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CNN Live At Daybreak
Hurricane Rita Swirling in Gulf as Hundreds of Thousands Flee Its Approach
Aired September 22, 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 Thursday, September 22, huge fears and churning toward Texas. Hurricane Rita, a gorilla of a storm swirling in the Gulf as hundreds of thousands flee its approach. The warning in Galveston, get out now. Rita is bearing down on the fragile island city.
And coming in on a wing and a prayer, three tense hours followed by several seconds of teeth gritting terror. You won't want to miss that.
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.
Good morning everyone. Thanks so much for waking up with us.
Also ahead this hour, they fled Katrina, now they have to flee Rita. Some Texas evacuees are saying so much for higher ground.
And Rita has the potential to cause serious pain at the pump. We are talking about gas prices like you have never seen.
That's all ahead, but first these stories "Now in the News", Galveston, Texas is nearly empty now. Thousands of residents either left on their own or were bused out of town. Hurricane Rita has led to mandatory evacuations all along the Texas coast. We'll have a live report from Texas in just a few minutes.
The price of gas could spike at more than $5 a gallon if Hurricane Rita is as destructive as Katrina. Oil platforms and refineries in Rita's path are being closed and evacuated. Those closures combined with damage from Katrina have cut both oil production by as much as 73 percent.
A JetBlue plane carrying 140 passengers making a flawless emergency landing in Los Angeles. The plane's front landing gear was stuck sideways just after takeoff. Thankfully there were no injuries.
And in Minnesota, there have been two strong storms with heavy rain including reports of tornado. Touchdowns confirm straight line winds of nearly 70 miles an hour, left a wide path of destruction and downed power lines.
And to our top story on this day, Hurricane Rita, tracking its path our meteorologist Bonnie Schneider in Atlanta, her debut performance here on DAYBREAK. Bonnie, good to see you. Of course, how big and how much of a problem is Rita right now?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well Kelly I was hoping getting this new advisory that we could tell you that Rita weakened, but that's not the case. We still have maximum winds at 175 miles per hour. This is still a powerful monster of a storm, a record-breaking storm, the third strongest storm in terms of pressure in the Atlantic basin since we've been keeping records, so it's really an incredible storm in a short amount of time.
This is the latest advisory and it's now reporting the landfall to shift a little bit further to the north, so they're calling for landfall from the National Hurricane Center near the Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Bay, but this guidance of course can be changed again as we're still looking days in advance.
Now let's take a look at the storm, still about 300 miles wide. The center circulation or the eye is about 16 miles wide, so it's pretty narrow. We're thinking it's going to go through one of those eye wall replacement cycles.
But let's take a look at the track first and we'll get a better idea of what we can expect. Now according to this latest track, we're still looking at this storm staying as a category five even into tomorrow morning. Now the reason for that is the storm is passing over what's known as the Loop Current, which is right in the center of the Gulf of Mexico.
The Loop Current contains very, very warm, very deep, deep water. And when you have that deep water the hurricane can really get down there and just keep pulling up that warm water. That really energizes it, so we're forecasting intensity to stay strong. Landfall sometimes on Saturday, possibly in or near the Galveston area, but we're still trying to fine tuning this track since this information just came in.
Another note to tell you though, Kelly, is that this storm stays very powerful even once it's inland as a category one hurricane moving on into east Texas. So Rita is going to be a powerful storm well into the start of next week.
WALLACE: This is a storm we are all going to be watching very closely, Bonnie. Thank you.
I want to let everyone know also that Bonnie is in today for Chad Myers. Chad can be seen on "AMERICAN MORNING" on this day and also he will be on our primetime programs later this evening.
Well we want to talk more about this powerful storm. It's not just the coast of Texas that could feel the impact. Houston is about 40 miles inland and thousands of people are already on the road. Traffic you can see is a mess.
Our Lisa Goddard is in Houston this morning for us. Lisa, good to talk to you. Thanks for joining us. Give us a sense of the situation on the ground there in Houston right now.
VOICE OF LISA GODDARD, CNN RADIO: Good morning Kelly. What a night. For the last 12 hours, thousands of cars and trucks have actually become more like temporary shelters as families, their pets, and their most important belongings have been stuck on just about every highway coming out of Houston and going through Houston.
