Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Too Soon for New Orleans Residents to Return?; Tropical Storm Rita Approaches Florida Keys; North Korea Vows to Abandon Nuclear Program

Aired September 19, 2005 - 05:00   ET

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

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: It is Monday, September 19. People in New Orleans face a long, hard road. As the city starts rebuilding brick by brick and levee-by-levee, we'll take you through the city zip code by zip code.
Also North Korea stands now in an international standoff. We'll bring you some major new developments in nuclear talks.

And does everybody love Raymond? The Emmy voters surely do. We'll recap television's biggest night.

From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK. I'm Kelly Wallace in today for Carol Costello who's on assignment in New Orleans this morning. Thanks so much for waking up with us. We'll hear from Carol in just a moment.

Also take a look at the left side of your screen. CNN is teaming up with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to bring you the faces of the missing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Since our effort began on Saturday morning calls to the center has tripled and 23 cases have been resolved, 15 of them with CNN's help. With your help, more displaced parents and children can be reunited throughout the day.

Now this, a look at these stories "Now in the News".

There's been an explosion this morning at the British embassy in Croatia. British officials say one person was wounded when an explosive device blew up in a mailroom. Authorities are now investigating.

North Korea is promising to give up its nuclear weapons program. That news came just hours ago in a joint statement at the six-nation talks in China. We'll bring you a live report from Beijing in just a few minutes.

More flooding is the last thing New Orleans needs, but engineers warn the city's damaged levee system may not keep floodwaters out if another strong storm hits this season. They say they're making repairs as fast as they can.

Thousands of tourists are evacuating the Florida Keys as Tropical Storm Rita turns closer. Rita could strengthen into category one, a category one hurricane by the time it arrives in the area later today. It's time to check in with Chad Myers in Atlanta. Chad, good to see you. I can't believe, what is this, the seventeenth named storm of the season we're talking about.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well yes, we had Philippe over the weekend, so I'm not even sure how all of this we just went from Philippe, there's no "Q" name. So then we went right to Rita and oh, was this just a mess over the weekend here. Philippe coming to the north and east of the Leeward Islands here, and it's going to actually travel to the east of Bermuda.

Here's the storm here that we're talking about, that you were talking about. This is Rita. Look how this storm has really intensified and now begun to spin. That's why it became that tropical depression 18 and then it moved on to become the "R" storm, Rita.

There is the storm itself. It is moving through the Bahamas right now, but it is forecast to become a yes, right there, a category one hurricane. Here are the Avocado Islands, the great Avocados and all the way up to Nassau here. Even have a couple of watches and warnings going on, hurricane warnings from the Dry Tortugas right on up into Ocean Reef, which is just north of Key Largo.

And then it moves into the Gulf of Mexico. Where does it go from there? Oh, that question is so important for the folks in New Orleans. They can't handle a category one hurricane and this is now forecast to become a category three hurricane in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico -- Kelly.

WALLACE: I can't really believe it Chad...

MYERS: Yes.

WALLACE: ... but we'll be talking about that throughout the morning. Talk to you in a few minutes, Chad. Thanks so much.

As the Gulf region slowly starts on the road to recovery, CNN will keep you as close to the story as possible. All week long we'll be reporting zip code by zip code as New Orleans rebuilds and more people return. We'll also focus on a key question. Just what are people coming back to?

Our very own Carol Costello is in the heart of New Orleans with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm standing here at the intersection of Canal and Bourbon Street, the most famous intersection (UNINTELLIGIBLE) New Orleans. These are the businesses that the mayor wants to reopen. They happen to be the very same businesses that were looted.

As you can see, the windows are still boarded up. If you take a look down on the street, you can see all of the debris left behind by the receding floodwaters and who knows what's on the streets. There's all kind of muck and garbage and debris that they haven't cleaned up yet.

As far as the electricity goes, some is on, some is off. As you can see, the traffic lights aren't working at this particular intersection. But if you take a look around at other parts of the city, it is. Tap water, let's talk about that for just a second because water is running, but you can't drink it.

You can't bathe in it, can't take a shower in it. You can't wash your hair in it. It's pretty much just so you can flush the toilet. Let's take a look down here. You can see what I'm talking about with the electricity. The electricity isn't on to some businesses on this street, but if you look down Bourbon Street, well you can see the Hustler Club is up and running and some traffic lights are up down the street.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And that was our Carol Costello reporting. We will check in with Carol and talk to her live at 5:30 Eastern Time.

