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CNN Live At Daybreak

Storm Rita Bears Down On Florida Keys, Could Hit Gulf Coast; Mayor Nagin Now Halts Return Of Residents To Soggy City

Aired September 20, 2005 - 06:00   ET

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

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR, DAYBREAK: Gulf Coast could be in harm's way. People in the Florida Keys and along the Gulf Coast watch with weary eyes as Rita threatens. Also, a defiant mayor changes his tune urging New Orleans residents to wait a little longer before returning home. And it is trip number five for the president, in hopes of repairing the political damage from Katrina.
From the Time Warner Center in New York this is DAYBREAK. I'm Kelly Wallace in today for Carol Costello, who is on assignment in New Orleans this morning. Thanks so much for waking up with us. We will hear from Carol in just a moment.

First, take a look at the left side of your screen. CNN is working with National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to get out information on Katrina's divided families. Calls to the center have quadrupled since Saturday morning and with your help more cases can be resolved.

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

Four Americans have been killed in Iraq. One was a State Department employee, the others worked for the private security company, Blackwater. They're vehicle was hit by a suicide car bomber in Mosul.

Holocaust survivor and famed Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal has died. An officials at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles says he died in his sleep at his home in Vienna. He was 96 years old.

President Bush heads back to the hurricane zone today. It is his fifth trip to the Gulf Coast since Katrina hit. The president meet with government and business leaders in Gulfport, Mississippi and get an on-the-ground briefing about clean up efforts in New Orleans.

Time to say good morning to Chad Myers in Atlanta, who is tracking Tropical Storm Rita.

Chad, it is still a tropical storm, right, at this hour?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST, DAYBREAK: Yes, it absolutely is, yes. A new hurricane hunter aircraft just in to the storm now. We'll talk to Ed Rappaport from the Hurricane Center about that. But right now, still 70 m.p.h. The storm was not upgraded to a hurricane overnight.

It took a little wobble to the south and now its coming back up to the north, I think. We'll get back to this on the radar, you can see the eye a little bit better. Or what's becoming an eye. We don't really have an eye wall yet, proper. But it will tell you what we're going to get one here pretty soon. A large area, one of the outer bands jut went through Lakeworth, down to Boynton Beach, down to Boca. Winds there were 45 m.p.h.

And then another -- this is almost like waves of the ocean. Can you see it? Look at this, this line, this wave is coming right through and almost into Miami right now. I'll get you right on down into Miami. And this is right through Biscayne Bay, about to really hit Kendall and also down to Homestead and eventually even into South Miami.

This right here will have wind gusts to 45 or 50, literally in the less than 10 minutes for you, Miami. So, maybe you have a minute or two to get out there and bring the lawn chairs in before the get blown near the neighbor's yard. And here's another wave that is about to get down into the lower Keys, down across the 7-Mile Bridge at this point.

The forecast, though, for this storm is to strengthen, is to move through the Florida Straits and very close to Key West. Key West, you may not get center of eye wall landfall, but you certainly will get right side of the eye, which as we know the most dangerous part.

The closest timing to this storm, 2 o'clock this afternoon. The storm does travel into the ocean, into the Gulf of Mexico and then make a right hand turn. It does appear like Texas could be the main landfall. All of the models now taking it that direction, where as yesterday many of them were actually getting into Louisiana.

The models change their mind every once in a while, depending on which way the storm is going. So, this could change its mind as well, Kelly.

WALLACE: Those models, of course, continue to change. Chad, thanks so much and we'll talk to you in a few minutes as well as someone from the National Hurricane Center.

Turning, though, first to New Orleans, where the city's Ray Nagin has changed his message from repopulation to re-evacuation. And as you heard Chad talking, Tropical Storm Rita could be -- potentially, potentially -- threaten the city's already fragile levee system. That's if -- if -- the storm makes its way to New Orleans.

Our Carol Costello is in New Orleans this morning, joining us now live.

Carol, great to see you again. How are folks responding to these mixed messages coming from the city's mayor?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT, DAYBREAK: You know, at this point, Kelly, they are just throwing up their hands and saying we don't know who to listen to. And we don't know who to believe.

I have to say, when I was listening to Chad's forecast, I felt a little better, because I can't tell you how nerve wracking its been, just the mere thought, that even a weak storm could hit the city of New Orleans. Or simply a lot of rain, because people are now repairing their homes and they have holes in the roof, even rain would be a trauma right now.

