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American Morning

Tropical Storm Rita; Return Reversed; Cruise Ship Evacuees

Aired September 20, 2005 - 09:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien in New York.
Tropical Storm Rita appears to be getting faster and stronger as it churns toward Key West and then into the Gulf of Mexico. We are live with the latest.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Carol Costello in New Orleans.

Which way should they go? New Orleans residents just given the OK to go home are now being told to get out as Tropical Storm Rita could be heading this way -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: And a look at life aboard the cruise ships now housing Katrina evacuees desperate to get home on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you, glad you're with us. Soledad off today.

Once again today, CNN teaming up with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. On the left side of your screen, you can see the faces of Katrina's divided families. If you have any information, please call the number at the bottom of your screen, and hopefully we'll get some families reunited.

Let's begin with Tropical Storm Rita. Its outer squall bands are already lashing the Florida Keys. Gusts are nearing hurricane strength. CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

Chad Myers at the CNN Center Weather Center tracking the storm for us.

I don't know if you heard that, Chad, Andy Serwer said stock traders on Wall Street are assuming the storm is not headed toward Houston. I don't know where they get that from.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, I guess, if you think about it, even though we say that a hurricane is a very large point, and it is, it's a bowling ball, basically, not just a line. The odds of it hitting either Galveston or Houston or anything are not that great yet.

But when this thing gets in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, and we know where it's going, those traders may be making their minds change a little bit. They'll be covering their calls or puts or whatever they're doing there.

Here's the storm itself. There is the center of the eye. The northern part of the eyewall right here going to make landfall in Key West probably in three to four hours. We'll zoom you in to a couple of spots here, especially on up toward Miami. A couple of very large squalls coming on shore right now. Getting you a little bit closer, even in to South Dade now, seeing some heavier showers. And more back down here still offshore.

A live shot from Haulover Beach up here near Miami. This is, at times, a clothing optional beach. But I don't think anybody is going out there with clothing optional today. WFOR our affiliate there. You can see the waves picking up, the winds picking up. When that squall line comes through there, you will see winds to about 45 miles per hour. There the camera is shaking just a little bit right now.

A couple more spots on the radar. We'll take you on down to what just really got hit pretty hard by a large squall line all the way from Marathon right up through Grassy Key and Duck Key, all the way through Layton and all the way up even, for that matter, to Islamorada.

One more spot, a little bit farther to the south now, you're about to get this squall line, that is Key West. There is the storm, it's spinning around. That squall line into Key West in the next 15 or 20 minutes.

Where does it go from here? Hurricane warnings through the Keys, all the way up even into Golden Beach, including Haulover Beach where you saw those pictures from.

By 2:00, that's about the closest approach to Key West. The northern eyewall, I think, right on top of Key West or not very far from it, certainly over the lighthouses that are just offshore.

The official forecast -- and I don't know where these traders are getting their information. But the official forecast gets very, very close, too close in my estimation, to say it's not going to hit Houston or Galveston or, for that matter, even as far east as Baton Rouge or as far south as Brownsville.

Look at the size of the cone, we call it, Miles, all the way from basically Mexico right on into Louisiana. And some of those latest computer models that we look at, they don't have it moving in to Louisiana anymore, but they do have it moving into parts of Texas. A lot of offshore rigs all the way through this area, in general, which I think that they'll start to realize pretty soon.

O'BRIEN: Well I've got to tell you, Chad, we would never sell you short. As far as we're concerned, your prediction is as good as gold.

MYERS: Well right.

O'BRIEN: All right.

MYERS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Shucks. All right. Thanks. MYERS: All right.

O'BRIEN: Right now Rita is less than 100 miles east-southeast of Key West.

Rob Marciano is in Key West right now.

Rob, how are things right now?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Pretty dry right now, but the winds have become a little bit more steady out of the east-northeast, indicating that the storm is still to our southeast. So, and this as -- the way it's moving, it's going to get here, like Chad said, here in the next several hours and winds and rains will begin to increase.

But we haven't seen the squally weather, or at least the basically stormy weather yet that we've seen in advance of other storms this past year. And that may be an indication that this thing, well, is not a hurricane yet. But you know we only need four more miles an hour to get it to hurricane strength, and that's likely to happen with those warm waters in the Florida Straits as it starts to move in that general direction.

