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American Morning

Residents and Business Owners Re-enter New Orleans; Government Official Wants New Orleans Safer Before Re-entry; Mississippi Is Cleaning Up; Hurricane Watch Update; Minding Your Business

Aired September 19, 2005 - 07:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Nice to have you back in town. We missed you.

MILES O'BRIEN: It is good to be back.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Kind of a long week for you, I'm sure, as it is for everybody who's out there.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, you've done one of those weeks, too. You know what it's like. It's hard out there but it's a story that needs to be told.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: How does it smell? I mean it was getting so disgusting by the time I left the week before you went. And it just seemed to be worse. And you could tell, even the reporters are start to clog up. I mean everybody sounded like they were getting a cold.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes. I think toward the end of the week I was really having a problem because as the water receded, it really does get worse. And it's breakfast time, so we won't get too much down that road. But the point is, that it's not like it's over once the water goes away by any stretch.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It looks definitely worse in person, I think it's fair to say, than on TV.

I want to tell you about something we're doing now. Let's take a look at right here no, right there. There we go. On the left side of your screen we have now teamed up with the National . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: The other left.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: The other left Center for Missing and Exploited Children. What we're going to do is show you the faces of some of these kids who are still missing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and they need to be found.

MILES O'BRIEN: We are so happy we gave up this real estate because since our effort began on Saturday morning, calls to the center have tripled. Twenty-three cases have been resolved. Fifteen of them directly as a result of those pictures there.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, it's really, really good news. If you want to help locate one of these kids, you can call the number. That's at the bottom of the screen right there. I'm not very good at this, am I? Anyway, it's 1-800-843-5678. Or you could also logon as well and see if you can help out if you recognize any of these kids. I mean, can you imagine, 15 of them directly with our help. So, you're right, we are happy to give up the real estate to see if we can help track down some of these kids.

Anyway, let's move on. Get a look at some of the stories that are making headlines this morning. Kelly Wallace is in today.

Hey, Kelly. Good morning.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Great to see you and Miles. And great job to the two of you over the past few weeks.

Good morning, everyone.

Here are some of the stories "Now in the News."

A state of emergency in the Florida Keys ahead of Tropical Storm Rita. Mandatory evacuations for tourists and non-residents are in effect. Rita is now moving through the southeastern Bahamas. It could become a category one hurricane later today. Chad Myers is tracking Rita's path and we'll check in with him in just a moment.

Turning overseas now. North Korea is pledging to give up its nuclear weapons program. That's the word coming out of six-party nuclear talks in Beijing. North Korea is also committing to joining the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. In exchange, the countries involved, including the United States, agree to provide North Korea with energy assistance.

Investigators in Chicago are looking into what caused a commuter train to derail over the weekend killing two passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board says initial findings suggest that the train was going too fast. It was apparently traveling at 69 miles per hour instead of the mandatory 10. The train's engineer has also been questioned.

And everybody still loves "Raymond." That's right. The show won an Emmy last night for outstanding comedy series for its ninth and final season. "Raymond" is one of only three shows in the past three decades to win the award after leaving prime time. Meanwhile, newcomer "Lost" also grabbed top honors. That show was honored in the best drama category. And Felicity Huffman, Anything But Desperate. She became a first-time Emmy winner for her role as one of the ladies of Wisteria Lane in "Desperate Housewives." For all you "Desperate Housewives" fans, I believe the season premiere, Soledad, next weekend.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And she looked good.

WALLACE: She did.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: She looked cute. It was nice to see a little glamour on TV.

All right, Kelly, thanks.

Back to what's happening in New Orleans today. Some New Orleanians are going to go back to their homes and their businesses today as part of the mayor's plan for a phased repopulation. They're coming back, though, to a city that has little or no drinkable water, electricity, phone service, 911 system. Let's get right to Carol Costello. She's in Algiers, which is right across the river from the French Quarter. It's going to be among the very first zip codes to be repopulated.

