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CNN Live At Daybreak

Rita Now a Monster Category-Five Storm; Chased Out by Katrina, Now Fleeing Rita

Aired September 22, 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 CORRESPONDENT: It is Thursday, September 22.
Packing up and moving out -- Rita now a monster category five storm, forces evacuations, closes refineries and menaces the Texas Gulf Coast.

Also, chased out by Katrina, now fleeing Rita. We'll check in on evacuees as they begin again, again.

And drama in Los Angeles as a crippled JetBlue flight makes a breathtaking touch down.

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.

Good morning, everyone.

Thanks so much for waking up with us.

We'll have much more on hurricane Rita in a moment as it continues toward Texas.

Also ahead, New Orleans may avoid a direct hit, but that doesn't mean the city is out of danger.

And preserving the sound of New Orleans -- we'll check in with the director of the Preservation Hall jazz band.

But first, these stories now in the news.

The European Union has backed down from its plan to have Iran hauled before the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program. The move could have led to sanctions against Iran. But the E.U. wants a unanimous resolution approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency before taking action.

Las Vegas police are awaiting drug and alcohol test results on a man who plowed his car into pedestrians in front of the Bali's and Paris Hotel casinos. One person was killed, 13 others injured in the incident. The driver is now behind bars.

And central Minnesota will be cleaning up today from a line of severe storms and reports of tornado touchdowns. Police say one man was killed in the storm. That storm also damaged homes, toppled trees and downed some power lines.

Our top story again on this Thursday, hurricane Rita. Tracking all developments for us, meteorologist Bonnie Schneider in the Forecast Center today for Chad Myers -- hi, Bonnie.

What is the latest from there?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, ATS METEOROLOGIST: OK, Kelly, well, the latest is right now our center of circulation or our hurricane eye is 18 miles wide. That's pretty tight. That's a tight center for circulation. And really what that means is it's a very strong storm. Well, we know that.

It's a category five with maximum winds of 175 miles per hour. And the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center has made some changes, probably since you fell asleep last night. Waking up this morning, the hurricane watch has extended further eastward, all the way to Intercoastal City, Louisiana. That's not necessarily because the storm is going to strike Intercoastal City. It's more based on the fact that the storm is so large and so massive -- remember, it's 300 miles wide -- so we have a wider area we're watching for hurricane landfall or at least hurricane force winds.

Now, a tropical storm warning does extend further south to the mouth of the Mississippi River, and unfortunately, that does include most of the southern Louisiana coast, where we could see tropical storm force winds.

Now, here's our latest track. As you can see, once again, there are some changes. It's shifted a little bit further north since yesterday. So now we have landfall, it looks like, north of the Galveston Bay, somewhere in this vicinity. Remember, of course, as we still progress, even though it's just a couple days away, we do have a margin of error and a cone of uncertainty that stretches across a good portion of northern Texas. But the storm does come in through north of Houston and even heads up further north toward Oklahoma as a category one. This is going to be a powerful storm when it makes landfall as a category four or greater, or possibly a little weaker.

But really, at this point, it looks like it's coming in full force as a cat four -- Kelly.

WALLACE: All right, Bonnie, we will watch all your reports very closely.

We'll talk to you in a few minutes.

Thanks so much.

Time now for a look at what is going on in the projected path of hurricane Rita that Bonnie just laid out for us. Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in at least four counties in eastern Texas. Thousands of residents of Galveston either drove their own cars out of town or they boarded city provided buses to get to higher ground. The mass exodus from Galveston has left many gas stations empty. Other stations along the Gulf Coast have been the scene for very long gas lines. Drivers are also waiting in lines farther inland, as people head to Dallas, San Antonio and other parts of Texas.

A team of Dallas heart specialists are in Corpus Christi to help the evacuation there. Critically ill patients from the Children's Hospital will be stabilized and flown to Dallas. Doctors say they will travel back and forth until all those patients are moved.

The mayor of Corpus Christi saying people living in the low lying parts of his city must leave their homes by early this afternoon. People in other areas of town have until tonight to heed the mandatory evacuation order.

CNN national correspondent Bob Franken is in Corpus Christi, joining us live from there now -- Bob, always great to see you.

Give us a sense of what you've been seeking there since you've been on the ground.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, if you were to look now, there's a certain calm, a certain peacefulness. Early autumn here. It's still hot. Corpus Christi Bay in back of me is calm and beautiful. And, of course, out there in the Gulf of Mexico, just on the other side of the barrier islands, is where all the chaos is that could wreak havoc in this entire area.

Now, you mentioned the mandatory evacuation order. That is the first time in Texas they have had a mandatory evacuation. And what is so striking here is the evidence, the obvious evidence, if you don't mind the redundancy, of the lessons learned from Katrina.