Life here at Key West last night, it was pretty much normal, except about half as many people. Half of the people left under mandatory evacuation orders. The other half stayed and do what folks at Key West like to do at night, and that is revel. So they were out here hanging out and now the town is starting to wake up.

The good news is, those who have stayed have a bit of a plan, and they're not just you know throwing caution to the wind. They have a place where they're going to stay, where they've stayed in other storms or they have a friend who's got a more secure structure and maybe a higher level structure that will get them away from the water, if the waters begin to rise.

This is not like New Orleans, which was -- is mostly below sea level, but it's pretty darn close. Key West is not very high above sea level. You know most -- where I'm standing right here, it's probably you know three, four, maybe five feet above sea level. So it doesn't take much of a storm surge to flood.

We'll keep you posted on what's happening in Key West, Florida.

Miles, back up to you.

O'BRIEN: Rob Marciano in Key West.

We will check in with the National Hurricane Center in just a little bit, get the latest update from them.

But in the meantime, let's go to New Orleans where they're also paying attention to Rita. That's where we find Carol Costello.

Good morning -- Carol. COSTELLO: I would say wrapped attention to Rita. The threat that Rita might bring more water to New Orleans than the levees can handle led the mayor to change his mind about letting people back into the city.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: I guess it's going to give, you know, everybody a little hope that the city is going to get back together.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All day Monday, they trickled back into New Orleans, moving back because the mayor said come on home.

NAGIN: On Monday, Algiers will be fully opened to all residents to come back to their homes.

COSTELLO: Interstate 10 was jammed with returning residents and those that came to restore electricity and fix phone lines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of good people in America.

COSTELLO: But by late afternoon, the bloom was off the rose.

NAGIN: 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.

COSTELLO: For the Davis family, just back from Baton Rouge, it's too much.

BENNY DAVIS, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: I don't know, but I know one thing, I don't really want to go back because it's hard now, so you just go back, you don't have no money.

COSTELLO: Others questioned why the mayor allowed people back in the first place, especially his plan to open parts of the city that are still not functioning.

AARON BROUSSARD, PRESIDENT, JEFFERSON PARISH: You have to have water that works, and it's got to be sanitary. You have to have a sewage system that flushes, otherwise you've got a completely unsanitary situation. And then add electricity to that, and now you've got three ingredients that can maintain sustainable living conditions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said that we would have to evacuate by...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wednesday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Wednesday.

COSTELLO: For the Konicks (ph), who have come back to Algiers and want to get out now because of Rita, they seem to be stuck.

(on camera): So you clean up, you work really hard and now Rita is coming.

KONICK: Right, I hope not.

COSTELLO: What are you going to do?

KONICK: We're trying to make reservations right now in Monroe.

COSTELLO (voice-over): But every hotel is booked for miles. So for most here, they'll wait it out, hoping Rita will miss them and lasting solutions will come sometime soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Those lasting solutions probably won't come for months, and maybe they will come after hurricane season is finally over. But most people I talked to are actually going to stay and stick out the storm because they have no choice. As you heard that woman say, Miss Konick, she said can't get a hotel room anywhere within 300 miles. So what do you do, you have to stay. Heard that other gentlemen say, I'm out of money, I have to stay. So a lot of confusion here in New Orleans this morning.

Let's head back to New York and Kelly Wallace for the rest of the day's news.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Carol.

And good morning, everyone.

These stories "Now in the News."

President Bush set to leave this hour for the devastated Gulf Coast region. The president is expected to make stops in Mississippi and New Orleans. This will be his fifth visit to the area since Katrina hit last month.

And as promised, the president is following up on trying to figure out what went wrong with the government's response to Katrina. He has tapped his Homeland Security adviser, Frances Townsend, to lead an internal inquiry. The White House says it is making the investigation its highest priority.

Overseas now, British authorities releasing new footage this morning of three of the suspected London bombers. These are the new images right here that you're seeing. The video was taken less than two weeks before the July 7 attacks. Police believe it shows the suspects scouting out potential targets less than two weeks before the bombings. More than 50 people were killed in those attacks.

And there is word interest rates could go up. Most economists are predicting Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will make that announcement today at the Fed meeting. But some say he may hold off to have more time to gauge the effects to the economy from Katrina. Andy Serwer will have more on the Fed's big day coming up later this hour.