It is going to take a lot more than a few traffic lights to get New Orleans up and running again. The cost of rebuilding will be enormous. How should the money be doled out and who's going to pay and how?

Former President Bill Clinton weighing in on all of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: Whatever is appropriate for the government to spend, I think we should spend. I don't think we need to just throw money at this. We need to really be careful now to make sure that we take care of the needs of the really poor people that were dislodged. They should be first, then having the area clean and safe should be second. Then giving a little time to have a serious rebuilding plan should be third. Right now we're all just flying blind with these numbers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: So will you end up footing part of the bill for Hurricane Katrina? President Bush says no, but a lot of Democrats don't agree.

CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a visit to the disaster zone Sunday, lawmakers said the immense job of rebuilding after Katrina should fall squarely on the federal government shoulders.

REP. TOM DAVIS (R), VIRGINIA: This is something I think every American identifies with. It could be their community the next time. QUIJANO: President Bush wants to rebuild hurricane ravaged areas without raising taxes, saying do so would slow down the economy. But some Democrats argue ruling out that option now is premature.

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: Where is he going to find roughly a half a trillion dollars over the next several years for Iraq and for Katrina? I think this is -- I think we're not level with the American people.

QUIJANO: They question how the administration can keep tax cuts in place while simultaneously paying for Katrina.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: We need some adult supervision of the budget process and we need to take responsibility for this process. That's something that we need from the president as well as our congressional leaders.

QUIJANO: Although the Bush administration won't talk specifics, some estimates put the rebuilding costs at around $200 billion. Some Republicans with an eye on the deficits say Americans understand the money will have to come from somewhere.

REP. MIKE PENCE (R), INDIANA: They expect the Congress to make the hard choices to pay for those expenses with real savings in other areas of government.

QUIJANO: They suggest delaying the new prescription drug benefit for seniors and putting off costly projects in the recently passed transportation bill.

SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: If we were to simply take about a fourth of that in all of the various port projects that were in that highway bill and redirect some of that to the Gulf region, we would have billions of dollars to help rebuild that area.

QUIJANO: President Bush, who returned to the White House Sunday from a weekend at Camp David, offered no hints at how the federal government will pay for the reconstruction effort.

(on camera): Tuesday President Bush travels back to the region visiting Mississippi and Louisiana. It will be his fifth time on the ground there since the hurricane hit three weeks ago.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: Well there is a major dispute to tell you about concerning getting people back into New Orleans. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says -- quote -- "Let's get going and allow some business owners back into parts of the city. But Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen says -- quote -- "not so fast". Admiral Allen is the man in charge of hurricane relief operations and he told CNN's "Late Edition" that things are nowhere near back to normal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VICE ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD: They're still trying to reconstitute the 911 system. Some of these people may not have telephone service. There is not power and there's not potable water. So you people into that situation and if you have an extreme weather event, you're very, very challenged to try and get notifications and to get them out. And we think that should be the subject of some very deliberate planning and a very thoughtful approach on how you reenter the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Admiral Allen and Mayor Nagin meet today to try to work out their differences.

Chad, this is an interesting issue. The mayor says bring them in. The admiral says though not so fast.

MYERS: And with a category three hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico in three days, how do you get them out?

WALLACE: That's the question...

MYERS: You know, I mean...

WALLACE: ... their safety once they're there.

MYERS: ... your levees are a foot and a half above sea level at this point because all those levees broke down. Those sea walls were 20, sometimes 20 feet above sea level, the ones that broke through and now you've got a foot and a half worth of sandbags. I'm not so sure.

But that's our DAYBREAK question of the day. Doesn't matter what we think. We want to know what you think. Is it too soon for New Orleans residents to return?

DAYBREAK@CNN.com. All those things, potable water, no 911, no services, no phone, no electricity. Water that you can't even get your hands in because you have a cut on your hands you could get an infection. Tell me about that. Tell me what you think, DAYBREAK@CNN.com -- Kelly.

WALLACE: Chad, I have a feeling we're going to hear from a lot of people on this one...

