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Texas Authorities Prepare for Worst Case Scenario as Rita Approaches; Senate Votes on Roberts Confirmation

Aired September 22, 2005 - 12:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to Galveston, and that's where David Mattingly is. David, hello.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. When public officials here first saw this hurricane coming into the Gulf of Mexico, they started preparing for the worst case scenario. And it is a very frightening scenario indeed. They were telling people who live here that the only safe decision is to get off the island. And people apparently have been listening.

As of yesterday, public buses were available for the first time ever in these situations to take people off of this island who did not have a way off. They were also for special-needs residents; the elderly, the sick, people who could not get themselves off this island reliably. The buses took out a couple of thousand people just in the first few hours that they were available yesterday.

When the emergency evacuation, the mandatory evacuation, went into effect yesterday at 6:00 p.m. Central time, these streets here were already empty. People coming off of this island, getting onto the mainland and into that terrible traffic snarl that we've been watching all day long today. It shows no signs of subsiding from here all the way up through the sea of Houston, as people try to find some area of safety.

But back here in Galveston, we're expecting to hear from public officials pretty soon again, for their most recent assessment. As this storm track is being updated, they will tell us again what they think might happen here. But again, as of this moment, they say the best decision is to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LYDA ANN THOMAS, GALVESTON, TEXAS: Driving around town today, the town is emptying out, which is a good thing. Those who are here are going to do like some of us in government. We're going to have to hunker down as, Mr. LeBlanc (ph) says in their homes and just pray that they survive the storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And as I said from the beginning, they've been looking at the possible worst case scenario. And I'm going to give you a little bit of an idea of what that might look like here. We're right here on the sea wall that was constructed back after the big hurricane of 1900. It goes for miles, I believe about seven miles along the city, protecting it from the ocean. This sea wall is 17 feet high.

If we get a full strength hurricane hitting right here, they are believing that they could see waves 15 feet over the top of this wall. They might revise that sort of doomsday-type of scenario after we see what this storm will do. Again, it's moving a little more to the north, and we'll possibly see what we see might be coming this way for this island of Galveston -- Daryn?

KAGAN: All right. David Mattingly, in Galveston, Texas. Thank you.

Where is Hurricane Rita headed?and how strong will it be when it gets there? For the big picture -- yes, by the way, we are waiting for a news conference. Lyda Ann Thomas, the mayor. We heard just a little bit with -- from David Mattingly. She is expecting to hold a news conference any minute. When that does happen, you'll see that live here on CNN.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: We're going to go live to Houston now. Jeff Rossen, he's with our affiliate WABC. But he finds himself in Houston, Texas, in front of the parking lot that is known as the highways that are -- people are trying to get out of town. Good morning.

JEFF ROSSEN, WABC REPORTER: Good morning to you, Daryn. This is actually Highway 45 going northbound, the main route inland. And you can see exactly what we're dealing with. There are cars that I have watched that have sat here -- no joke -- for about a half hour.

You see this red SUV right here with the gas cans on top? That car has not moved in about 45 minutes. And of course, it is a bit dangerous to have gas cans, we should mention, on top of your roof, though many people are doing it because another huge problem here is, Daryn, if you run out of gas, there is absolutely nowhere to go.

And that's another part of the traffic problem, that people are actually stalling on the side of the road. If we can actually swing over this way. It happened to a gentlemen over here. The transmission went on that car, all the way down there, between those two poles. They have been on the side trying to fix it, but what it's done was, it has ruined the traffic flow on this service road onto I- 45. There is no way that people can get around them.

And so that is what we are dealing with now. People are actually screaming at us over here. They're happy to get a little attention. They've been on the road, many of these people, for ten or 11 or 12 hours.

Tom (ph) over here, you've been on the road since early this morning. What happens if you run out of gas?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you run out of gas, you're going to block the rest of the traffic flow. There's no place to go. You're going to get caught in the storm.

ROSSEN: Why'd you pull over?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I don't burn up my gas.

ROSSEN: How long have you been on the road this morning?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since 8:00. I've made pretty good time up to this point, but things come to a grinding halt, so.