Hey, Carol. Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

I'm standing at a distribution site. This is where people coming back into this neighborhood will pick up food to bring back to their homes. I want to talk now, though, a little bit about the central business district in the French Quarter because it's so different on the other side of the river from where I am.

When you enter the city of New Orleans, they give you this sheet of paper. And let me read you some of what it says. It says, "on behalf of Mayor Nagin and the city of New Orleans, welcome back. You are entering at your own risk. The city of New Orleans remains a hazardous site. Food and water will not be provided to you. You are at your own risk to determine whether your home or business is structurally sound enough to enter." All of those things are pretty scary.

As for what the really popular areas of New Orleans are like, let's take a tour down Bourbon Street.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO, (voice over): Night is falling on Bourbon Street and this is really the only thing you see, military trucks going up and down the streets. There are no revelers here. Going to let this truck go by so that you can continue to hear me.

You take a look over here at this sign, this is a real concern because it says, please spray for biohazard, mold and mildew. That's a big problem within the city. In fact, the federal government is warning you come here at your own risk.

Take a look at the streets. They're pretty clean of debris and that's because all of the debris are in those big bins right across the street. Just pan over there. All of that garbage is causing a headache because they simply do not know where to put it. And let me tell you, the smell is not pretty either. In fact, it's outrageous.

Also there's a 6:00 p.m. curfew in effect. Everybody has to be off of the streets. The banks aren't up and running. The 911 system so so. If you call 911, you take your chances. In fact, it's better to get one of those military guy to come and help you. Still, Mayor Nagin wants business owners to come back here and open up and come up with its aggressive plan. So, welcome to the city of New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That's what Mayor Nagin is staying. The feds are saying, do not come back. I know, Soledad, you're going to interview Thad Allen and I'll be very interested to hear what he has to say.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right, Carol, thanks. In fact, we've got that interview coming up right now.

Carol, we'll check back in with you in a little bit.

The mayor, as Carol just mentioned, the mayor of New Orleans, and the man who is leading the federal recovery effort, they're scheduled to meet today and they are at odds over the mayor's plan to repopulate the city. The mayor says he hopes to have a third of the residents back in the city over the next week and a half. But Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen thinks the mayor is moving a little bit too fast. Vice Admiral Allen joins us this morning from Baton Rouge in Louisiana.

Nice to see you, sir. Thank you for talking with us.

Clearly, you disagree with the mayor's plan to repopulate the city as fast as he would like to do it. What specifically do you have a problem with?

VICE ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD: Well, Soledad, let me first clarify one point. We don't disagree with the mayor's plan. He has a vision for where he thinks New Orleans should go. We support that. We would like to see New Orleans restarted.

What we're really talking about is the timing of the entry of the general repopulation in relation to some of the really critical factors that were discussed previously. And we're mainly talking about (INAUDIBLE) water and the 911 system and so forth. We just think that conditions need to be set so when people come back in, they can operate safely. And moreover with the weakened levee system, that there's a plan to evacuate whatever number of people are allowed back in the city.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: OK. So clearly, while you may have the same big picture in mind, in the small picture and the time line, you very much disagree. He wants to start, frankly, today and you don't. When would you time line begin? And how would yours look that's different from his?

ALLEN: Well, I might compare in contrast the east and the west bank. You just had a report from the west bank in Algiers. We have a set of metrics that we're looking at, whether it's sewer, water, telephone and things like that and we kind of color code them. Red is unacceptable. Amber, you're willing to accept some risk and green, good to go. All the conditions on the west bank under this planning system, and we have worked with the mayor's own staff, are either amber or green and we felt those conditions were acceptable for the population to re-enter.

What we're trying to do is do the same thing on the east bank. And if you went to (INAUDIBLE) water, for instance, that would still be red on the east bank.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: OK. So you're fine then with everybody going back into Algiers starting today as the mayor has already indicated, he's invited people to come back into that zip code?