MYERS: I hope so.

WALLACE: I hope so too. OK, send those e-mails into DAYBREAK@CNN.com. Chad will talk to you in a few minutes.

Turning overseas now, there appears to be -- appears to have been a significant breakthrough this morning in the standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. During six-party talks in Beijing, Kim Gwan agreed to abandon all of its nuclear arms and eventually allow U.N. inspections inside that country.

More now from CNN's Stan Grant in Beijing, Stan, this appears to be somewhat of a surprise on this day.

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kelly, it is indeed. If you look back a year from now, you wouldn't have believed this was possible. Just over a year ago North Korea had walked away from the negotiating table, then went on to admit that it indeed had nuclear weapons. Well now it's saying it will abandon its nuclear weapons program. It will give up all nuclear activities in return for energy guarantees and also security guarantees, particularly from the United States.

United States reiterating it has no plans to attack or invade North Korea. It respects North Korea's sovereignty and will seek to normalize relations with North Korea. Interesting that but given not that long ago the United States was calling North Korea part of an axis of evil along with Iran and Iraq. It also spoke of North Korea as an outpost of tyranny.

There were words of conciliation today, not confrontation. Korea being brought back into the international fold, saying it will resign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, open itself up to inspections, and hopes at some point when it rebuilds its trust and respect with the international community, it can operate a civilian nuclear program for energy, not for bombs. But at this stage, all nuclear activities decease in return for these energy and security guarantees.

Two years of talking, four rounds of discussion, finally, finally they get a breakthrough -- Kelly.

WALLACE: And Stan talking to some experts and observers watching this all unfold, is this all a sign that the humanitarian situation inside North Korea must be significantly deteriorating to allow the country really to take this step?

GRANT: Well indeed there's been a lot of pressure on North Korea for a long time now. We know from world food program work is that there is a desperate need for food in North Korea. We know they don't have enough energy, enough electricity. There has been accusations flying at Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader that he's prepared to let his people starve while he holds this gun to the world's head.

Well now they're saying no, going to give up these nuclear weapons in return to the aid. I just recently took a trip to the North Korea-China border. If you speak to people up there who have fled North Korea, risked their lives to escape simply because they can't get anything to eat. It is a dire situation.

Part of this is to bring North Korea back into the fold, they hope in normalizing relations with the likes of the United States and Japan, getting the aid from South Korea, Russia and China, the other parties to this six-party agreement, that they can continue to rebuild their country. There is a long way to go. This is only a first step. They'll have another meeting in November, but it is being seen as a significant step -- Kelly.

WALLACE: Significant news indeed Stan and we'll be watching your reporting throughout the day on CNN and CNN International. Stan Grant reporting live this morning from Beijing.

Well still to come on this Monday edition of DAYBREAK, Tropical Storm Rita is on the move and so are residents and visitors in the Florida Keys. Evacuation orders are out and shelter doors are open.

Also getting the Big Easy back block by block, our very own Carol Costello is in New Orleans just across from the Mississippi from the French Quarter. We'll check in with her.

And some longtime coastal natives took the full fury of Katrina and survived. Chris Huntington has that story.

But first here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: Time now to get a check of the markets. The international markets are mixed this morning. Japan's Nikkei is closed for a holiday. Britain's FTSE is trading up 12 points, and the German DAX is down nearly 50 points.

Your news, money, weather and sports, it's about 16 minutes after the hour, and here is what is all new this morning.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin wants to speed up the return of people to his city of New Orleans, but the feds are telling him to slow down because it's still too dangerous there. Nagin meets today with the head of the federal hurricane relief effort.

What appears to be a major breakthrough this morning in nuclear talks with North Korea, the communist nation is promising to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange the United States and other nations are pledging energy and economic aid.

In money, Hurricane Katrina sent oil prices soaring. Now OPEC ministers are meeting in Vienna to find ways to cool the overheated oil market. They're expected to raise oil production.

In culture, "Everybody Loves Raymond" has won the Emmy for best comedy series. The sitcom went off the air last season. "Lost" won for best drama series at last night's awards.

In sports, the New Orleans Saints are playing what would have been their first home game hundreds of miles away. They take on the New York Giants at Giant stadium tonight. The Saints were displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

And Chad, they won last weekend, so a lot of New Orleans Saint lovers are hoping they can win tonight at Giant stadium.