Miles, a lot of people will be watching that meeting very closely.

O'BRIEN: And hopefully people who understand what he says when he says it, because I do not speak that language.

WALLACE: That's why Andy Serwer is standing by.

O'BRIEN: It's good to have Andy.

WALLACE: It sure is.

O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Kelly, appreciate that.

We are closely watching Tropical Storm Rita this morning. It could become a Category 1 hurricane any minute now, if it hasn't already.

With the latest forecast, Hurricane Specialist Richard Knabb joins us once again from the Hurricane Center.

Bring us up to date, Richard, is it already a hurricane?

RICHARD KNABB, HURRICANE SPECIALIST: Well, Miles, you summed it up, if it's not already a hurricane, it will be one soon. Our forecasters behind me are busily analyzing aircraft data and radar data to determine if the winds have increased to hurricane status. And so very shortly we'll be updating everyone on what the intensity is, and certainly with a full advisory package at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

But in any case, we're talking about at least a strong tropical storm with at least 70-mile-per-hour winds. And we do anticipate this will become a hurricane today before it reaches the lower Florida Keys and near or over the Keys.

O'BRIEN: You know one of the more esoteric measures for the lay person, but very important from your perspective, is the barometric pressure. If it's dropping precipitously in the eye, that's a big deal. What do you know right now about that?

KNABB: We do know that the pressure has been falling steadily during the early morning hours today, and that's often a precursor that the winds are going to increase in response to that pressure difference. The reconnaissance aircraft is about to go through the center from southeast to northwest here in just a few minutes. And that will give us another reading of the pressure inside and another measurement of the winds.

If we continue to see it fall in the pressure, that could be another indication that the storm is gradually intensifying. But if looking at the satellite and radar, it does look like it's gradually becoming more organized in the inner core.

O'BRIEN: All right. Taking a look at a live picture, this is Islamorada, and what you're seeing there, those squalls, we call them -- you call them feeder bands. Why do they call them feeder bands, by the way? KNABB: Well, I'm not sure. There's a lot of terms thrown around. But this is an outer band of the tropical storm, and it contains tropical storm force winds. Whenever these squalls come through, they can be very gusty, very dangerous to be outside. People have even been killed when going outside during a tropical storm due to the flying debris or falling trees. It's just not a good idea to go outside, even during a tropical storm. Those bands will increase in intensity and frequency, especially in the Florida Keys as the day goes on.

O'BRIEN: All right. So let's sum it up. You said last time it's past time, really, to evacuate. If you are still there, hunker down, find a plan, find a safe place, right?

KNABB: Yes, and that's still good advice. The weather has gotten to the point where in the Florida Keys they cannot even respond to an emergency because the winds are too high for the emergency vehicles to be out and about. It's too dangerous for them. So it's really best to stay where you are, not risk an injury being outside and wait until the conditions improve. They're only going to get worse before they get better during the next several hours.

O'BRIEN: Richard Knabb, watching it for us at the Hurricane Center, thanks very much for being with us.

KNABB: Thank you -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Stay with CNN for complete coverage of Rita's path. CNN is your hurricane headquarters.

Coming up, Port of New Orleans back up and running after Katrina, but could Tropical Storm Rita change that? We'll take a look at that.

And the confusion over New Orleans' on again, off again reopening. A look at how residents are reacting to all of this. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is going to be another steamy day in the city of New Orleans. In fact, the temperature is going up to 96 degrees today and it's very humid, only making it more difficult for people to start cleaning up.

And, yes, they are still here, despite what the mayor said yesterday. As we've been reporting, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is now telling residents he had encouraged to come back to evacuate yet again.

Here's what the mayor had to say earlier about whether it was responsible to allow people to return in the first place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAGIN: In probably 60 to 75 percent of the city, some sections even as high as 95 percent, the facts are we're repopulating the areas that had little to no flooding. And these individuals are most mobile. So, yes, I would take that bet again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Mayor Nagin's decision to re-evacuate rather than repopulate heaps more disappointment on frustrated New Orleans who just want to come home and stay home.

Clancy Dubos lives in New Orleans. He's a columnist and the owner of "Gambit Weekly," an alternative newspaper. And he joins me now live from Baton Rouge.

Good morning.