All day long yesterday, we heard those conflicting reports from the city's mayor, Ray Nagin, and also from Vice Admiral Thad Allen. And we knew that Thad Allen thought that the mayor was moving too quickly, inviting people back in to Algiers and into parts of New Orleans to fix things up.

So, you know, I go out to a neighborhood and I talk to people moving back into Algiers, very excited about it. They're really into what Mayor Nagin is saying, you know, they love him as a possible cheerleader. And then late in the afternoon, the mayor reverses himself. Listen to what he said and what the people of Algiers heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: We are suspending all re-entry into the City of New Orleans as of this moment. I am also asking everyone in Algiers to prepare to evacuate as early as Wednesday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, so you've just returned to the city, after finding some place to live elsewhere for weeks. People now are saying, OK, if I have to evacuate Wednesday, where do I go. All the hotels are filled. We gave up our room, we gave up our reservation. Family members, they're tapped. We don't want to go back there. And plus a lot of people, Kelly, are running out of money. They don't have the money to re-evacuate. The only good thing about this is that most of the people who came back do have cars and could get back out.

WALLACE: Carol, running out of money, and patience no doubt. We would love to talk with you some more. We're going to talk to you at the half hour, because we're going to now, Carol, get more on Rita's tracking. Because we're going to be joined now by Richard Knabb. He is at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Richard, thanks so much for joining us. First, give a sense of where Rita is right now?

RICHARD KNABB, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, you can see on the satellite imagery behind me that Tropical Storm Rita is getting every so closer to the Florida Keys and extreme southern Florida.

Right now the center of Tropical Storm Rita is about 160 miles east-southeast of Key West, Florida, and moving the general direction of the lower Florida Keys, west-northwestward at about 15 m.p.h. And along that track we think the center of the storm will reach the lower Florida Keys, near or over them, by about mid-day today. And it still could become a hurricane before reaching the Keys.

WALLACE: And Richard, of course, our own Meteorologist Chad Myers is here with us. Chad, I know you have a question for Richard.

MYERS: Have that hurricane hunter aircraft flying through that storm, all night long, looking for that key magical number to turn it into a hurricane, never found it, though did you?

KNABB: Not yet. No, but we have noticed that the pressure has been dropping every so slowly during the night. And we are going to have another recognizance aircraft in there within the next couple of hours. And we're very anxious to see what that data will reveal. And it's possible that they will find a hurricane, if not in the next couple of hours, perhaps later today.

So we're still forecasting for it to become a hurricane before reaching the Florida Keys, and that is why the hurricane warnings are in effect.

MYERS: We've had very big gusts already, with some of these outer bands from Boynton Beach, down to Boca, right on down through Tavernier (ph), now, almost 60 m.p.h. there. So tropical storm force winds with some of these bands already on shore.

KNABB: That's true and in fact, at my house this morning, at about 4 o'clock this morning, a very strong squall went through and we most certainly tropical storm force wind gusts. Then we drove in, after that band passed by, so it has been a little bit of a calm break here in southern Florida, but now there is another band about to come onshore.

MYERS: Absolutely.

KNABB: And that is going to increase in frequency as the morning goes on, so it is not a good day to be out on the roads after sunrise today.

MYERS: Kelly?

WALLACE: Richard, very, very quickly, because our satellite window will drop in about 30 seconds, your projection of where this storm could go from here?

KNABB: Sure, I can give you an idea of where we think it is going to go over the next several days. We expect it to take a general westward path through the Gulf of Mexico and we expect it to gradually intensify and, perhaps, becoming a major hurricane in the western Gulf, but the uncertainty is quite large as to whether or not this would make landfall in northern Mexico or in Texas, or possibly even in portions of Louisiana.

WALLACE: All right, Richard. Thanks so much. We really appreciate it with the National Hurricane Center. Of course, we'll be checking in with you and your colleagues throughout the day here on CNN.

Well, turning to Texas, one place which is worrying about Tropical Storm Rita turning into a hurricane. People are expected to begin leaving Galveston, Texas today. Officials there have called for voluntary evacuations, dozens of buses will be made available starting tomorrow morning, for anyone unable to leave on their own. Texas Governor Rick Perry says emergency workers would be deployed along the coast if the storm keeps moving in that state's direction.