ROSSEN: OK. Best of luck, Tom. I actually want to come over here, as well. A young couple, Kathleen (ph) and Ryan (ph). Let's get rid of these wires. What is your story? Where are you trying to go and how long is it taking you so far?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to get to Dallas. We left Houston about 4:45 or so downtown.

ROSSEN: This morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This morning. Been on 45 since.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have yet to cross Beltway 8..

ROSSEN: How -- what is it like sitting in this traffic in this hot car?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hot. There's -- we haven't been able to run our A.C. because we're trying to save gas. We have a full tank, but...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never know. You might run out of gas and be stranded. So we're just trying to take it easy.

ROSSEN: Best of luck to you. The smart thing is to leave. There are mandatory evacuations in place at Galveston Island, as you know, which we just heard from Mr. Mattingly. It's about 50 miles down the road. And in fact, low-lying areas of Houston, there are mandatory evacuations in effect there, as well. They're going north.

But you can see as the traffic continues to sit on the freeway, Texas Department of Transportation is going to start opening the southbound lanes to go northbound, though that has not happened in this area yet. And Daryn, people are beginning to lose their patience.

KAGAN: Understandably. Hopefully, things will just keep moving along, especially as they go ahead and open more lanes of traffic, get everybody out of Houston.

Jeff Rossen with our affiliate WABC, who happens to be in Houston, Texas today. Thank you very much.

Well, one of the big stories after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was the story with the hospitals and a very difficult time of evacuating patients there. They're trying to do it better this time around in Houston. Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta finds himself in Houston, as well. He is at Texas Medical Center, where, Sanjay, I understand, they are making arrangements for the patients there. Good morning.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. Lots of lessons learned, most recently from Katrina, but certainly from Allison, a tropical storm a few years ago. The Texas Medical Center is a huge medical facility within downtown Houston. They take care of thousands of patients here. We're sort of the command center here, where they have been planning this for several years now, really for several years since Allison, how best to handle a situation like this.

A couple things most notable. One is that they're really not going to evacuate any of the patients from Houston. They're not planning on doing that. They're not planning on getting rid of any of the essential personnel, either. Just non-essential personnel.

A couple of things that jumped out at me, for example -- simple things maybe. But the generators of the hospital are not in the basement, as they were in the hospitals that you and I talked about when I was in New Orleans. They are several floors above sea level. They don't plan on those generators short-circuiting out like they did at Charity Hospital, for example.

They also have these really amazing submarine-like doors, Daryn. These doors will actually close in the hospital to prevent flooding, again, from essential areas of the hospital so that they can continue patient care even through the hurricane and even after some possible flooding in the city around it.

Texas Medical Center, a lot of the hospitals as well, are sort of built a little bit higher. If you look at it sort of from the sky, they look like they're actually on a little bit of a hill...

KAGAN: Sanjay, I'm just going to jump...

GUPTA: ... as well.

KAGAN: Sanjay, just need to jump in here. Thank you for that report. That's our Dr. Sanjay Gupta live in Houston, Texas.

Right now, the mayor of Galveston, Texas, Lyda Ann Thomas, holding a news conference. Let's listen.

THOMAS: ... get through the storm. I have this morning spoken to Governor Perry, and I've also spoken to Homeland Security, to our liaison in Washington at the Homeland Security office. And I have spoken 1,500 National Guardsmen and at least two search and rescue units to be sent to Galveston Island immediately following the storm.

And I wanted to let you all know that. Suzie Green (ph) has, as we are required to do, faxed our request going up the channel, up the chain, to our county emergency management office. And then they will continue carrying our requests further to the state and then to Washington.

So I wanted to let all of you here know that that's been done, and, of course to let the public know that immediately following the storm, Galveston will have the necessary state and federal troops coming on to our island to help secure the city.

Now that -- I'm going to ask Mr. Jaworski to bring you up to date on the evacuation of our local citizens, as well as our visitors from the storm Katrina. And then Mr. LeBlanc will bring you up to date on any new weather reports or activities that the city is putting into effect.

So, Mayor Pro Tem Jaworski?

KAGAN: Listening in there to the latest update from Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas of Galveston, Texas, saying that the evacuation appears to be going well. She also has put in a request for 1,500 National Guardsmen and two search-and-rescue units standing by to go back to Galveston as soon as Rita passes.

