz you are certainly giving these families and a number of other families a lot of hope by encouraging others to open your home like you have. Thanks so much. Ed Schultz for joining us with Adopt a Family of Hurricane Katrina Trust Fund. And if you would like to make a donation you can contact the Adopt a Family of Hurricane Katrina Trust Fund care of Ed Schultz, at 1020 25th Street South, Fargo, North Dakota, 58103 or you can use the Website at www.edschultzshow.com.

And again you were looking at those live pictures moments ago at Andrews Air Force Base. The plane is about to take off or get ready to taxi before it makes its way to the Gulf region. And then presumably the president will get off of U.S. Air Force 1 and get on some other sort of aircraft that is able, possibly a helicopter or some other kind of navy or military aircraft that will then land on the amphibious assault ship. Which is a navy ship. But right now the USS Iwo Jima is docked in the Mississippi right off the New Orleans coast before making its way to Gulfport, Mississippi tomorrow.

Well to open your home to total strangers could take a lot of trust. The FBI is providing a rare service for those Americans who want to check up on evacuees before they take them in. But not everyone thinks that's a great idea. That story in the next hour of LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We will return to our special state of emergency coverage in a moment but first other stories making news right now.

U.S. and Iraqi forces taking on insurgents on two front. They are battling militants in Iraq, northern city of Tal Afar and west in Rutba. The U.S. general estimates that at least 350 insurgents have been cornered. He said U.S. and Iraqi forces have discovered a bomb- making factory in Tal Afar. Tal Afar is just 40 miles from the Iraq border with Syria. Coalition forces believe that many foreign fighters have infiltrated the border and hid out in that city. Iraq closed part of its border with Syria for security reasons today.

A U.S. soldier was killed today in the Iraqi city of Samarra north of Baghdad. Authorities say he died when a roadside bomb exploded. Two U.S. troops were wounded.

And a British soldier was killed when a roadside bomb detonated in the southern city of Basra. Three British soldiers were hurt.

"Mission Critical." A look now at the latest on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As the state of emergency continues in New Orleans and the population dwindles, the city has been almost crime-free for the last four days that word from police chief Eddie Compass. Two hundred people arrested within the past week and a half are now being held in a makeshift jail. Victims of Hurricane Katrina continue to receive a massive outpouring of food, water and other forms of relief.

FEMA says it's paid $669 million nationwide to families affected by the disaster.

Some goods news for parts of storm battered southeastern Louisiana; orders to boil water have been lifted. State officials say the move comes after the tests show the water does not contain unsafe levels of bacteria. The scope of the exodus from the region is becoming much more clear. The Associated Press quotes American Red Cross and state officials are saying that at least 374,000 evacuees are now in shelters, hotels, homes and other facilities across 34 states and Washington, D.C.

And in New Orleans progress is being made in draining that city. Forty percent of New Orleans is still covered by floodwaters. That's down, though, from 80 percent earlier.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco will be visiting with hurricane evacuees today at the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas. CNN's Betty Nguyen reports officials hope to have all of the evacuees in more permanent housing by next weekend.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's been a significant drop in the number of evacuees staying here at the four main shelters in Houston, including the Astrodome shelter behind me. The number as it stands right now is 5,200. That's 2,000 fewer than yesterday. It's proof that the plan to get all of the evacuees out of these shelters and into temporary homes by this weekend is on course. Here today, though, we have to tell you that the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco will be touring the shelters.

It will be interesting to see the kind of reaction she gets from evacuees. Many have been very frank to discuss the slow response in getting them out of the flooded area. Also here today touring the shelters, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farakham and some NBA players will be here bringing cheer and a since of hope to families that have lost absolutely everything.

In Houston, Betty Nguyen, CNN.

