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American Morning

Ophelia Blasts North Carolina Coast; New Orleans Plans for Repopulation

Aired September 15, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. Breaking news from North Carolina, where Hurricane Ophelia is grinding from the Outer Banks, moving very slowly with punishing wind and rain. This will not end any time soon. We're live on the Outer Banks with more on the storm and the forecast ahead -- Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien, live from Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Normally this is a place that is busy, a great place to watch people and listen to some music 24/7. Well, this morning, not the case. It's a good place to watch garbage piling up and a see few rats scurrying by. But the mayor of New Orleans has a plan to bring people back into the city in a matter of a few weeks, as many as 200,000 of them. Along with that, the president coming here once again, his fourth visit on day 17 since Katrina hit. We'll keep you updated on that as well -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And breaking news from Iraq, suicide bombers attacking Baghdad for a second day in a row. Three explosions, at least 30 people dead. A live report's ahead, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning, and welcome, everybody, from New York. Miles is in New Orleans this morning.

Hey, Miles. Good morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning, Soledad.

I'm on Bourbon Street. It's dark. It's quiet. It's very much unlike the French Quarter on day 17 after Katrina. Still a long way to before this city comes back, but the mayor, Ray Nagin, says he has a plan to bring people back into the city. I'm going to tell you more about in a moment.

But before we talk about the aftermath of Katrina, let's talk about a hurricane that is in the here and now, Ophelia, a storm that has malingered off the coast of the Carolinas now for days, continues its north-eastward march up along the coast. It does not appear the eye will make landfall, but that doesn't matter so much, because there's still a tremendous amount of possibility for storm surge, rain and high winds, from Surf City, North Carolina all the way up to the North Carolina, Virginia border a hurricane warning is in effect right.

This is a Category 1 storm, which means winds at about the 75- mile-per-hour range, not nearly as strong as Katrina, but a storm to reckon with, a storm to watch out for, and that's what CNN's Susan Candiotti is doing. She's in Nags Head this morning.

Susan, what's the latest?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, flooding and erosion on everyone's mind here. It was high tide about an hour ago. So the waves are already starting to recede, but you they look very, very mean, and they will get meaner looking still as the day goes on. I'll start to make my way up the staircase here as we show you the pier out there at Nags Head. It did take a bit of a pounding, a bit of a hit, during Hurricane Isabel two years ago this very week. The (INAUDIBLE) stayed in place, but the Pier House Restaurant at the end of that pier was -- took a lot of destruction just a couple of years ago, so we'll be keeping an eye on that as the day goes on.

Just talked to emergency management officials here a little while ago. They're predicting that we won't feel tropical storm force winds until about 3:00 this afternoon, and might never feel hurricane-force winds, might being the operative word there.

But south of us, Hatteras Island, point south of Oregon inlet down at Cape Haterras, and down that direction, is expected to take quite a bit of a hit from this storm, even though it's remaining offshore. A lot of wind, a lot of rain. They could be in a lot of trouble down there. Most of the people down there, residents have not evacuated, although it is under a mandatory evacuation order. Tourists, for the most part, have gotten out -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Susan Candiotti reporting for us this morning. Susan, thank you very much.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: And let's get right back to Miles in New Orleans this morning -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Soledad.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin yesterday hadn't spoken to the press in quite some time, held a briefing for the first time in quite a bit, and was considerably more optimistic than he had been during and immediately after Katrina. At one point he said this city would be difficult to repopulate for perhaps as many as months. But now he has what he's called a phased repopulation plan. Some of the neighbors least affected by the storm, the high ground, if you will, like the French Quarter, where I'm standing in now, he'd like to announce a plan, which he will today, to bring about 180,000 New Orleans residents into the city in the coming weeks.

Let's listen to the mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MYR. RAY NAGIN, 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. Then within the next week or two, we should have about 180,000 people back in the city of New Orleans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Of course, the mayor, as you may know or may have seen, has purchased a house in Dallas himself. Nevertheless, he is encouraging citizens of this city to return. There is some concern they won't come back, and that is why he and the governor yesterday both making direct pleas to people who have evacuated to, in fact, return.