CLANCY DUBOS, OWNER, "GAMBIT WEEKLY": Good morning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, first of all, tell me what you thought when you first heard yesterday that the mayor was saying maybe it's better if people get out by Wednesday.

DUBOS: Well, I think the mayor is being cautious. You know this mayor, no mayor, can be equipped to handle a situation like this. There is no blueprint for handling a disaster of this magnitude. I think the mayor was being cautious in the last three weeks wanting to make sure that when people came back to the city it was safe.

They had to have FEMA and EPA testing of soil, the air, the water, making sure that it was actually safe for people health wise to get back in the city. We had to have the National Guard there to provide for people's personal safety. Then it looked like things were getting better. There were some clearances given by EPA and FEMA and CDC and others. The mayor said you all come.

Then another storm showed up, so he said you all leave. And it doesn't make the mayor look good, but the truth is it underscores what I think some people already know, nobody's in charge. Mother Nature, at some level, is in charge. We still have 10 more weeks of hurricane season.

COSTELLO: Yes, but...

DUBOS: So nobody can really give a definitive answer of when we can repopulate.

COSTELLO: ... that's right, I was just going to -- Clancy, wait a second. I was just going to bring that up, hurricane season is not yet over. The mayor knows absolutely that the levees aren't so strong and that any like violent thrust from even a minor storm could break the levees again. So why allow people to come back in?

DUBOS: Well I think he was being pressured by the business community. He's received enormous pressure from African-American political leaders who were concerned that their constituents, who are among the poorest people in New Orleans and who have been displaced over you know 15 or 20 states, that if it's too much time elapses before they can come back, then many of them won't come back. And that's a very real fear by a lot of African-American political and civic and business and religious and educational leaders and cultural leaders. They're afraid that a big portion of the culture of New Orleans is going to be lost forever. So they want to get people back in town as soon as they can.

They've been telling the mayor don't talk about six months, because if you say six months, people aren't coming back. So he's been getting pressured by them, pressure from the business community to get commerce back up and running, the hotels want to open again.

COSTELLO: But, Clancy, I understand...

DUBOS: So another hurricane shows up.

COSTELLO: Clancy, I understand politics are a play, and I take your points very seriously. But we're talking about people's lives here, shouldn't politics be pushed aside?

DUBOS: Well it's not just politics, it's politics and the economy and it's the whole culture of the city. You're right, this -- the mayor, I think, is on information overload right now. He's got the feds, he's got the state, he's got the business community, the political community.

And I'm not -- I'm just -- you know I'm sitting here thinking how would I react to that? You know I don't think any human being is prepared -- one human being is prepared to deal with all this. I think what's needed probably is for the fed to step in. And you know if the federal government is going to send down billions and billions of dollars, then maybe this needs to be a whole federal issue.

COSTELLO: Well the feds are trying to step in, but the mayor says you know it's my city and I'm running things here. So there's still that rift between the two, seemingly.

Thank you for joining us this morning, Clancy Dubos of the "Gambit Weekly."

Back to New York and -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Carol Costello.

Still to come, a matter of fact, wait a minute, not still to come, this just in. It is now Hurricane Rita, Category 1. Just came in from the National Weather Service Hurricane Center.

MYERS: Right.

O'BRIEN: Chad Myers presaged this a while ago. We could really say that you pronounced it a hurricane before them,...

MYERS: No.

O'BRIEN: ... but it's not your job.

MYERS: That is not my job.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: And I don't want that job. They work very hard.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: Those guys put in long days. They did find that 90-mile- per-hour wind gust aloft. They flew through the center, what they call core punched. When they core punched, they found that the pressure falls was in a -- the pressure was so low now that they can't not call it a hurricane, even though that we don't have anybody reporting hurricane winds because it's out here in the middle of the Florida Straits.

We are seeing, though, tropical storm force winds. And in some cases, wind gusts almost 60 miles per hour now into South Dade. Look at these big cells. And that's why there's a tornado watch up here. When you get one of these big cells to smash on shore, like that one just did for South Dade, just south of Kendall, you can get some spin, you can get some waterspouts in those very large storms. And that's exactly why there's that tornado watch in effect.