WHITFIELD: Not even two weeks have passed since Katrina and already now concentrated efforts on watching hurricane Ophelia off the Atlantic coast. Jacqui Jeras joins us now with more on that. Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi Fredricka. We've had to be patient on this one, it has moved very little. In fact we've been watching it for well over a week, it developed into a tropical depression last Tuesday. It is a hurricane with 80-mile-per-hour winds but it's just moved very, very little and the forecast track has bumped back a little bit and the timing for landfall and now other best estimate is going to be sometime in the morning, possibly, on Wednesday but we still may see more changes, so until we start to see this move a little more, then we will have a better idea what time it will be making land fall and exactly where.

Right now we are looking at hurricane watches which have been posted from Edisto Beach extending on up toward Cape Lookout, that means hurricane conditions are possible within 36 hours. Certainly not feeling much of the impact yet from Ophelia. Along the coast of the Carolinas outside of the big waves that have been pushing in, some high surf for today, also a good threat of rip currents. You might get an isolated shower that is going to be brushing along the coast but not expecting much rain as the air mass here across much of the eastern U.S. is very, very dry.

Here's that forecast track having it moving very little over the next 24-36 hours, starting to take a turn on up towards the north and kind of pushing a little bit farther on off to the west. It's possible we could get lucky and maybe it will just brush the Outer Banks or even stay out to sea but still there's that threat we think that it could hit either of the Carolina's so we will keep a very close eye on it and let you know. In the meantime it's just sitting there, just waiting holding steady on the intensity.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much Jacqui.

When Hurricane Katrina shut down New Orleans the city's aquarium had to figure on the what to do with its many creatures. Up next I will speak with the public relations director.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas is one of the biggest tourist attractions in New Orleans and one of the most respected aquariums in the world. But Hurricane Katrina took a deadly toll on many of the fish and other creatures there, but all is not lost. Some survivors have been moved to safe locations. The aquarium's public relations director Melissa Lee is with us now on the telephone. Melissa glad you are able to be with us.

MELISSA LEE, AUDUBON AQUARIUM OF THE AMERICAS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well among the survivors, a number of penguins, a 250-pound turtle called King Midas, glad about that, glad that they survived it. What measures were taken to secure the safety of all of the residents of the aquarium before the storm hit?

LEE: We have a very comprehensive hurricane plan and that included having a team of storm riders, very dedicated folks who stayed at the building through the storm itself and through the days that followed to make sure that animals were monitored, that they were fed and they kept life support going as long as they could. WHITFIELD: And that life support, they were able to keep going through the use of some generators that you all had there.

LEE: Yes.

WHITFIELD: These very dedicated workers, what did they express was taking place during the height of the storm and what they were and were not able to do to help protect the animals?

LEE: What they were able to do primarily, as long as power was going they could keep the life support systems going and pump and filters operational. During the height of the storm, of course, the building it self lost power and for the safety of our people we had to move them into interior stairways of the aquarium so they would be safe. The aquarium was built back in 1990. It opened in Labor Day of 1990. So that meant we just celebrated our 15th birthday but it was designed to withstand hurricane winds so we were confident that the building itself would be standing and it did.

WHITFIELD: So when the storm passed and it was OK for those workers to start assessing what had happened and what has been suffered there, what did they express they found?

LEE: At first, everything was, of course, moving along fine, everything was OK. And then as the days went by and we had to evacuate our staff because of safety concerns for them, we realized that generators are going to need to be refueled. We actually had members of National Guard, New Orleans police officers and our CEO and president CEO actually getting in there and refueling them as best they could. And as I'm sure you have seen the video, we have had a lot of survivors, including some animals that are very fragile and very temperature-dependent and we were most surprised and of course delighted to see that some of those animals actually made it.

WHITFIELD: Among those the macaws right?

LEE: The macaws are fine and our penguin colony all fared well and they have been moved to Monterey Bay Aquarium.

WHITFIELD: I have to ask then why weren't measures taken to remove or relocate these animals before the storm since there was a two and a half day warning that this was going to be a category four or five storm?

LEE: It's hard to tell. It is hard to second-guess at this point. As I mentioned, sometimes it's more stressful for animals to move them before a situation like this than it is to just let them ride it out and those are decisions that have to be made.