Well, thousands of people already have left the Florida Keys. Those who remain are being told it may be too late to get out. To that end, several so-called shelters of last resort opened up just a few hours ago. CNN's Susan Candiotti is in Key Largo this morning with us.

Susan, great to see you. What's the situation on the ground there, right now?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far we haven't heard about anybody taking advantage of those shelters of last resort, but of course, Kelly, thanks in part to the devastation from Hurricane Katrina and thanks in part to years of experience residents of the Florida Keys know when evacuation orders come through, it's time to react.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice over): It's been bumper-to-bumper traffic out of the Florida Keys as signs warn it is time to get out. For tourists, Rita is a spoiler.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just got here yesterday.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): And you had to call your trip off?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. We were supposed to stay 'til Thursday.

CANDIOTTI (voice over): For residents, Rita could be a wrecking ball, predicted to swipe at a 100-miles stretch of paradise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened down here with Katrina last time is everybody got surprised with the amount of rain and the amount of wind, and the amount of damage. So I think people are paying a little more attention to these mandatory evacuations that are ordered.

CANDIOTTI: Everyone in the Keys under orders to clear out. Windows getting protection. For those saying behind, last-minute supplies of food, water and gas. Hospitals closed, some patients airlifted to safety. Nursing homes shut down. Some who might need medical help during the storm moved to higher ground.

To the north, in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, schools are closed and residents have been warned to prepare for high winds and lots of rain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are taking the storm very seriously. We are urging Miami-Dade County residents to do the same. As we learned from Hurricane Katrina, storms are unpredictable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: At this hour, before sunrise, of course, we're already feeling the outer bands of Rita. Everyone waiting to see what the day will bring. Kelly, back to you.

WALLACE: All right. Susan, we'll be watching your reports throughout the day. Susan Candiotti reporting for us from Key Largo this morning.

Still to come on this edition of DAYBREAK, after surviving a major disaster, the rebuilding begins. But what about reconstructing personal finances? How to get back on your feet. We'll talk about that later this hour.

Also, a rebellious bunch is defying orders, staying in New Orleans for a benevolent cause.

And the forgotten towns destroyed by Katrina, not getting national attention, but struggling all the same. We'll talk about all that, but first, here is a look at what else is making news at this Tuesday morning, September 20.

(GRAPHIC WITH HEADLINES)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: Live pictures there, of New Orleans, as that city gets ready for a new day, this Tuesday. And bracing for the possibility -- the possibility -- potentially, of another hurricane.

Your news, money, weather and sports, it's almost 15 minutes after the hour and here is what is all new this morning.

President Bush leaves for the Gulf Coast a few hours from now. This will be his fifth trip to the region since Katrina hit. The president will visit Gulfport, Mississippi before heading to New Orleans for a briefing on recovery efforts.

In money, the Katrina factor. Allan Greenspan and his federal policymakers meet today to decide whether to hike interest rates. Before the hurricane it was all but certain the Fed would boost rates a quarter percentage point. Now, it is not so clear.

In culture, Lil' Kim is spending a lil' time behind bars. The rapper has started serving a year in prison for lying to a federal grand jury about a 2001 shootout in New York City.

In sports, the New Orleans Saints who have been cast adrift by Hurricane Katrina, lost their so-called home opener last night. That last night home opener at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. They were beaten 27 to 10 by the New York Giants in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Sad for them, Chad, but like you said, they won last week, so maybe they'll have a strong season. Certainly the New Orleans folks are hoping so. MYERS: Yes, I'd like to see them get a couple of games in Louisiana, whether it is at LSU or somewhere. It would be great to see them actually get some games back a little closer to home, rather than a home game in the opposing team's home field.

WALLACE: If you can call it that, right.

MYERS: Exactly. Congratulations to the Giants.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

WALLACE: OK, you're going to stick around, because we're going to be focusing on how people are dealing with Tropical Storm Rita. Residents of the Florida Keys have been urged to head north, out of the expected path of Rita. Many have heeded the warning but thousands are staying in place for now. CNN's Rob Marciano is in Key West, live for us this morning.

Rob, good to see you. What's the situation on the ground there right now?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's really quiet for once in Key West. Last night when we were doing a live broadcast around midnight, it was like any other night here in Key West, with people coming up and down the strip and doing that thing.