We have a lot more news to get to just ahead, including the latest on Judge John Roberts and his nomination for the next chief justice of the United States. We will get to that on Capitol Hill, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We'll continue to bring you the latest information on Hurricane Rita as it becomes available.

Meanwhile, let's got to Capitol Hill. The Senate Judiciary Committee just about ready to vote on the nomination of John Roberts. He is on track to be the 17th chief justice, replacing the late William Rehnquist. Roberts is virtually assured his name will go to the full Senate floor for a vote.

Republicans hold a 10-8 edge on the committee, and at least one Democrat, Vermont's Patrick Leahy, plans to vote for the judge. The Democrats could try to block him on the Senate floor. That appears increasingly unlikely, with several Democrats leaning toward a yes vote.

Full coverage now from Washington.

Let's welcome in our Wolf Blitzer, congressional correspondent Joe Johns, and in New York, senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

Gentlemen, good afternoon. Good to have you here with us.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thank, Daryn, very much. Since you've been focussing in on the hurricane, Hurricane Rita, they've been meeting for the past few hours, the Senate Judiciary Committee. We see a member, Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas speaking right now. The chairman, Arlen Specter, says the vote is only moments away. Already we know, Daryn, what the final outcome is going to be.

Let's bring in our congressional correspondent Joe Johns.

All of the senators, Joe, have made it clear where they are going to vote. There are 18 members of this judiciary committee, 10 Republicans, and eight Democrats.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And we do expect, based on the statements they have made today in this meeting of the Judiciary Committee, for that vote to work out at something like 13-5. We believe three Democrats, based on their statements, they will vote in favor of this nomination, in favor of sending it to the Senate floor.

Those three Democrats, of course, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont already mentioned, also Senator Russ Feingold and Senator Cole. Those three Democrats indicating they will vote in favor of this nomination. It would turn out to be 13-5, which, Wolf, is exactly the vote that sent the nomination of Chief Justice Rehnquist from the Senate Judiciary Committee to the Senate floor in 1986.

BLITZER: All 10 Republicans will vote in favor of confirmation of Judge Roberts. Five Democrats will vote against, as Joe just noted, Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Dianne Feinstein, the only woman member of the committee, Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy.

Let's bring in our senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin. You're watching this. We're going to get the formal roll call momentarily, a 13-5 vote for Judge Roberts bodes pretty well for him as he begins his next assignment. It's virtually assured now he will be confirmed next week by the full Senate.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely. His confirmation has not been in doubt for some time. And the only issue has been, is it going to be on the order of 95-5 or 65-35. How many Democrats are going to wind up voting against him?

And I think what you've seen today is a lot of positioning for the next vacancy. The filling of the Sandra Day O'Connor seat, which is likely to be much more contentious. And I think the Democrats, in different ways, and that's why you have a split here -- three Democrat for Roberts, five against -- are deciding what's the best way to position themselves for the next vacancy which could be far more contentious.

BLITZER: All right, standby.

KAGAN: I want to jump in here.

BLITZER: Yes, go ahead, Daryn.

KAGAN: Because we have the two stories going on. We will to continue follow what's happening on Capitol Hill. Back to Texas, though, where Governor Rick Perry is currently speaking.

Let's listen in to the governor.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS) GOV. RICK PERRY, TEXAS: ... bring in fuel trucks, which is part of the emergency-response plan. They're positioning those trucks all along the evacuation route, including I-45, I-10, State Highway 290, and we will get those who are low or out of fuel. The Department of Defense is also assisting with this effort.

And again, I urge everyone to exercise patience. I know there's going to be a lot of frustration out there, being stuck in the type of traffic gridlock that is even monumental in Houston standards. So this evacuation is historic in its proportion.

We deployed troopers to manage the traffic flow, those congestion points, and we continue to look at other efforts at the standpoint of having uniformed individuals of authority in those intersections to help that traffic flow.

Last night, we deployed troops to visit special-needs facilities all along the coast, see if there's still anyone in need. Where request for additional assistance was made, we worked with the local officials to evacuate these Texans who can't evacuate themselves. That effort is ongoing.

Now, earlier today, I ordered the air evacuation of approximately 9,000 individuals from Houston and Beaumont, who required special assistance. All state facilities along the coast have been evacuated.

