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CNN Live At Daybreak
Hurricane Ophelia Pounding North Carolina Coast; President Bush Goes Back to Scene of Big One
Aired September 15, 2005 - 05:00 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 Thursday, September 15.
Hurricane Ophelia is pounding the North Carolina coast right now. Ophelia may be only a category one, but it's staying put and boy, is it making its presence felt.
President Bush goes back to the scene of the big one. This time he'll lay out his Katrina recovery plan.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's made our father very, very happy. She's the most important thing. William and I (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Prince Harry dishes on his new step mom, Camilla, and his big brother William in a rare birthday interview.
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 Ophelia in just a minute.
Also ahead, hope and Holyfield and the heartbreak. A boxing champ helps a couple displaced by Katrina to take their first big step forward.
And what seemed like an impossible rescue mission has turned into an even more incredible discovery in the ocean. You will have to see this.
But first "Now in the News", it's been another deadly day in Iraq. Within the last half hour two suicide car bombs went off in Baghdad. No word yet on deaths. Five hours ago a suicide car bomber killed 16 police commandos in Baghdad. Six other people were killed elsewhere. And in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb killed two police officers.
President Bush leaves this afternoon for his fourth visit to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina struck. The president addresses the nation on the recovery effort tonight from Louisiana. That's at 9:00 Eastern. CNN will bring it to you live. A big day for Great Britain's Prince Harry, he turns 21. No big celebration is planned. Instead the prince, who's third in line to the throne, says he'll likely spend it on maneuvers with his army union.
To the Forecast Center and Chad with Ophelia.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Still pounding the coast the there, Carol. Ocracoke Island now really getting it and it came in, yesterday we saw it down by Wilmington, last night through Beaufort, and right on back even here to Atlantic Beach, Beaufort, if you will. And then all the way back up here into Cape Hatteras.
The spinning storm pounding the waves now onto Ocracoke Island, also into Pamlico Sound, Portsmouth Island. The Ocracoke Lighthouse right there and then the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse right there, so this entire area is pounding the waves right along this national seashore and in many cases there are homes there, from Cape Hatteras right on back to Ocracoke Island.
Hard to get there, it's a long drive there no matter where you go. Either that or you take a ferry. And there are also rain showers and thunderstorms all the way as far west as Washington where this river here, some of the rivers, the Neuse River now up about eight feet because of the storm surges. The water has just poured into the Pamlico Sound and that water funneling up the rivers. Just like the storm surges that we saw into Bay Saint Louis from the same process, but just not as large because the storm isn't a category four. It's in fact still a category one.
There is the eye of the storm right there. It is forecast to head out into the ocean, actually miss Cape Hatteras, and it did miss Cape Lookout altogether, the center of the eye did, so there wasn't any a landfall overnight that I can tell, but there certainly was an awful lot of wind and an awful lot of rain, Cape Lookout, 92 miles per hour -- Carol.
COSTELLO: How much rain could they get, Chad?
MYERS: Just south of Wilmington picked up almost 14 inches.
COSTELLO: Wow...
MYERS: So...
COSTELLO: That means flooding.
MYERS: Sure does.
COSTELLO: Let's get a live update on Ophelia from the coast. Stacy Neumann of CNN affiliate News 14 Carolina joins us live from Atlantic Beach. Good morning. Tell us about conditions out there.
STACY NEUMANN, NEWS 14 CAROLINA REPORTER: Well good morning. We're still getting a few rain bands passing through, so they still do have some high winds lashing this area and definitely some rain. Most of the people around here decided to ride Ophelia out. They said they weren't too concerned about the strength of a category one hurricane.
What they were concerned about around here was her staying power and it looks right now they had good reason to. The rains were sustained and long enough. They managed actually to wash out the end of the pier. We're at the Sheraton on Atlantic Beach. They also managed to wash out many streets, businesses and homes.
At one point we saw floodwaters coming from the bay, all the way over the streets over to the ocean side. About 53,000 people in the North Carolina area without power, according to Progress Energy, about 13,000 in Carteret County alone. Hundreds of people around here have certainly sought shelter in the refugees around here.
They also say that many of the counties around here decided to impose a curfew yesterday, so a lot of people aren't even supposed to be out of their homes until about 6:00 this morning. But the way Ophelia is moving through, they probably won't even be able to get out around (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and it looks like when they do, they certainly aren't going to like what they see.
COSTELLO: No, I don't think so. And you know power will likely be knocked out. Is it knocked out already?
NEUMANN: Yes, power knocked out to my area late last evening, but I think we were one of the last areas to go. And certainly one of the problems when the power is knocked out is that those power crews aren't able to get out there in the strength of those winds. They have to wait until things die down a little bit.