But this morning all is quiet. I assume that they're all in bed. But as far as how much people, how many people have evacuated? As of last night about 50 percent had left town. So, about 13,000 people or so remaining in town, even though a mandatory evacuation order had been issued.

What that means is there aren't any permanent shelters that are available here on the island. They all had to be either shipped out or bused out toward the mainland. They have one shelter of last resort, in the event it gets hairy, you can run to that. But all in all, the officials have said, hey, mandatory, you are kind of on your own. Especially when the winds get to 50 m.p.h. that is going to be the point when the police officers and the fire department they are not going to go out to any call.

We haven't gotten that yet. I mean, we've had a couple of rain squalls coming through, and when that happens, you know, comes down pretty good. It blows all right, but right now we're kind of in between some squalls. I suspect we'll see one here pretty shortly, but fairly tranquil weather as I suppose now that Rita hasn't been upgraded to a hurricane, that would be expected. But I'm guessing from what Chad said, telling everybody, and from him in my ear. It's obviously start to get worse later on this afternoon.

WALLACE: Exactly, Rob. Chad is here. Chad, go on ahead.

MYERS: Hey, Rob. Do you have a TV set? Can you see CNN where you are?

MARCIANO: No, I flipped it on briefly when I got up, but not right now.

MYERS: OK, let me show you. I'll show the viewers here what this radar looks like and we'll show you what you have to go here. We're going to go to the weather graphics switcher, my radar picture here. There you go. That's the one right there.

Rob, you are now 36 miles to the south-southwest of the next squall line. I'll zoom in for you here. You see that squall line? It just rolled through Tavernier, through Duck Key and through Grassy Key, now through Marathon, across the 7-Mile Bridge, into Key West. There are a few showers around Key West. We could take you right on down to the streets of Key West, showing a couple of light rain showers there.

But nothing like you are going to see, literally, as the next storm comes rolling on by, another big storm heading right into Miami, as well. I think at about 30 m.p.h., Rob, for you. You have another maybe 45 minutes before that squall line gets to you. And it's going to be a pretty good one. You'll see squalls there, wind speeds to 50.

MARCIANO: OK, well we'll look for that. Right now, no rain happening. The streets are wet from our last squall.

And as far as what people are doing, you know, when this storm comes in, the folks that are staying around -- you know, people in Key West, I mean, they are an interesting bunch to begin with. And they have kind of a carefree attitude. So, you know, when you try to pigeon hole them and say, hey, aren't you at all scared of the storm, especially what happened with Katrina? Yes, they do respect it. They are a little bit nervous in their own Key West sort of way. But they have a plan.

So, I suppose that gives them some sort of comfort. They rode out storms before. They either live in a home that is well-structured and which allows them to go up higher. Or they have a friend who has a pretty solid place to stay. And they're going to go ride out the storm there. So, even though they're hanging around, and quite honestly, they were partying last night. Most of them to have a bit of a game plan to get in doors and a solid structure, above ground. Because we do expect that most of the streets to be flooded at some point today. Back to you.

WALLACE: All right, Rob. We'll be checking in with you throughout the morning here on CNN, of course. Rob Marciano reporting for us live from Key West.

We'll turning back to New Orleans. It certainly has been a heartbreaking few days for New Orleans area business owners who have returned to see what happened to their property. Returned to see what they lost. Doug Mabile owns a framing store in New Orleans and he is joining us now live on the phone from Napoleonville, Louisiana, to talk about what he found.

Sir, thanks so much for joining us this early on DAYBREAK. We appreciate it.

DOUG MABILE, OWNER, A.L. LOWE CUSTOM FRAMING: Good morning.

WALLACE: Good morning. Give us a sense of what it was like for you when you returned to see what your business looked like.

MABILE: Well, it was pretty devastating to enter the city and see all the destruction with the trees and the power lines down and houses damaged. And we got to my shop and it seemed pretty fine on the outside, but once we got inside it was apparent that part of the roof had blown off and lots of water had poured into the shop. Lots of wet carpet. Lots of supplies on the floor that had been damaged.

WALLACE: And give us a sense, I know you were sort of looking and expecting other business owners to sort of be doing what you were doing, surveying the damage. But not many other people were out there, were they?

MABILE: No, we were the only people in the area. I was surprised. A lot of the stores in my neighborhood had been looted, with broken doors. We were very fortunate that we hadn't been looted.

WALLACE: What kind of damage did you see to other area businesses around your own?