There are buses that are set up. The evacuation order is accompanied by a plan for buses. The evacuation order allows for people to take their pets. That was such a problem. People didn't want to leave their pets in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast in Katrina. On and on and on. Propositioned National Guard units, propositioned supplies for after the hurricane hits. And, of course, most interestingly, a lot of people who might have tried to ride out a storm in the past have learned their lessons from Katrina.

So there is this evacuation as people head up Interstate 37, heading for points north and points in, Austin, San Antonio, places that would be relatively safe from the storm. This is an area that relies on the Gulf of Mexico and its tributaries. It is an area that is visited by so many tourists. It is an area now that is in great jeopardy and the officials here learned their lessons, as I said, and it looks like the population also has -- Kelly.

WALLACE: Exactly, Bob.

How much, in the mayor himself saying learning lessons or learning from Katrina? Because it appears he says that he's ordering these mandatory evacuations a little bit earlier than he would have normally because of what he saw happened in Louisiana and Mississippi. FRANKEN: Yes. And people are taking heed. There were some traffic jams, but not the kind of absolute gridlock that people experienced with the last one. And I think that what is most striking is the strong emphasis on making sure the people who do not have transportation, are not able to get out on their own, have ways to do that, very systematic. There are municipal buses that will take people to collection points where they can get on other buses.

Again, lessons very sadly learned just a few weeks ago.

WALLACE: Bob, you know, and, of course, it's always interesting looking at you. It's such a tranquil, peaceful setting behind you. It looks like a beautiful start to a day there, but obviously the situation likely to change dramatically over the next 24, 48 hours.

Bob, thanks so much.

We'll be checking in with you throughout the day here on CNN.

We've got much more on hurricane Rita coming up in this show.

At the bottom of the hour, we'll take you to Galveston, Texas; also, to Houston, to show you how people there, in both places, are preparing for the coming storm.

For some Katrina evacuees in Houston, this is deja vu. They are being moved to Arkansas now to get out of the path of hurricane Rita. This morning, Arkansas National Guard officials say they expect five commercial flights to bring in more evacuees. So far, only about 350 of the expected 4,000 people have arrived in Arkansas.

Officials say hurricane Katrina victims now in Houston say they don't want to move again.

Well, Arkansas has certainly rolled out the welcome mat to victims of Katrina and is doing the same for Rita evacuees.

Governor Mike Huckabee joining us now live on the phone from Washington to talk about that.

Governor, thanks so much for getting up early with us here on DAYBREAK.

GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE (R), ARKANSAS: Happy to do it, Kelly.

WALLACE: This really is an unbelievable situation. And we saw, of course, pictures of you there standing there, personally greeting some of these evacuees who are coming to Arkansas.

Give us a sense of what people were saying, especially the ones who are second time evacuees. They evacuated once and now they have to evacuate again.

HUCKABEE: Kelly, my heart goes out to these people. They've been through an enormous ordeal. And many of them just need to be given some real human touch. They have been treated like boxes, in many cases, warehoused. And one of the things we're trying to do is to make them feel like persons again with individual identity, call them by name, look them in the eyes and let them know that they are important as individual people and we're going to try to listen to their problems and do what we can to help them.

Our state is blessed in that we don't have to deal with really broken property, like so many people in Louisiana and Mississippi are having to do, and Texas will have to do.

So we're trying to picture up the pieces of broken people and I'm very proud of our state, particularly our faith community. Our confirmation hearings have done a -- just an amazing job of reaching out with real compassion with these folks who have been through just a living hell.

WALLACE: Yes, really. And it must have meant a lot to them as you stood there and shook hands and conveyed that to them.

Give us a sense, Governor, of what your state is doing in terms of where will the evacuees go and how long can you keep them in these places?

HUCKABEE: Well, we're committed to trying to be a good neighbor. We said we'll follow the golden rule. We'll treat these folks like we'd want to be treated. And we consider them our neighbors and we're going to try to treat them that way.

What we've done is establish a series of 26 camps around the state so that we can disperse the population. It doesn't put a strain on anyone's workforce or schools or hospitals. It also gives us the opportunity of putting them in church camps, where they much more comfortable settings. They're able to have more privacy, more intimacy. But most importantly, what it really gives them is an opportunity to be just overwhelmed with the love and compassion of volunteers who are coming in and giving them not just cots, showers, sandwiches and even hot meals, but, more importantly, giving them hugs and smiles and a sense of just personally caring for them.

WALLACE: And, Governor, as you are talking, we have some live pictures our viewers are seeing.

This is an Interstate in the Houston area. And basically you see it's basically one big, you know, bumper to bumper traffic situation, as people are fleeing the city in advance of hurricane Rita.