Most of the folks that we talked to before the storm, though, were pretty well prepared. They had gone out and bought generators and flashlights, they say. As I said, not so much concern about with the strength of Ophelia, just that duration. So they were ready to really ride it out. They had latent supplies.
COSTELLO: All right. Stacy Neumann of CNN affiliate News 14 Carolina, joining us live from Atlantic Beach, North Carolina this morning. Thank you.
New Orleans getting back to normal (UNINTELLIGIBLE) our "Mission Critical" update from the Hurricane Katrina disaster zone, just over a week ago the New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, called for forced evacuation. Today Nagin says he is ready to let people back in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: I'm going to announce a phased repopulation plan that is going to deal with some of the areas that were least hit by the hurricane and had less water. And then within the next week or two, we should have about 180,000 people back in the city of New Orleans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Nagin adds the plan may shock a few people. It includes allowing residents back into some of the areas that sustained lesser damage from Katrina, as you heard. Those areas will also have temporary stores and two working hospitals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: There were failures at every level of government, state, federal, and local. At the state level we must take a careful look at what went wrong and make sure it never happens again. The buck stops here and as your governor I take full responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco follows the president's lead. She vows to rebuild and urges the nearly one million people displaced by Katrina come home. Blanco also says she plans to appoint an outside financial advisor to make sure recovery money is properly spent.
The rebuilding of the Gulf Coast is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars. Democrats are proposing an independent organization themselves to oversee the projects. But some Republicans are asking for a single person to coordinate federal agencies in the recovery efforts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. PETE DOMENICI (R), NEW MEXICO: It's not necessary to have some statutory mandated czar, but I do think that this Congress would be better served if we had one person we knew that was in charge of this to call. The president would be better served if he had one person responding to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Many coastal communities will require massive rebuilding projects, among them Long Beach, Mississippi. Authorities there have actually put up barbed wire around most of the battered town. They say it's an effort to keep looters from picking through the remains of the community.
Military police in the area also say there are several bodies still in the town. The 35-foot storm surge wiped out about 75 percent of Long Beach.
Ousted FEMA Director Michael Brown goes public for the first time about the Katrina fiasco. Brown tells "The New York Times" he frantically phoned the White House in the desperate hours after Katrina struck. Browns says he reported that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and her staff were overwhelmed and the situation was out of control.
As for the slow federal response, Brown tells the newspaper -- quote -- "I truly believe the White House was not at fault here.
So let's get a look at New Orleans this hour. CNN Radio's Jim Roope is there. Jim, there is another investigation this morning into a nursing home where at least 14 people died. What can you tell us about that?
JIM ROOPE, CNN RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Well it's a very sad situation, Carol and hopefully this will be the last of these kinds of situations. But a nursing home in New Orleans where it was pretty much cut off by floodwaters. This wasn't a result of drowning, like the St. Rita's Nursing Home.
This was succumbing to heat, to the stress, to probably lack of medications. Fourteen elderly people died there. You could see where they tried to get cool, moving beds into hallways, even sleeping outside, pillows, there's water bottles strewn about. Some military meals, those MREs, are strewn about, so they were waiting for rescue and 14 of them died as a result of that. So it's a very sad situation.
I'm sure an investigation will be launched into that as it has been launched into the nursing home at St. Rita's and also the hospital where those 45 people were there. But again, this is just another sad situation, a result of this hurricane.
COSTELLO: Well Jim, you said there was the presence of MREs, which would say to me that federal officials or somebody having to do with the National Guard, the state of Louisiana, were there.
ROOPE: Right. They weren't cut off completely. They were able to be given some supplies. And I think that's another question in this investigation. But they were waiting to be rescued, to be evacuated out, and it's just the heat is incredible. I mean it's hot everywhere.
COSTELLO: Well I guess...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: I guess what I'm saying, Jim, is if somebody knew...
ROOPE: Why weren't they evacuated right away?
COSTELLO: Exactly.
ROOPE: Yes. Well I wish I could answer that question. I'm sure there are plenty of people that would like to answer that question. But this is something we'll find out as an investigation progresses.
COSTELLO: Also the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, came out today. You just heard her probably say she takes full responsibility. The buck stops here. Reaction from the city of New Orleans.
ROOPE: Well she's taking a cue from the president. Mayor Nagin also taking that same cue taking some responsibility. I don't know what the residents are thinking except for the fact that the ones I've talked to are very angry with their local government, not so much the federal government. In talking with some evacuees in Houston a couple of weeks ago, when they were evacuated to there, everyone was angry at Mayor Nagin, especially those who were evacuated from the Superdome. They said all he had to do was come in there with a bullhorn and say we know you're here.