MABILE: Mostly just broken doors and it was hard to really see. I peered into the shop next to mine, which was a flower shop. And it had -- the roof had totally collapsed onto the inside. That was pretty disturbing to see.

WALLACE: I'm sure. It must also be disturbing to hear, sir, that the possibility -- and you know the latest projections looks like this storm, if it becomes a hurricane, might not actually hit Louisiana -- but what do you think about when you hear the weather forecast and the possibility of another hurricane coming to Louisiana?

MABILE: It's hard to imagine. It's something that you don't want to even think about. And we can only hope and pray for the best.

WALLACE: Yes, we certainly hope and pray for the best for you and for fellow business owners. Doug Mabile, joining us on the phone, a business owner there. And we hope you can get your business up and running sometime soon.

Still to come, here on DAYBREAK, watch that meter, higher gas prices are affecting yet another industry. And later getting your financial footing after a major disaster, important information .

But first we want to say good morning to Miami, Florida, as that city prepares for Rita. You see those live pictures there from our affiliate WSVN TV. DAYBREAK will be right back.

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WALLACE: And welcome back. Time now for a little business buzz. Two former Tyco executives have been sentenced to prison for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the company. Former CEO Dennis Kozlowski and former finance chief Mark Swartz got between eight and 25 years in prison. They were both ordered to pay fines and restitution totally $239 million.

It may soon cost more to catch a taxi. Drivers are asking regulators around the country to approve fair increases to offset the high price of gasoline. Cab rides in some cities have already increased. The taxi commission in Washington, D.C., for example, let drivers charge an extra $1.50 a trip.

Well, oil prices, once again are on the rise and this time it's because of fears of Tropical Storm Rita. Carrie Lee is joining us with a look at what OPEC is doing to control oil prices.

And, Carrie, as we're talking to you, this just in, AAA reporting another slight, slight dip in the price of gasoline. The average price of self-serve regular, $2.79 a gallon.

CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, $2.79? So that's not too bad. We are coming down a little bit.

WALLACE: It was $2.81 yesterday, slightly.

LEE: But crude is continuing to rise. We did see a big hike in crude oil prices yesterday. So this could trickle through into gas prices going forward. So that is what OPEC is concerned about, rising crude oil prices. However, it seems there is really not a whole lot they might be able to do to keep prices from skyrocketing, because of the weather, because of Rita, which you mentioned.

Now, OPEC ministers did meet yesterday in Vienna. They are meeting again today to decide on a long-term position. They are weighing options to increase output by anywhere from 500,000 to 2 million barrels a day. But experts say any increase would only be a political or symbolic message, wouldn't affect supplies here. That is because oil refineries in the U.S. are operating at full capacity. So it's not just a matter of crude supply but refining capabilities.

Also, oil companies are evacuating facilities in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of Tropical Storm Rita. Yesterday, as I mentioned, crude oil prices jumped over $4 a barrel on worries about Rita; the biggest dollar increase for one day, ever. Natural gas prices hit a record high as well.

All of this helping to send stocks lower this morning. Futures are pointing to a little bit of a higher open today. We'll see what happens with the Federal Reserve meeting at 2:15 on interest rates.

WALLACE: Yes, which is a key meeting because it was likely they were hike up interest rates, but now because of fears about disruptions, because of potentially a hurricane in the Gulf, that might not be so likely?

LEE: Exactly. It's been pretty much a given, these quarter point hikes we've seen at the prior 10 meetings, but this oil issue, and this Hurricane Katrina issue sort of throws a monkey wrench into it. So we'll see what happens there.

Quickly want to get to a Folger's plant we talked about last week. They closed down in New Orleans last week. Well, now they did reopen, and for people working or watching the early shift like us, producing their first 39 ounce cans. It is going to take another month to get back up and running full time, but still, a sign of good things at Folger's.

WALLACE: And coffee lovers all around the country, very happy indeed.

LEE: Exactly. Your mug is right here, right?

WALLACE: Yes, exactly. Carrie, thank you so much.

LEE: All right.

WALLACE: Carrie Lee with the "Business Buzz" this morning. Thanks so much.

Still to come here, a rebellious bunch refusing to cooperate in hopes of helping others. Also, those communities left behind in the aftermath of Katrina. All of that coming up. You are watching DAYBREAK for this Tuesday, September 20. Don't go away.

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