WHITFIELD: The percentage of the population that survived is what?

LEE: We don't know. We're still checking but we have a lot of survivors and some great success stories, and we are happy about that.

WHITFIELD: All right. Melissa Lee director of public relations for the Adubom Aquarium of the Americas there in New Orleans. I know you look forward to the day you can reopen and return some of those animals to that aquarium. Thanks so much.

LEE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well CNN has been trying to help reunited family members separated by Katrina and we don't discriminate against victims who may just happen to walk on all fours. Coming up in the next hour we will show that happy ending of one mans search for his furry friend.

And up next meet the man who wants to bring business back to ground zero why safety is one of his biggest selling points.

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WHITFIELD: You are looking at a live picture of Sun Valley, Idaho where a large crowd is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Tibetan Bootist leader Dalai Lama is going to be speaking to the crowd there during what's called his healing address of compassion, that taking place on this four-year anniversary of 9/11, as well as marking the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We will be taking that live as soon as the Dalai Lama enters.

Four years ago today the World Trade Center Twin Towers and five near by buildings crumbled in the deadly terrorist attacks, since then government officials have come up with a plan to remember and rebuild at the sight. CNN's Miles O'Brien spoke with the man at the heart of the rebuilding effort.

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MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Larry Silverstein is a man on a mission. Renting office space at Ground Zero. Talk about a hard sell.

LARRY SILVERSTEIN: Forty thousand square feet of space, totally unobstructed no columns of any kind.

O'BRIEN: His 52-story building overlooking the site is nearly done, ready for occupancy next March. It's called World Trade Center Seven, the same as the building it replaced an office tower Silverstein developed in the 1980s across the street from the trade center site. The last building to fall after the terror attack, it is the first to rise, again, it took only two years for construction workers to finish the 741-foot steel frame. When the twin towers and five other buildings fell on September 11 four years ago, about 12 million square feet of office space was lost. Silverstein's goal replaces it all.

SILVERSTEIN: We are at the beginning of the process. And that we have an obligation to do an extraordinary job to the best of our ability.

O'BRIEN: The Freedom Tower will be next. The 1,776-foot iconic tower at the center of the master-rebuilding plan. Silverstein knows companies may have the jitters about locating at Ground Zero so he's exceeding fire codes.

SILVERSTEIN: This is a two-foot thick section of concrete wall.

O'BRIEN: Fire stairwells are wider than they need to be. A concrete casing reinforced with steel protects them and elevator banks. There are two sprinkler systems and stronger fireproofing.

SILVERSTEIN: What you have here is a structure designed to withstand massive forces.

O'BRIEN: The rent is competitive for Manhattan, $50 a square foot. The views are arguably priceless. One little problem. Right now Silverstein is the only tenant.

SILVERSTEIN: However, I will tell you it's my expectation that in the not very distant future we will be signing additional tenants.

O'BRIEN: But it won't be easy. Sure there is the fear factor but also the companies displaced by 9/11 have moved on, and there is a glut of empty office space in lower Manhattan, but Silverstein believes the 9/11 memorial might actually lure businesses, a destination work place like the Trade Center had the misfortune to lease for 99 years just six weeks before it was destroyed. With an insurance payout of $4.5 billion, Silverstein hasn't missed a payment.

SILVERSTEIN: A $120 billion dollars a year, $10 million dollars a month, $300,000 a day, Saturday, Sundays, and holidays. That's why I have to get back to work.

O'BRIEN: A man working furiously to restore the hole in the skyline.

SILVERSTEIN: I am only 74. I figure and I figure I am going out with a bang.

O'BRIEN: Miles O'Brien CNN, New York.

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WHITFIELD: The fallout from Hurricane Katrina enters a new phase, clean up. We will bring you the latest from New Orleans as it tries to dry out. Plus meet Max, big Max right there, we will explain this networks special connection to the search for his mother and brother when CNN LIVE SUNDAY continues after this.

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