ALLEN: Well, he wants to repopulate Algiers this morning. We're all in agreement that the conditions have been met where the risk is low enough where the general population can enter without a significant problem.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: But what about the folks who then come into Algiers and then go over to New Orleans, which has not gotten the green light as you point out?

ALLEN: Well, entry into the east bank is being controlled through a series of checkpoints. And over the last two days, on Saturday and Sunday, businessmen have been allowed back into the city for the purpose of looking at their businesses, assessing the damage that has been done and starting to plan how they're going to bring those businesses back online. And that's been done with the city being open from fawn till dusk, or roughly 8:00 until 6:00 in the evening. That's a much different paradigm than what's happening on the west bank. Any move beyond having the businessmen re-enter and assess their properties needs to be accompanied by the same type of metrics and assurance that the conditions are met that we have on the west bank.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Do you think, as the mayor said, that you'll be able to have a third of the city back within a week, week and a half?

ALLEN: It's pretty problematic, Soledad, when you look at what needs to happen to have potable water in place and a 911 system in place. I would put a time element on it but it's kind of impossible to tell. We need to take these things and work them as fast as we can because we're all in agreement we need to get that general population back in there. We're just asking the mayor to work with us on that process.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: So then who is in charge here? I mean if you say, we want you to slow down and work with us and he says, here's a letter that I'm hanged out to people who come in and say welcome back, you're operating at your own risk if you go inside your house and it collapses. Well, you're operating at your own risk. It sounds like you're not quite on the same page and I can't tell who trumps who in this scenario.

ALLEN: Soledad, there's no trumping here. The mayor is in charge. It's his city, in conjunction with the state leaders. This is a local issue. The reason the federal government is here is, in these events there are requirements for capacity, competency, and capability that overtake local state governments and that's the reason we're here.

And actually, I represent the collective federal input and attempt to support the mayor in his plan. In this case, I'm trying to advise him and pass information to him and also the citizens of New Orleans regarding the concerns we have. For instance, there is a Web site. The CDC Web site lays out 28-page report that was issued yesterday collectively by the EPA and the CDC that summarize the testing and the concerns that they have there.

So my goal, as the collective voice of the federal government in assisting the major, is to provide him that information. But ultimately, the decision rests with him.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And so is your goal at the end of your meeting with him today to have him back away from that one week to week and a half plan to repopulate a third of the city? Would that be what you'd like to have happen in this meeting?

ALLEN: My goal would be to agree upon the fact that the re-entry into New Orleans should be set on when the conditions are met, whether it's potable water or 911 system. When those conditions are met and the risk has been reduced, then the population comes in. That could be two days, five days, one weeks. It's kind of each of them is an individual step towards that process.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And how confident are you that, in fact, at the end of your discussions with the mayor, he will agree to have some kind of system in place to repopulate?

ALLEN: Well, my goal is to come in and fully inform him and give him a frank, unvarnished assessment on whether the federal government sees the condition and how they're set for the re- entry of the population into New Orleans. At end, it's going to be the mayor's decision. But I think all of us would look at the city of New Orleans and how we would feel if we were bringing our own family into that type of situation with the lack of potable water and so forth.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Well, we will see how your meetings go today. Vice Admiral Thad Allen joining us this morning.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate your time.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: All over the region, there are people who are in shelters, staying with friends, staying with relatives. Who would, in fact, like to go home but the situation to the east is, in many ways, similar. Biloxi, Mississippi, devastated by the storm. Tremendous damage there. We focused an awful lot on the casinos thus far. But the neighborhoods around those casinos in many respects look as if a bomb was dropped there. CNN's Ted Rowlands is in East Biloxi this morning with more on the rebuilding effort.

And, Ted, how soon will people be moving back there?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, what are you going to move into is the question. There are homes littered, as you know, in this area. And not only in Biloxi, but all along the Mississippi Gulf Coast in these towns.