Though for Islamorada down to Marathon, things are quieted down a little bit. You're in between these squall lines. And then for Key West, you're about to get a squall line, most of it though just moved through Cujo Key (ph), back to Summerland Key and into Big Pine Key. There you see where that biggest cell just went right on through there to about Mangrove Mamas (ph) down there in those lower Keys.

O'BRIEN: Mangrove Mamas. Hey, Chad, I'm a little confused.

MYERS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: You were throwing a little bit of your lexicon out there.

MYERS: I'm sorry.

O'BRIEN: Core punch, the wind wasn't hurricane strength, but it was so strong they had to call it a hurricane. Walk me through that.

MYERS: Well, about an hour ago, almost an hour ago, they were flying through the outside, they were flying through the eyewall and that's when they found the 90 mile-per-hour wind.

O'BRIEN: OK.

MYERS: And in order to make sure that that wind was all the way down to the surface, you heard Mr. Knabb just a little bit ago say from the Hurricane Center that they were flying right through it to the center of the eye to drop a dropson down to see what the pressure was down there. And when it dropped down, I don't know what that number was, but it was clearly big enough, that number was big enough to put it -- to make it a hurricane. O'BRIEN: So, in other words, it's not necessarily a measure of wind, it can also be barometric pressure that would classify it as a hurricane?

MYERS: Well you have both things.

O'BRIEN: OK.

MYERS: A hurricane has to be 74 miles per hour.

O'BRIEN: OK.

MYERS: You could have no pressure at all, and if you didn't have the wind, it wouldn't be a hurricane.

O'BRIEN: OK. All right, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

MYERS: They're just making sure because they know it's going to hit Key West.

O'BRIEN: Understand.

MYERS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: All right, Chad Myers, thank you very much.

MYERS: You bet.

O'BRIEN: Still to come, reflections on the military relief effort from the man in charge. General Russell Honore sits down to share the lessons he has learned so far. Of course, as he likes to say, still barely halftime in this game. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Some of Katrina's Mississippi's evacuees have moved out of shelters and on to one of several cruise ships.

Ted Rowlands live now in Biloxi with more on that part of the story.

Good morning -- Ted.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

A few hundred or about 119 folks have enjoyed two days now onboard a Carnival cruise ship, which is docked in Mobile, Alabama. They are residents of Pascagoula, Mississippi. And that ship is expected to move to the Mississippi coast over the next few weeks, once they find a spot suitable for it to be.

There are hundreds of people still in shelters along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Another 100-plus people are expected to board that ship again today as they try to get as many people into comfortable situations where they can get some rest and get an opportunity to get their lives back in order, because it will be months, if not years, before they can get back to their homes.

Those that are on the ship say it is a much better situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just nice. It's kind of quiet. Nobody walking around, like a normal cruise or anything, but it's real quiet, real peaceful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been getting a lot of rest up there. It is real good accommodations. A whole lot better than a shelter, actually.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: It is an innovative idea. FEMA is shelling out in excess of $190 million to use three ships for six months. And that is the length of the contract. It is a lot of money, but they say do organizers that it is a perfect fit to get this many people into situations that will allow them to start rebuilding their lives. Another, as we said, another hundred will board the ship today. They expect to get it to capacity, which is over 1,000, over the next few weeks -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: It does hit you the name of the ship was Holiday. It's anything but a holiday for them. Ted, are these the same ships that were docked in Galveston for a time and people didn't go to them because they didn't want to be that far from Houston?

ROWLANDS: I'm not positive whether the Holiday was. There are three ships in play here and some were in Galveston. Two of them are off the coast or in the New Orleans area in Louisiana, and the other, this other one is in Mobile and will be moved to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

That was a concern, people being too far away from family. And jobs now is also a problem. What they're doing is they're providing transportation from the ship to the cities along the Mississippi Gulf Coast so people can still go to work and then at night come back to the ship.

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

Coming up, we're keeping a close eye on the path of Hurricane Rita. Just became one. Upgraded from a tropical storm just a couple of moments ago. It's now a Category 1 storm. It is lashing the Florida Keys as we speak and as you can see there. We'll have the latest from the CNN Weather Center in just a moment. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: Opening bell on Wall Street. You hear it there. The Dow Jones industrial average opening at 10,557, off 84 points on Monday's close. Nasdaq, meanwhile, composite index begins the day at 2145, down 15 points from Monday's action.

Back with more AMERICAN MORNING in just a moment.

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