I want to just ask you finally, and quickly, Governor, if I could, as a governor of a state, what is your biggest concern, not really for Arkansas, but as you're concerned about your colleagues in Texas and Louisiana with the approach of hurricane Rita?

HUCKABEE: Well, I really admire the way Rick Perry is getting on top of this and getting in front of it. And I think he's doing a masterful job of being honest with the folks in saying look, you've got to get out of town. And he's taking command. That's what a governor should do. And he's doing it and doing it well. I'm not surprised. He's a very effective leader. And we're going to see, I think, a very orderly process.

WALLACE: And some of those people on that highway right now might be heading to your state of Arkansas.

Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, thanks for joining us this morning from Washington.

Still to come this hour, Texas may be facing the eye of the storm, but New Orleans is also closely watching Rita. We'll take you there live.

Also, Rita, refineries and gas prices -- why a Lone Star landfall would be so bad for consumers nationwide.

And this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was a beautiful place. It's empty and it's quiet. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Empty, quiet and full of memories. Our Suzanne Malveaux returns home to her roots to see what Katrina left behind. You won't want to miss that very personal story.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning, September 22.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: And welcome back to DAYBREAK.

Looking at a live picture there, the start of the day here in New York City.

Turning now to New Orleans. Although that city is not in the direct path of hurricane Rita, the city is keeping a very close eye on the situation, especially after the pounding from Katrina. The big concern centering around the levees damaged by Katrina.

Carol Costello has left the DAYBREAK anchor desk for New Orleans, where she's covering Rita's approach.

And she's joining us live on the phone again this morning -- Carol, good to talk to you.

Give us a sense, you've been talking to a lot of officials on the ground.

What are they doing to try and shore up the levees in advance of hurricane Rita?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, they're doing several things.

The Army Corps of Engineers are putting in these huge pylons and they're going to fashion steel curtains out of them. And that's supposedly -- they're going to place them at the end of each canal in the city. And if there is a storm surge produced by Rita, three to six feet, supposedly those steel curtains will keep the water in.

Now, if the storm surge is bigger, well, we just don't know what's going to happen. It's possible that, you know, the water could get over those steel curtains and flood the city.

What we're experiencing now in the City of New Orleans, though, is rain. Just a few minutes ago it was pouring. Now it's just sort of drizzling. And any sign of rain here is disturbing to people because, you know, well, psychological reasons. And they're just hoping it doesn't rain very much.

The mayor said a few days ago three to six inches of rain could possibly flood parts of the city with water up to four feet deep.

The good news is that the military has a definite plan to search and rescue, to secure property. In fact, the National Guard is ready to redeploy, if necessary, due to hurricane Rita.

Lots to say. I talked with the 41st Combat Brigade out of Oregon and they're ready to send part of their men to Baton Rouge. And what they'll do is after Rita passes, they'll go to where is needed in the State of Louisiana.

Other parts of that unit will spread out over the city. Some will be stationed in the New Orleans Museum of Art. And they have boats with them so if it does flood, they can get out and they can rescue the people who have chosen to stay behind. And believe me, these guys have experience when it comes to using those special kinds of boats used for rescue.

Let's listen to Lieutenant Colonel Plimpton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. TODD PLIMPTON, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD: FEMA has provided us boats, flat-bottomed boats with, you know, 10 horse Mercs on the back of it. And that's all we've done for three weeks now. So I would tell you that we're -- we've got some expertise there now that we didn't have three weeks ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the breach in the 17th Street canal and the levee there. You can see, hopefully, pictures of it before and how terrible that was. I mean it was a huge, long breach, a break in that levee. And that caused the bulk of the problems in the City of New Orleans.

Now, they've been working feverishly to fix that. They're putting gravel in it and they're putting these huge giant sandbags weighing tens of thousands of pounds. They're still working on it this morning. In fact, we're trying to get to the location. But since it kind of rained and the ground is moist, it's very dangerous to go into that area. So we're trying to get there so that we can get a clearer picture and hopefully we'll get there, we're hoping by 7:00 a.m. Eastern time at least -- Kelly.

WALLACE: We hope so, Carol.

You know, I wanted to just ask you quickly, also, yesterday when you were outside the convention center, you managed to track down Lieutenant General Russell Honore, who is obviously leading the military part of the relief effort there in New Orleans.

Give us a sense of what he said.

I know a day earlier than that, Carol, he told reporters "don't get stuck on stupid" and focus on the past, focus on the future.

What did he tell you?

COSTELLO: Oh, you know, it's funny, I was doing some live hits for DAYBREAK yesterday and he was listening. He was watching on his television. And he got upset at something I said and he messaged me to tell me that I should like change my tune. And then we talked about it.

So he flew into the evacuation site later that morning and I was able to go up and talk to him in person. And he sat down for an extended interview with me.

And, you know, he says that they have it together, but there's no way we can control what Rita does. We just have to wait and see.