Everything's fine. Hang tight. We'll be there. That's all they needed to eliminate that panic factor and destroy the Superdome. It was every man for themselves because they didn't know what was going on. That's all they needed. So it was little communication efforts like that about which everyone is angry. So Mayor Nagin taking some responsibility, Governor Blanco taking some responsibility, taking a cue from President Bush.
COSTELLO: And what do they want to hear President Bush say? Because of course he's going to give a speech from Louisiana later today.
ROOPE: They want to know what's being done, not that he's going to promise aid, but what are you doing? What is that aid? How much money? When can we rebuild? When can we find out when our ground is not contaminated enough so we can rebuild? We already know that most of the buildings that were -- that succumbed to floodwaters are going to have to be torn down. What's the next step and how much is it gong to cost? How much am I going to get help? How much is it going to cost me? I think those are the real questions that the residents want to hear.
COSTELLO: Jim Roope from CNN Radio reporting live from New Orleans this morning. Thank you Jim.
Four hours from now Democrats will get their last chance to try to nail down solid answers from Chief Justice-nominee John Roberts. So far he's not budging on hot button issues like abortion and the right to die.
CNN congressional correspondent Bob Franken has more details now from the confirmation hearings.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not so fast Judge Roberts, a few Democrats want to question you just a little bit more this morning before the special interest groups testify for and against you. And you might want to ignore those Republicans who are already starting their victory celebration.
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: If people can't vote for you, then I doubt that they can vote for any Republican nominee. You have made a very, very strong presentation here.
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: You've done very well. It's going to be very hard for people to cast a no vote against you.
FRANKEN: For two long days, Roberts finessed the Democrats and left them sputtering, refusing to be pinned down on specific issues, abortion, property rights, doctor assistant suicide.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Without any knowledge of your understanding of the law because you will not share it with us we are rolling the dice with you Judge. FRANKEN: Roberts insisted that like past Supreme Court nominees, he didn't want to compromise his credibility as he considered these matters. But one Democrat argued he had discussed legal issues in speeches and legal filings for years.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Why this room should be some kind of cone of silence is beyond me. But you're being less forthcoming with this committee than just about any other person who has come before us.
JUDGE JOHN ROBERTS, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I think I have been more forthcoming than any of the other nominees.
FRANKEN (on camera): That's about as close as Roberts has gotten to an argument during his careful two days of tiptoeing through this minefield. Now he can look forward to a confirmation vote by the full committee a week from today and by the full Senate the following week.
Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: There was a moment of brevity during the confirmation hearings when Roberts was a bit more revealing than he has been. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHUMER: It's as if I asked you what kind of movies do you like. Tell me two or three good movies and you say I like movies with good acting. I like movies with good directing. I like movies with good cinema photography and I ask you no, give me an example of a good movie. You don't name one.
ROBERTS: First, "Doctor Zhivago" and "North by Northwest".
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: See, he could answer a question, just a little bipartisan chuckle there.
Coming up, even with floodwaters receding in New Orleans, police patrols are still going around the clock and some of the streets are still very uneasy.
There may be some money out there to help recover from Hurricane Katrina. We'll hear all about it and how you can get a hold of it.
Safety in numbers apparently applies to some former residents of New Orleans Oceanarium. We'll explain, but first here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: International markets in positive territory this morning. Tokyo's Nikkei up big time, more than 152 points. The London FTSE up 20. The German DAX up five. Going up, in future's trading light crude oil trading above $65 a barrel this morning and you know what that means.
Your news, money, weather and sports at 5:17 Eastern, here's what's all new this morning. President Bush back on hurricane duty today. He's making his fourth trip to the Gulf region and tonight the president goes on TV to outline his short and long-term recovery plans for the disaster area.
Insurgents have killed at least 24 people today in Iraq including 16 police officers who died in a suicide car bombing in Baghdad, comes one day after more than 150 Iraqis were killed and 300 wounded in a string of attacks.
In money news, Northwest and Delta Airlines have filed for bankruptcy protection. As we told you yesterday, they were planning the restructuring move. Both airlines say they'll continue regular service and frequent flyer programs.
In culture, Academy Award winning producer and director Robert Wise has died. Wise directed such classics as "The Sound of Music" and "Westside Story". He also edited "Citizen Cain". Wise was 91 years old.