But lots of problems to contend with here. Still no power in the French Quarter, unless you have a generator. The water is still not safe to drink. So a lot has to happen, really, before safely people move back in.

CNN's Sean Callebs is in downtown New Orleans from far where I stand with more on this part of the story -- Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Indeed, if you look behind, you can see just one of thousands of homes in this area devastated. The mayor has been told that many of these homes are going to have to be completely razed and basically start all over. So he has this rather ambitious plan of bringing about a third of the residents back into the city as the city struggles to get basic services back, like water and electricity.

Now, what makes him think that he can do that? Well, the mayor was going to announce this later on today, and we have some pictures of some of the areas just outside the city. This is Gretna (ph), where some business leaders, some homeowners are able to go back. This area really wasn't punished by the ravaging flood waters that poured in after Katrina blew there here. So certainly, Gretna and other areas in Jefferson Parish have the upper hand on people who live right here in the heart of the city.

Meanwhile, if you go around, you see a number of houses that have been spray painted. These identification numbers are very important. If there's a number written at the bottom, that means that a fatality has been found inside the house. That body retrieval does continue today. We heard yesterday FEMA and other officials say they're going to do that with the utmost dignity, and that's certainly something that city officials and state officials have been calling for, for some time. Well, ahead of the president's speech tonight, what exactly will he say? Even the mayor is eagerly waiting this information.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAGIN: I want him to basically assure the nation that whatever it takes, there will be a full analysis and this will never happen ever again in this country's history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: Now the mayor said, in the past, the city has always presumed if residents could get to high ground and be OK for a day or two, that, in his words, the cavalry will roll in and help them out. He said that didn't happen this time. So in the future, the city's going to make a different kind of plan and not depend so much on the cavalry in the future -- Miles.

CALLEBS: In this case, the cavalry didn't come in a timely manner.

Sean Callebs, downtown, New Orleans, thanks very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, the Louisiana governor, Kathleen Blanco, Miles, taking the blame for the failures in the state response to the disaster. In a speech last night, she insisted that New Orleans and the surrounding parishes will be rebuilt. She admits that the government let the people down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, 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)

S. O'BRIEN: That was the Governor Blanco of Louisiana talking. President Bush is going to address the nation tonight from Jackson Square in the heart of New Orleans French Quarter. He plans to announce the federal reconstruction package for those devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

CNN's Bob Franken live at the White House for us this morning. Bob, good morning.

You heard what the mayor said he wants to hear from the president. He wants the president to ensure that there will be a full analysis of what went horribly wrong. What do we expect, really, that's going to be in the president's announcement tonight?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we've been hearing in the last few days is everybody saying the buck stops here. And what we're going to hear from the president tonight is that he's going to be proposing that big bucks are spent to deal with the right now and the future.

As far as the right now is concerned, there are people scattered all over the country from New Orleans, of course, because they can't get back. He's going to propose money that can be used for education, for housing, for healthcare.

There's also going to be money dedicated for the future, in particular, money to encourage businesses, in the form of tax credits, to come back to New Orleans to rebuild the city. He is going to have proposals like that. He is also going to be utilizing a number of proposals that for years conservatives have been trying to utilize to encourage development, to encourage education, school vouchers, this type of thing.

All of that are going to be part of a message in his fourth trip down there that he is on the ground, he is very heavily engaged in this, and that is he is going to try to recover whatever damage was done to his reputation and the reputation of administration, his administration, by building a bright new future for New Orleans.

Now, of course, the polls show that he continues to suffer significant damage there. So he's going to be on the ground saying he is engaged, he is the chief executive, he's going to supervise a new future -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Bob, it's an address, but he's not talking to a live audience. Why not?

FRANKEN: He's going to be looking at the camera, just like we do, just like Miles does, down on location. In effect, he's doing a live report from New Orleans and saying, let me talk to you people of the United States. This is what we must do as a country to resurrect New Orleans.

S. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken for us this morning. You know, everyone is going to be watching, obviously. And as you say, four trips in just a few days or more than two weeks now since the disaster struck. We'll all be watching very closely what the president has to say. CNN is going to have live coverage as the president speaks to the nation from Louisiana, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, as Bob told us. Our coverage begins with "ANDERSON COOPER 360," and that starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Another major story to tell you about this morning out of Iraq. Insurgents launching another round of attacks today, killing at least 30 people, wounding 55 more. Twenty of those deaths come from three suicide car bombings in the southern Baghdad district of Doura.

CNN's Jennifer Eccleston live for us in Baghdad this morning. Jennifer, good morning. What can you tell us about these bombings? Who were the targets?

JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Soledad. Well, at least for now, the focus seems to be, at this stage, on Iraq's security forces. Two separate suicide car bombers, as you mentioned, hit Iraqi elite police commando units. The blasts within minutes of each other in Doura, a district in southern Baghdad. At that stage, four police were killed and dozens were wounded.

Three hours earlier, another suicide attack on commandos in that very same area, and this time, much higher death tolls. Sixteen police died and 21 others were wounded. But also today, Soledad, we saw the funerals for some of those victims of Wednesday's multiple suicide attacks, where over 150 people were killed -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Jennifer Eccleston, updating what has really become a bad situation there in Baghdad, with those numbers just staggering over the last couple of days. Jennifer, thanks.

Let's get right back to Miles. Good morning, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning, Soledad. Live from the French Quarter, we're on historic Bourbon Street. You would barely recognize it this morning. Trash heaped up all over the place, nary a soul in sight. Still, there is talk of a turnaround here in New Orleans. Hope against hope that they can do that soon.

The president will come here, to Jackson Square, not far from where I stand, the historic old heart of this city, this historic heart of the French Quarter. We'll talk to White House counselor Dan Bartlett and ask him what lies ahead for that speech.

And then later, those evacuees, there are just hundreds of thousands of them. And in many cases, they ended up really, might as well have ended up on the face of the moon. They are in different parts of the country trying to adjust and they're receiving a warm welcome. We'll have a special report from Kelly Wallace.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: As we mentioned just a moment ago, President Bush is going to address the nation tonight from New Orleans. Dan Bartlett is counselor to the president. He joins us from the White House this morning.

Dan, good morning. Nice to see you as always.

DAN BARTLETT, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's run through the laundry list of issues that are of concern to the American public right now. First, people horrified, in many cases, by the response to Katrina, nervous about the implications about any future disaster in this country. Gas prices are just under $3 a gallon now. Violence in Iraq, 180 people dead in the last two days. The price tag in Iraq, $200 billion. Price tag for Katrina, we're now told by various reports, could be $200 billion. That's a pretty big and somewhat scary list I'm giving you this morning. What's the president going to say tonight that will alleviate the concerns of Americans on those issues?

BARTLETT: Well, tonight is an opportunity for President Bush to, most importantly, speak directly to the citizens of the Gulf Coast and tell them how the government is going to work with state and local leaders to make sure they are able to get up off the ground, in some cases literally, and dust off, and start anew, and what that requires is a strategy to help tens of thousands of people who are literally living with only, in some cases the clothes on their back, and show how we're going to help them get their health care, and their education and their housing. And more importantly, how the future -- what the future is going to look like them in the previous states of Louisiana and Mississippi. How we're going to work to help rebuild a stronger New Orleans and Gulf coast communities, whether it be in Biloxi or elsewhere.

It's critically important that President Bush demonstrate that the federal government has a strategy, has a plan and is going to help these people. It's also important as a country that we come together, and realize that these people in the Gulf coast are going to need the help of the entire nation. There have been incredible acts of compassion and kindness that we've seen in the past two weeks. But what President Bush is going to be tonight is that more is going to be needed, of every citizen throughout our country. More is going to be required of our federal government. He's going to prepare the nation for what's going to be some tough, difficult work ahead, but necessary work to make sure that the world and the Gulf Coast is better for the people who live there.