MYERS: Yes in a Monday night doubleheader. I may get to see at least the early game for a little while...

WALLACE: Yes...

MYERS: ... before I have to go to sleep.

WALLACE: I don't think you'll be up for both games.

MYERS: No. Good morning everybody. Obviously if you haven't been watching TV over the weekend, Philippe developed, the "P" storm, P-H-I-L. Philippe developed there east of Puerto Rico and then Rita developed north of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and now it's in the Bahamas.

We'll zoom into that one because that's the one we're most concerned about for the U.S. It does look like Philippe will not hit anything, just kind of spin out there in the Atlantic Ocean. Here is Rita though, not that far from Nassau, not that far from Freeport, the Grand Bahamas Islands there.

Hurricane warnings in effect from Nassau southward all the way down to almost the Turk and Caicos and from Ocean Reef all the way to the Dry Tortugas. Those are hurricane warnings already. Hurricane conditions expected in the next 24 hours there and then from East Cape Sable, Cape Sable right on down to Florida City right up to Deerfield Beach.

Those are tropical storm warnings, expecting winds above 30 to 39 and maybe 50 miles per hour but not all the way to hurricane. Here is where this thing goes after it gets through the Florida Straits -- Kelly.

WALLACE: We don't like seeing those arrows headed towards the Gulf, in particular Louisiana.

MYERS: Well look you go all the way from Pensacola all the way almost to Brownsville, Texas, so that's a long way out there. That's still five days, but oh my goodness I just don't even want to look at this right now.

WALLACE: Exactly. Let's hope this does not happen. OK, Chad, and you know, we're going to stick around because we're going to keep talking about Tropical Storm Rita, as you're talking about it. It's already on the move and as the storm is approaching the Bahamas, hurricane shelters in South Florida are opening their doors.

Tina Varona of CNN affiliate WFOR is live on the scene in Florida City. Tina, thanks for joining us this morning. So we understand that tourists from the Florida Keys are being asked to leave. Is that right?

TINA VARONA, WFOR REPORTER: That is right. We are standing live along the U.S. 1 here in Florida City, not a whole lot of traffic coming in and out that we've seen all morning. Now take a look to the right. This sign pretty much says it all.

That a hurricane watch -- there's evacuation orders in progress. A warning to folks at they head into the Florida Keys. But however, this sign has changed because now there is a hurricane warning for the Florida Keys. This video was taken on Sunday, shows a steady stream of cars heading north to the mainland as Rita gained momentum over the Bahamas and moved toward the very vulnerable low lying island. Now because portions of the Florida Keys sits upward just above sea level, there of course is the potential threat of a storm surge and that is why emergency officials have posted mandatory evacuation orders for residents living in low lying areas.

Now of course mobile home owners need to beware as hurricane force winds can of course destroy the weak construction. Now to give you an idea, folks seem to be heeding the warning. As you see behind me, you can see a lot of cars now heading north into the Florida Keys. Of course, we hope they're looking at this sign because they really need to turn around and head the other way.

But between 12:00 and 1:00 this morning located in Big Pine Key, the Department of Transportation has a counter that is set up to count the number of vehicles that come in and out and as far as the vehicles going out of the Florida Keys, 161 cars actually moved north to the mainland. That is up from the typical 93 cars. Now we should also mention that schools all across Monroe County, that's all of the Florida Keys, are closed today. Along the Florida Turnpike, tolls have been suspended to make it an easier commute for folks to get to the mainland.

Reporting live in Florida City, Tina Varona for CNN.

WALLACE: Tina stay with us. I believe our meteorologist, Chad Myers, might have a question for you -- Chad.

MYERS: Yes, Tina, are the cars behind you, those are going into Key Largo. That's the 18-mile stretch really heading down. It appears that this is still open. They're still allowing cars in at this point?

VARONA: Yes, at this point it is still open, so cars can actually head south into Key Largo. Down the road is the beginning of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) sound road...

MYERS: OK.

VARONA: ... and that as we know is still open right now. But folks obviously really need to pay attention to this sign, turn around, and head back to the mainland.

MYERS: Will they make that a one-way road at any point, one way out only?