The good thing is, is that there are plans in place for the military to react quickly. They learned the lessons from Katrina. And that people, you know, while they should be concerned, don't be too concerned because they seem to have this under control.

WALLACE: That's all very interesting, Carol.

You got Honore's attention and that is just so interesting. It was fascinating to watch yesterday.

Carol, thanks so much.

And we, of course, will be looking forward to your reports this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, starting at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

So how high could they go? That is what many of you are wondering about when it comes to gas prices as hurricane Rita approaches Texas. We'll talk about that.

Also, on a wing and a prayer -- all are safe after a harrowing emergency landing in the City of Angels. We'll talk about that, too.

But first, another look at the traffic on the West Loop in Houston as evacuees try to dodge Rita.

DAYBREAK will be right back. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER UPDEGRAVE, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": The key investment vehicles for college saving are probably, number one, the 529 Account. That's one of the most popular. That's usually a state run program and it varies from state to state what kind of tax deduction you will get. All the 529 Plans allow you to pull the money out as long as it's used for qualified education expenses without paying tax on that.

One thing to keep in mind, this tax break on 529s is due to expire in 2010. There is a great Web site to go to that lists all the state plans in great detail and it's called www.savingforcollege.com. And this site really gives a comprehensive listing of all the plans out there and all the tax advantages that they have and compares them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: And time now for a little "Business Buzz."

Two massive hurricanes aimed at one area in less than a month. That is sending the oil industry reeling. A big question -- how high will gas prices really go?

That is a big question.

And for Carrie Lee, who has some answers for us -- hi, Carrie.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And the million dollar question really, Kelly, now we saw gas prices $5, $6 a gallon when Katrina struck. Well, now Rita is barreling into Texas, a category five hurricane, and so people are wondering what's going to happen here because this hurricane is striking right at the heart of U.S. oil production.

So what we have here, 18 of Texas' 25 -- 26 refineries are located near the Gulf Coast. That's over 25 percent of U.S. refining capacity. Now, six of those have already been shut down. Add that to the four facilities still closed in nearby Louisiana and Mississippi after Katrina, and you have 14 percent of the nation's refining capacity currently offline.

So this is not good news for gas prices. Oil watchers say look for new record highs when you go to the gas station.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL FLYNN, ENERGY TRADER: Rita would be the Grinch that stole Christmas, because more than likely we would see gasoline prices probably push up toward, you know, $3.70, $4 a gallon; maybe even as high as $5. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And it's no shocker, and here's why. Now, what you're seeing in a moment here, this is the country's biggest refinery. This is Exxon Mobil's Bay Town in Texas. It refines half a million barrels of oil a day and it's right in Rita's path, between Houston and Galveston. As many as 21 other refineries could also be in that path. And if those refineries take a hit, well, we're bracing ourselves for that, for a situation none would have imagined even a year ago.

Now, gasoline futures have risen nearly 20 percent since Friday. But they're being kept in check by a government report showing supplies rose last week.

Meanwhile, oil prices are still below all time highs, but pushing higher. We finished pretty close to $68 a barrel last night.

Meanwhile, Wall Street bracing for a worst case scenario. The futures looking solidly lower at this point. No real surprise there.

WALLACE: No, no surprise there. People obviously are going to be watching and waiting to see exactly what happens.

LEE: Right. And the problem, of course, with gas prices, the refinery issue. You know, these refineries were already operating at full capacity. So news like this just sends it all into a tailspin.

WALLACE: All what we didn't need.

OK, Carrie, thanks so much.

LEE: Sure.

WALLACE: Carrie Lee with the "Business Buzz" today.

Packed highways, long gas lines -- yes, long gas lines, indeed. The scene in South Texas is the same -- thousands of people take the highways to get out of Rita's way. We'll talk about that.

And a crippled jet lands in very dramatic fashion. That story coming up.

DAYBREAK continues for a Thursday.

Don't go away.

(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.

Coming up this half hour, on the heels of Katrina, watch out for Rita. Taking no chances this time, tens of thousands heading for higher ground.

And the safe landing that almost wasn't. Passengers on board actually watching it all unfold as it happened on television.

But first, these stories now in the news.

Left behind in all this hurricane coverage, the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation for John Roberts' nomination as chief justice. A vote expected today. A yes vote expected to come, in fact, this morning. His nomination is expected to get full Senate approval next week.

In Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi forces seized weapons caches at five locations this week. They also detained 16 terror suspects. U.S. military officials add that they thwarted an attempted suicide car bomb attack on an Army convoy yesterday.

And central Minnesota will be cleaning up today from a line of severe storms and reports of tornado touchdowns. Police say one man was killed in a storm that damaged homes, toppled trees and downed power lines.

(WEATHER REPORT)

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