I know folks who it's taken eight hours to go something like 20 miles, so you see now some video of the problems on the road. People having to stop and take some rest. In fact the heat in Houston has also been a problem because of the traffic. We know of at least 10 nursing home residents who are evacuating, but who suffered heat exhaustion because they were waiting so long in their transportation trying to get out of the city, so they were actually taken to hospitals. People are being patient so far, but the waits are getting longer and longer. People who thought they could leave overnight found that the instant they got onto the highway, they just hit a pure traffic jam -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Lisa, we also know Houston really became a focal point for thousands and thousands of evacuees from New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana. What about those folks...
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: ... who now have to go ahead and evacuate again?
GODDARD: Yes, that's really the sad story. Houston was so proud of everything that it did for the evacuees and now it finds that it can't house anyone. In fact, the hotel I'm staying in says it's turning out -- its guest manager said I really had planned to keep everyone here including they say a couple of New Orleans evacuees, but that they have no choice at this point with a category five or four storm about to slam into them to close their doors. So yes indeed those evacuees from New Orleans and Louisiana are being told that they need to get out again.
WALLACE: And Lisa as you've been talking, our viewers are looking at live pictures coming from our affiliate KPRC. You basically see it is a traffic jam on that interstate right now. Long, long lines of people waiting on the highways, also reports of long lines of people waiting for gasoline. How patient are people being with -- obviously you can see that on your television screen. Traffic at a standstill right now as people are trying to get out of the area.
GODDARD: So far people are helping each other. It's the kind of thing where people are passing around food as the interstates become parking lots. You know we're still 36 hours away or actually I guess now closing in a little bit more on this storm. So people feel like they have some time, they're happy they're getting out, but as this day progresses, I think you're going to see tension and tempers rise. For now people are being patient -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Lisa, thanks for that update and we'll check in with you in the next hour of DAYBREAK. Lisa Goddard reporting for us from our CNN Radio in Houston, Texas.
Well nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities in Galveston have been virtually cleared out. That's thanks to a fleet of buses, willing residents and a concrete evacuation plan.
Our Deborah Feyerick is in Galveston and she has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CROSSTALK)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They carried their bags, their babies, their fear.
(CROSSTALK)
RACHEL ROGERS, GALVESTON EVACUEE: I'm just scared.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you ever been to a shelter before?
ROGERS: No, I never have. It's going to be my first time.
FEYERICK: There were the old, the young, the frail without their own transportation, boarding the buses to join the exodus from Galveston. Julia Marshall and her five children only settled on the island this summer. They moved, you guessed it, from New Orleans because they were tired of the floods.
JULIA MARSHALL, GALVESTON EVACUEE: I'm prepared to be gone if need be at least two weeks or more, and I have medication and everything that my kids need, so you know prepare myself for that.
FEYERICK: When Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas saw the latest hurricane threat, she sent teams of volunteers into the city over the weekend to figure out who of the population of more than 58,000 would need a ride. Two thousand people signed up.
MAYOR LYDA ANN THOMAS, GALVESTON: We called for evacuations many times on the island. We're a sandbar and we're storm ridden fairly often, but this is the first time that people have responded the way they have.
(CROSSTALK)
FEYERICK: By the time the first bus pulled up to the time the last of the 80 buses left just before lunch, it took just two hours to get everyone on board to head north. Also emptied, Galveston's four nursing homes and both hospitals. For those who fled Katrina, this latest evacuation wasn't easy.
ANN SELTZER, FEMA: And so for some of them they're taking a deep breath and saying OK we can do this. I've just done it. I've done it before and others are just physically and emotionally exhausted and it's just gut wrenching for them to have to move on.
FEYERICK: Move on to safety, for some not knowing when or if they'll come back.
(on camera): And safety for Galveston is this seawall, seven miles long, 17 feet high. It won't keep the waves out, but it will lessen the blow. Officials hoping that after Rita's full force, the city will remain standing.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Galveston, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And two nuclear reactors near Galveston will be shut down before Hurricane Rita makes landfall. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the Bay City Texas reactors will close seven hours before expected landfall.
Well thousands of people who fled Louisiana after Katrina are saying here we go again.
Our Sean Callebs tells us about one family from Louisiana St. Bernard Parish who fled their home, but for Galveston.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Savoy family is getting good at packing up in a hurry.
ANNE SAVOY, LOUISIANA EVACUEE: It was unbelievable. It really was. I said not again. I said we just got here. The kids got settled in school. I think that's it.
CALLEBS: Now the family all six, seven if you count the dog, are on the road again. A little more than three weeks ago they fled their home in Louisiana ahead of Katrina. This is what happened to their community in St. Bernard Parish. Now Rita is forcing them out of a donated condo here in Galveston.