VARONA: You know as of right now we have heard no word that they are going to make that a one-lane road. That is possible later on as the hurricane does move closer and the threat does become a bigger threat here to the Florida Keys. But as of right now, the two lanes are open both on the north bound and south bound side of U.S. 1 here in Florida City and down to Key Largo.

MYERS: Tina, thank you very much. Watch out down there. (CROSSTALK)

MYERS: Going to get a little windy for you. The entire storm now from -- with the hurricane warnings, Kelly, all the way from the Dry Tortugas right on up to where she is, right there about Florida City, Ocean Reef in particular. That's all very low lying areas. I mean you really can get water over almost any of those roads at any time because the Keys -- the maximum height of any key down there is like 10 or 12 feet. That's it.

WALLACE: And you know what's interesting, Chad, you wonder how much the Katrina disaster influenced people to sort of heed these warnings maybe more than they would have in the past.

MYERS: I hope so.

WALLACE: All right, Chad, I hope so too. We'll talk to you in a few minutes.

Well coming up here on this Monday edition of DAYBREAK, they've been around for hundreds of years and even the force of Hurricane Katrina couldn't change that. Up next we'll show you some of the storm's most rugged survivors.

And later, we are going zip code by zip code, the areas in the path of the storm are making a comeback and we're going to show you how. This morning our own Carol Costello is live in one historic area that's ready to be reborn.

You are watching DAYBREAK for Monday, September 19. We'll be right back. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MYERS: Here's our question of the day. Is it too soon for New Orleans residents to return? Category three hurricane possibly in the Gulf of Mexico in three days, the levee is not ready for anything like that. DAYBREAK@CNN.com, let us know what you think. There's a little battle brewing between the vice admiral and the mayor. DAYBREAK@CNN.com -- Kelly.

WALLACE: All right, Chad, talk to you in a few minutes.

Well there is a reason for the phrase "strong as an ox". Just look at the Gulf Coast where the debris of homes and businesses, it piled high. Amid all that destruction, those wonderful towering oak trees.

Our Chris Huntington has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hurricane Katrina ripped up or ripped apart virtually every manmade structure along the entire coast of Mississippi. But out of this vast zone of devastation there stands mile after mile after mile a sign that not all life was destroyed.

Rising from the rubble are the old oak trees, massive oak trees thousands of them, right along the coast. Their leaves are brown and their bark is scarred from Katrina's salt water sandblasting, but most of them are centuries old and have been through this before, surviving Hurricane Camille in the '60's and countless unnamed storms before that.

They are treasured and not just for sentimental reasons. A grove of oaks saved Gary and Lisa Michiels' house in Biloxi and probably saved their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And had those trees not been there, our home would have...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... looked like those across the street.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We would have had the same fate and those are small trees...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They formed a barrier between the water and the debris and our home.

HUNTINGTON: The oak in their backyard is more than 400 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's always been so impressive to me. It's like a big hand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And just solid. They stand and almost fight the wind.

HUNTINGTON: Some lost that fight. This casino barge tossed up onto the shore took out the most famous tree in Biloxi, an oak that shaded the first meeting between European settlers and the leaders of the Biloxi tribe more than 300 years ago. While counting rings can tell you a tree's age, the branches tell you something of its life story.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's so much character to them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which storms I think create to give them the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and the twists and turns.

HUNTINGTON (on camera): How does it feel to see that they are standing and frankly most of them looking quite healthy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they had been all uprooted, I would have been even more devastated because these houses will -- I still have a good bit of years left in me that these houses will be rebuilt...

LISA MICHIELS, BILOXI RESIDENT: Trees will be here forever.

GARY MICHIELS, BILOXI RESIDENT: But if they were to have been all uprooted, I would not see those again.

HUNTINGTON (voice-over): But there they stand, even some young ones coming up to join the ranks. It is perhaps some sort of natural justice.

Chris Huntington, CNN, Biloxi, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And we thank Chris for that report. Some hopeful news that those strong oak trees are still standing.

And here is what is all new in the next half hour here on DAYBREAK. We go live to New Orleans where Carol Costello is watching residents trickle back home block by block.

Plus, Emmy loves Raymond, but it is the last time. We'll go live to Los Angeles to tell you who took home primetime statues.

This is DAYBREAK for Monday. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com