In sports, Jeff Gordon will have a new crew chief for this weekend's race in New Hampshire. Robby Loomis stepped down just four days after Gordon missed getting into the chase for the championship. The split between Gordon and Loomis, well I guess Chad, this has been expected.
MYERS: It has. Loomis is now going to climb aboard the pit box now of the "48" car, Jimmie Johnson, because he is in the race for the chase. He'll be there for the next 10 races to see what happens and then Loomis is going to actually move over to the Petty Enterprises, where he actually spent 11 years anyway. And Steve Letarte will be the new crew chief for -- maybe it's interim -- the crew chief for -- there you go -- Mr. Jeff Gordon, my father's favorite racer.
Good morning, Carol. We do have a couple of things to talk about today. One is Ophelia, the storm now pounding the Cape Hatteras region from Ocracoke Island and Ocracoke Lighthouse, right on up to Cape Hatteras. This is the second or third time this storm now -- this type of storm has battered Cape Hatteras. If you remember, years ago they actually (UNINTELLIGIBLE) they took the lighthouse and they moved it away from the beach because of such threats from such storms.
There you go. Here's the latest on Ophelia, 85 miles per hour, and the latest numbers, 34.7, 76.1. It is forecast to move to the north and to the northeast, Carol, and in 15 minutes I'm going to show you that some of the models take it into Long Island.
COSTELLO: Oh, wow. OK, well we're going to stick around for that. Thank you, Chad. That's a look at the latest headlines for you this morning.
Our coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina continues, but as we go to break, from CNN's Victims and Relief Desk, some of the missing and their contact information.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Heavily armed troops are on patrol each night with reinforcement flying overhead. They are determined to take back the streets for good, but it's not in a war zone. It just feels like one.
Our Jeff Koinange takes us on the New Orleans night patrol.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 10:00 p.m. and members of the New Orleans Police Department SWAT team are going through a last-minute briefing before hitting the streets, streets that more than two weeks after Katrina can still be very dangerous at night. They are joined by teams from the U.S. military, as well as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) pit bulls down here for protection, so...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
KOINANGE: He tells us his unit has received several dozen calls in recent nights, made numerous arrests that as the water recedes from neighborhoods, armed thugs move in to steal. SWAT, with the backup it's now getting is determined to take back the streets, determined to restore law and order in what was fast becoming a lawless land.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
KOINANGE: They are not taking any chances. The looters still out there are said to be heavily armed, having stolen guns and other weapons from several ammunition stores.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go on spec (ph) three. Everybody go on spec (ph) three.
KOINANGE: Tonight they are patrolling the Sixth District, a place they've aptly nicknamed Mogadishu Mile, scene of many a running gun battle between looters and law enforcements.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Federal Express van riding around and the occupants, it's a stolen van. They're looters. So if you see a Federal Express van, we're going to challenge that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
KOINANGE: They move out in single file, weapons at the ready just in case. We agreed to walk the Mogadishu Mile with them. (SOUNDS)
KOINANGE: The only night sounds are the men walking and dogs barking. The only lights in the streets coming from their weapons, a helicopter hovers overhead, a bit of air support for the ground troops. In some neighborhoods, they literally go building to building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One guy down on the corner...
KOINANGE: Back on the streets the patrol splits up. Some continue door to door while others set up checkpoints.
(on camera): I've just been handed one of these night vision goggles to take a look through, see what they see.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger that. Stand by. Let me check with ICE.
KOINANGE (voice-over): The team behind me will be out until dawn when they'll be replaced by another SWAT team. It'll be around the clock patrols with no end in sight.
Jeff Koinange, CNN, on patrol with SWAT.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: More news of the New Orleans police (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the department is getting a new fleet of vehicles, courtesy of comrades in another state. Our Betty Nguyen has that part of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The heart behind the badge in Delaware, the New Castle County Police Department is sending 30 squad cars to New Orleans to help keep their police department rolling. The cars were supposed to be sold at an auction, but New Castle County is instead reconditioning the cars, engines and lights and applying New Orleans Police Department decals.
CHRIS GOONS, NEW CASTLE COUNTY EXECUTIVE: I'm thrilled that New Castle County is able to make this concrete short-term assistance offer to the New Orleans Police Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(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. Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK. Coming up in the next 30 minutes, you'd think they'd want to stay at sea, but these dolphins are trying to get home safe and sound.
And it's a big birthday for Prince Harry. We'll hear his take on life at the ripe old age of 21.
But first "Now in the News", within the last hour four of two suicide car bombers in Baghdad killing at least four police officers. There was another suicide car bombing that killed 16 elite police officers in the capital. Elsewhere 10 people were killed in Baghdad and Kirkuk in a rash of attacks.
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