SAVOY: You feel like you're in time and space. You don't feel like you belong anywhere just yet. You know I just feel like living out of a bag right now.
CALLEBS: A very light bag, when they left Louisiana they packed for just three days. Like their brother, Shelby Savoy now faces her third different school in three weeks.
SHELBY SAVOY, LOUISIANA EVACUEE: I have mixed emotions. I'm confused, sad, angry and I'm just wondering why, why this had to happen.
CALLEBS: Shelby has friends at her Galveston high school who also evacuated from New Orleans. Now they are all scattering to the wind again.
S. SAVOY: I felt like a magnet I guess, because the other students I was talking with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) we were all just saying we feel like hurricane magnets right now. We didn't want this to happen.
CALLEBS: The family thought about going to Houston. That's out now. Rita could cause flooding there, so they may move to the town of Slidell in Louisiana close to family. But right now they are just looking for a place to rest their heads. Sean Callebs, CNN, Galveston, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: Coming up next on DAYBREAK, an incredible scene caught on camera. A jetliner loaded with passengers making a landing like nothing you've seen before. That story up next.
Also, all it will take is a little rain from Rita to turn New Orleans into a nightmare again. What are they doing to prepare?
And how will Rita affect you? How does gas at $5 a gallon sound? That's all coming up. But first here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning, September 22.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: So what's all the turmoil in the Gulf doing to the price of oil? Well it is going up. In futures trading this morning crude oil has now risen to more than $67 a barrel.
Your news, money, weather and sports, it's almost 15 minutes after the hour and here is what is all new this morning.
More than a million people are getting out of harm's way as the giant Hurricane Rita makes its approach. Mandatory evacuation orders currently cover all of Galveston, Texas, low-lying sections of Houston and Corpus Christi and a mostly empty New Orleans.
Cindy Sheehan whose son was killed in Iraq has brought her war protest to Washington. She plans to meet today with Democratic and Republican members of Congress and unveil ads attacking the Iraq war.
In money, oh to be J.K. Rowling, her latest Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" came out two months ago, already it has sold 11 million copies.
In culture, after it was revealed British police are looking into whether super model Kate Moss used cocaine, trouble on the runway. Chanel says it will not renew her perfume contract and Burberry is dumping her too.
In sports, the Philadelphia Phillies draw within five games of the Atlanta Braves thanks to Ryan Howard's grand slam homerun in the top of the tenth inning last night. The final score, Phillies 10, Braves six.
To the Forecast Center now, meteorologist Bonnie Schneider in today for Chad Myers. Bonnie, what are you seeing right now?
SCHNEIDER: A very large category five hurricane, Kelly. This storm has maximum winds at 175 miles per hour. And because it's moving over some of the warmest and deepest water in the Gulf of Mexico, we're anticipating it to stay very strong.
The new track looks like it's going to take the storm closer to Galveston. It has shifted a little bit to the north in the latest advisory, coming in as a category four sometime on Saturday. We'll be tracking it for you.
WALLACE: Bonnie, we'll check in with you in a few minutes. We appreciate that.
Well some airline travelers are feeling very lucky this morning. Their flight from California to New York had the makings of a disaster. Just after takeoff the pilot discovers serious mechanical problems.
Our Thelma Gutierrez brings us up to date on this story and takes us through to the cliffhanger landing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three- seventeen Pacific Time, JetBlue Flight 219 takes off from Burbank Airport in California, headed for JFK in New York. On board, 140 passengers and six crewmembers.
Shortly after takeoff, a warning light turns on. There's a problem with the front landing gear. The pilot flies by an air control tower so the ground crew can make a visual inspection. The front landing gear is turned sideways at a 90-degree angle and cannot retract into the plane.
That means landing with broken landing gear. On board passengers begin to watch live coverage of what is happening to them.
ALEXANDRA JACOBS, JETBLUE PASSENGER: We couldn't believe the irony that we might be watching our own demise on television.
DAVE REINETZ, JETBLUE PASSENGER: About 10 minutes before we landed they cut it all off. That was the scariest part, was when they cut it off, so I thought oh there's something going on they're not telling us.
GUTIERREZ: Since the plane is loaded with enough fuel for a cross-country trip, it's too heavy to land quickly, so the airbus and its 140 passengers circle above Los Angeles for more than three hours to burn fuel and lighten the load.