And the real tough questions are being dealt with by these homeowners. They're coming in, they're picking through what's left of their homes, waiting for the debris to be removed and then waiting for insurance settlements. Many of these people didn't have flood insurances. They still have mortgages but they may not have the money to rebuild.

So there's a lot of questions. They're deciding what to do with their lives. It is a slow, slow process. First off, they have to get all of this debris out of this area and it is a monumental task. One that is going on pretty much 24 hours a day.

Cities themselves are also asking these very tough questions. In the city of Waveland and Bay St. Louis, both of those cities were completely wiped out for the most part. Waveland more so than Bay St. Louis. They're thinking about merging the two cities. They are cities which are close to each other. Because the police department and the fire department and city hall and Waveland are now completely leveled, there's talk about bringing both of those two cities together in the rebuilding process.

There are contractors from across the country in this region. They are signing up. They have to before any work is done, they have to clear it with city planners because, of course, this is an opportunity to wipe the slate clean, if you will, and rebuild with some sort of plan. The problem is, logistically, it is going to be a very, very long road ahead. And people are just now starting to come to the reality of what to do with their lives. Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Ted Rowlands in East Biloxi, thanks very much.

Lets check the weather once again. Yet another tropical storm to talk about. Rita is her name. Chad Myers with the Weather Center with the latest. This is 17.

CHAD MYERS, METEOROLOGIST: It is.

MILES O'BRIEN: That's not a record yet?

MYERS: No, not yet. No. And, in fact, we were all the way to Tanya a few years ago. But late much, much later in the season than where we are now, which we just got off the peak of the season. We are still, obviously, in very warm water here. This is the storm. This is Rita.

Philippe is down the other side. It's not going to hit anything, so we really didn't pay a lot of attention to it. There is no Q storm, so, yes, in fact, it is the 17th, not the 18th storm of the year.

There you go, hurricane warnings from Ocean Reef, right on back to the Dry Tortugas. And also from Nassau back up to almost Freeport and then Deerfield Beach right on back to East Cape Sable. Those are tropical storm warnings. All that means, hurricane warning means, you're going to see hurricane conditions in 24 hours or less.

That storm, Rita, travels right through the Florida Straits. And I'll zoom in a little bit for you because you get a better eye. Key West, you are right inside the inner cone of this storm and you are on the right side of the storm. That number one means it will be a category one. But I'm looking at it, it could easily be 90 to 95 miles per hour. And that's still a one but that's close enough to a two that if you're in Key West and you really don't belong there or you don't feel safe where you are, you're in a mobile home, low-lying area, you guys need to start packing up.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Well, let's hope many people heed those warnings, Chad. We're going to check in with you again. Thanks.

Still to come, more on Katrina's aftermath. We'll take a closer look at why for some people the will to rebuild is stronger than any hurricane. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: Ah, the day of reckoning for Mr. Kozlowski. Jail time, or the amount thereof. Andy Serwer is here keeping track of all these things.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You'll remember he was convicted back in June, Miles. We're talking about Dennis Kozlowski, the former CEO of Tyco, and his right hand man, Chief Financial Officer Mark Swartz, will be sentenced today in Manhattan. Very different circumstances these guys face as opposed to some of the other corporate crooks if I may call them that because these two . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: You may. You may.

SERWER: And I may, thank you.

These two are going to be sentenced under state guidelines. New York state guidelines. Here's what they're looking at, huge latitude, one to 30 years. Judge Michael Obus can really go light or go very heavy here. Also, these two are looking at state prisons. And it means that they could actually even end up in places like Sing Sing or Attica. So let's get a scorecard here and see . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: So right beside Son of Sam or something, right? He's at Dannemora or something. But nevertheless.