S. O'BRIEN: When you say tough, difficult work, I assume you're also speaking financially as well. The Cato Institute says there's a looming budget disaster. Does the president agree that, yes, indeed there is a looming budget disaster?

BARTLETT: Well, we definitely have our challenges when it comes to funding a war, responding as we have in prosecuting the war on terror, coming out of a recession, and now having to deal with a national emergency such as this, and that's going to require us to make some difficult decisions here in Washington, and it's going to be important that we don't have the same old, same old when it comes to the type of spending that we see in Washington. Tough choice will be to have made. President Bush is willing to do that. But we do have the wherewithal and the resources to meet our challenges without hurting our economy.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, Dan, the president's always gotten really tremendous support from the public on how we handles the war on terror. The polls after 9/11, 90 percent supported how he was handling that. Those numbers down to 50 percent now.

I want to play you a little bit about what the president said in his remarks just the other day. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack or another severe storm? And that's a very important question, and it's in our national interest that we find out exactly what went on and so that we can better respond.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Four years after 9/11, shouldn't the president of the United States be answering that question, not asking that question?

BARTLETT: Well, we were answering it over the last four years, and a lot of progress has been made.

But what has been demonstrated at every level of government that the system met its match with Katrina, and we have to learn why some of the steps we have taken in a post-9/11 world were not enough.

And some of that, I think, Soledad, will be the fact that we did face one of the most horrific storms our nation has ever faced. But there were shortcomings. There were breakdowns in communication, things that we shouldn't be tolerating in our country in a post-9/11 world, and President Bush takes responsibility and accountability for that, and he's going to make sure that we work at every level of government across the country to ensure that we learned the lessons from this experience so we can do everything we can to help make sure it doesn't happen again.

S. O'BRIEN: Dan Bartlett is counselor to the president. Dan, nice to see you as always. Thank you for talking with us.

BARTLETT: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN; CNN is going to have live coverage of the president's speech as he talks to the nation from Louisiana. That's 9:00 p.m. tonight Eastern Time. CNN coverage begins at 7:00 p.m.

Still to come this morning, business news. September 14th, black Wednesday for the airline business. Andy will take a look at how the bankruptcies at Delta and Northwest will, in fact, affect the industry as a whole. And we continue to keep a close eye on hurricane Ophelia. That category-one storm is now spinning just off the Carolina coast.

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

Business news now, the third and fourth largest airlines in the U.S. filing for bankruptcy on the very same day. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" to talk about the implications, and they're pretty much bad.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Exactly. I mean, this was expected, Soledad, still coming as a shock. We're talking about Delta and Northwest airlines filing for bankruptcy yesterday within minutes of each other, these two venerable companies, both over 75 years old, with tens of thousands of employees, serving hundreds of thousands of customers every day. We'll talk more next hour about the implication for customers. Four of the seven largest airlines of the United States are now in bankruptcy. These two joining United and U.S. Air. Only Continental, American Airlines and United are not in bankruptcy.

Look at the numbers here. You can see -- well, these are actually -- there we go. These are the numbers that these two companies have been faced with, Northwest actually in slightly better shape. The stocks are down. The shareholders are going to be wiped out more than likeley.

And the question is, what's going to happen to employees? That's a really difficult situation.

S. O'BRIEN: Delta stock lost 91 percent of its value?

SERWER: Yes, and it's going to be worthless. It's still trading, but there's just pennies on the dollar.

This all goes back, Soledad, to deregulation in 1978, when the airlines were allowed to freely compete, and really it's a system that didn't work. And over 100 airlines have gone bankrupt or have been liquidated since 1978. Again, the government needs to address this problem.

S. O'BRIEN: It's a huge problem.

SERWER: It is.

S. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer, thank you, and you really called it earlier on, in the last week or so.

SERWER: It was there to see, but thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get back to Miles. He's in New Orleans.

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

Ahead on the program, the governor of the state of Louisiana had a speech last night, and she took full responsibility for problems that occurred in the wake of Katrina. This morning, the former FEMA head has harsh criticism for her. We'll ask a couple of state lawmakrs what they think about Governor Blanco after a short break.

Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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