JACOBS: The flight attendants were absolutely wonderful. They didn't have an alarmed look on their faces at all and I think that was very reassuring.
GUTIERREZ: Some 150 firefighters lined the runway at Los Angeles International Airport, the airport with the longest and widest runways in the area. After three hours, the pilot makes his final approach, easing the plane down, keeping its nose gear in the air as long as possible.
Finally the broken landing gear hits the runway, the tires burst into flames. It looks ominous from the outside, but inside the cabin there's calm. JACOBS: The landing itself I got to say was like the best landing I've ever had. People cheered, applauding, there were tears. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it was wonderful.
GUTIERREZ: Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: An incredible story. I don't know if you were up late last night watching it unfold, but for folks that were they said it was unbelievable drama there live on television.
OK, well coming up next here on DAYBREAK, Hurricane Rita is sure to affect you even if you don't live in the strike zone. How does $5 a gallon for gas sound? The toll on your tank is coming up.
And later, fear of flooding in New Orleans. We'll take you there live just ahead. You are watching DAYBREAK for Thursday. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: And welcome back to DAYBREAK. Imagine this, paying $5 a gallon for gas. It happened to some of you in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but as CNN's Ali Velshi reports, the worst may be yet to come.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If three bucks a gallon shocked you, get ready for this. Katrina took a chunk out of America's oil production, but the country's biggest refineries were spared. They're in Texas and now Hurricane Rita is on its way potentially to finish the job that Katrina left undone.
PHIL FLYNN, ENERGY TRADER: This could be the worst storm we've ever seen when we talk about the potential damage and the potential price ramifications when it comes to the oil industry.
VELSHI: Oil watchers say look for new record highs when you go to the gas station. Here's why. The country's biggest refinery, ExxonMobil, Baytown, it refines half a million barrels of oil a day. It's between Houston and Galveston. It may be right in Rita's path. Massive nearby gasoline factories owned by B.P. and Shell have already been shut down. Depending on what Rita does, 21 refineries could lie in its path, accounting for more than a quarter of all the gasoline refined in America. The fear of those refineries taking a direct hit have some people making predictions no one would have believed a year ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More than likely we would see gasoline prices probably push up towards, you know, 3.70, $4.00 a gallon, maybe even as high as five.
VELSHI: That's a worst-case scenario. Best-case scenario isn't very good either. You see those refineries that have been shut down can't just be turned on once Rita passes. Even if they're not damaged, they'll be down for the better part of the next week. Rita will hit, that much is certain. When it hits and how hard it hits will make all the difference.
Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: A lot for all of us to be watching. Well Texas may be in Rita's sight, but that doesn't mean that New Orleans is in the clear. Our own Carol Costello is live from there next.
Plus, who's going to pay for the cleanup after Katrina and Rita? We'll look at the political battle over the bucks. That's coming up. We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SQUID Labs is not your typical office and Saul Griffith is not your typical office man.
DR. SAUL GRIFFITH, CO-FOUNDER, SQUID LABS: I love building things. I think the legend in my family is that no Christmas present lasted past lunchtime before I had taken it apart and built something new with it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now Griffith invents for a living. Everything from ropes with electronic sensors that can tell when they might break to low-cost eyeglass lenses that can be produced in a matter of minutes. His latest venture called Howtoons is a Web site that uses cartoon characters to turn kids into inventors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the site, kids learn how to make marshmallow shooters, turkey baster flutes (ph), even tools to blow out birthday candles from 30 feet away.
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All made from simple household products and all designed to inspire young minds.
GRIFFITH: Actually we're finding a way to explain the cutting edge in science to younger kids and what's really happening in the objects around them in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: 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.
Good morning everyone. Thanks so much for waking up with us. Welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK.
Coming up in the next 30 minutes, New Orleans may get some rain from Rita. Find out how that may actually help the city.
Plus, a look back at the hurricane that gutted Galveston more than a century ago. There are fears it will happen again.
But first, these stories "Now in the News", clearing out in Galveston. Hurricane Rita is still hundreds of miles away, but the massive storm is forcing thousands of people to evacuate that island city as well as areas of Corpus Christi and low-lying areas of Houston.
In La Porte, Texas, about 15 people being evacuated from a nursing home became ill in the heat. They are recovering this morning after a police escort to a hospital in Houston.
And at LAX Airport, a safe ending to a dangerous situation. The front landing gear of a JetBlue aircraft with 146 people onboard makes an amazing emergency landing. You are seeing it there. Thankfully no one got hurt.
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