SERWER: Very hard-core prisons. Let's take a look at some of the other sentences. Andrew Fastow, 10 years, Bernie Ebbers, 25 years and that is in a medium security prisons. The Rigas', you can see here, got a lot of time. And Jamie Olis from Dynegy, 24 years, four months. These sentences have been meted out with a lot of time and so, you know, I would expect these guys to get closer to 30 than the one.

MILES O'BRIEN: I don't think they have any shower curtains at Attica.

SERWER: Not $600,000 ones, that's for sure.

MILES O'BRIEN: No. No. All right, thank you, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

MILES O'BRIEN: Still to come to the program, we'll meet two brothers trying to pick up the pieces in New Orleans. Find out why they say the lure of home is just too strong to keep them away. More AMERICAN MORNING in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: I'm in the town of Algiers right now. This is the zip code where Mayor Nagin wants residents to return. And my suspicion is that many residents will return. I'm standing at a food distribution center. It will be up and running in just a few hours. And, in fact, I see Lily has just arrived.

Hi, Lily!

And she's going to begin handing out food to residents coming back.

I'm standing with two residents of Algiers right now, Tim and Tom Laird. And welcome to both of you.

TOM LAIRD, ALGIERS RESIDENT: Hi. Thank you.

TIM LAIRD, ALGIERS RESIDENT WHO LOST HOME: Thanks for having us.

COSTELLO: When you go through the neighborhood, everything seems to be pretty intact because Algiers was not flooded. It's mostly wind damage. And then you hit poor Tim's house.

TIM LAIRD: Yes.

COSTELLO: And it's between two homes that are standing and your home is completely gone.

TIM LAIRD: It's like a bomb had went off on the house. Yes. It was quite a tall, two-story home and, yes, 14-feet ceilings and 12-foot ceilings in the second story. And, yes, it was completely destroyed and all of my . . .

COSTELLO: It's strange. I know you came back Saturday.

TIM LAIRD: Yes.

COSTELLO: Most of the homes in Algiers are historical homes. Your home was, what, 100 plus years old.

TIM LAIRD: That's correct.

COSTELLO: So this is the kind of thing that will be very difficult to replace.

TIM LAIRD: It would be. And the well I say the technology is there to do it but it's, you know, the skill is coming back. And people have been renovating. Contractors have been renovating houses for sometime here. And the materials are there, but it's just it takes time. I had been working on this house for over three years putting, you know, when I wasn't on the Merchant Mariner (ph) and when I wasn't at sea, I was here working, renovating this home and other homes.

COSTELLO: I know you put in a new kitchen. You put in new floors. I want to talk to your brother, Tom, too, because your wife owns a business on River Walk and that's in the central business district of New Orleans. It was looted during the storm. So tell me about that.

TOM LAIRD: Well, you know, I've tried to be a little calm about it. But my wife, I mean, has been, I think, much more upset than I about it. It's really hard. She can't understand why, you know she understands that people need water and they need food during that situation but, you know, her jewelry cart. I mean, why did they have to dump it over? And I keep trying to tell her, it's like when a tiger goes for food, you know, all kinds of things happen. It's hard.

COSTELLO: So you have moved the business temporarily to Baton Rouge?

TOM LAIRD: We signed a contract last week. We're opening this week. And we're into the new house.

COSTELLO: And does that mean you won't reopen in New Orleans?

TOM LAIRD: Oh, no, absolutely not. We just we need the income. I mean, that's our primary source of income and River Walk won't there won't be tourists in River Walk for months, we don't think.

COSTELLO: Yes.

TOM LAIRD: And so we have to go where there's traffic. And so we're opening up in the Mall of Louisiana, yeah.

COSTELLO: Well, good luck to both of you and thank you for joining us. Tim and Tom Laird, thanks so much.

TOM LAIRD: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Carol, thanks. All morning long we've been running pictures of children who are missing in Katrina's aftermath. They are some of the more than 2,000 kids who are still unaccounted for. Coming up in just a moment, we'll give you an update on those efforts to track those children down. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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