I also want to be clear that we're in close communications with critical industries such as the refineries, the petrochemical plants. They are taking appropriate procedures to safeguard their facilities according to their emergency plans.

And to clarify, that doesn't mean all these facilities are in the process of shutting down. Many of them are still functioning, but they are the experts on that particular set of decision making and they have their emergency plans and they are following them.

This morning I spoke to President Bush, and requested that he preposition 10,000 federal troops in Texas to assist with search and rescue efforts in the immediate aftermath of this storm. This is in addition to the 5,000 National Guard troops that I have activated. There's over 1,000 of our state troopers that are propositioned, and members of Texas Task Force One stand ready.

They are, I would suggest, the most experienced individuals in the country on this kind of rescue mission and -- having helped not only at 911, but also just recently in Louisiana. The track of the storm appears to have taken a slight turn to the east. It's clear that wherever it makes landfall, it's going to do extensive damage.

The safest course of action is to evacuate now, in a very calm, in an orderly manner. Evacuating may not prevent damage to your personal property, but it can save your life. So with that, let me open it up to any questions that you all have for myself, Jack Colley (ph), Steve McGraw.

KAGAN: We've been listening to governor Rick Perry of Texas giving the latest, once again urging people to get out and get out now and get out calmly. Giving some numbers, saying that he has put in the request to have 10,000 federal troops prepositioned this time to be ready to go into any areas that are hard-hit by Hurricane Rita. Also that's in addition to the 5,000 National Guard troops that have already been activated by the state of Texas.

We are going to get back to our coverage of the vote on John Roberts as the next chief justice of the U.S. We'll do that after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We want to go back now live to Capitol Hill. The Senate Judiciary Committee just wrapping things up on their vote of John Roberts to be the next chief justice of the United States. For more on that, let's go to D.C. and Wolf Blitzer -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks, Daryn, very much. Let's bring you Joe Johns right away, our congressional correspondent. He's there. It's official now. The vote is over, 13 in favor of John Roberts' confirmation. Five Democrats -- all Democrats -- oppose. We see the chairman and the ranking Democrat there, Arlen Specter and Patrick Leahy. They are both smiles. They voted the same way. Joe Johns, what does this 13-5 vote set the stage for now on the full Senate floor, presumably next week?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does set the stage obviously for a lot of debate. The truth is, the expectation has been that a sizable number of Democrats will vote for this nomination once it does get to the floor. Hard to say how many, of course. Democrats that come from states that lean Republican probably most likely to vote for Roberts.

Of course, in committee, it was very interesting to hear a number of the senators. Herb Kohl summing up it pretty well, suggesting that in his view, this is a vote versus the hopes of some and fears of others. Certainly some Democrats expressing their hopes that Justice Roberts, when he becomes Justice Roberts, will in fact not push the court any further right than it already has been, Wolf.

On the other hand, there's that question of whether he, in fact, will do that. So, you have people like Dianne Feinstein of California, the only woman on the committee, saying she's very concerned about this nomination and just didn't get a clear enough indication that Judge Roberts and his writings of his earlier days when he worked in the Reagan administration had changed dramatically or in my way since he became, in fact, a judge on the D.C. Circuit court here.

A lot of considerations. That vote we are told could come as early as next week. And then, of course, another nomination to worry about. The question, of course, when the administration will send that one to Capitol Hill, replacing Sandra Day O'Connor. Back to you.

BLITZER: Presumably, Jeff Toobin, that will be much more controversial, given the role that Sandra Day O'Connor has played over these years as a so-called swing vote, often the decisive 5-4 vote one way or another. It's going to be very, very interesting as you look ahead in the days and weeks to come, Jeff.

TOOBIN: Very much so. Chief Justice Rehnquist was a very conservative force for many years. Chief Justice Roberts as we can get used to calling him will probably be very concertive. The number of cases on which they disagree is probably very few, so the balance of the court won't change.

The real issue is Sandra Day O'Connor who was a vote for Roe V. Wade, for abortion rights, you know, for gay rights in the Texas sodomy case, you know, for affirmative action. Those are the issues that are likely to swing the other way often in 5-4 votes. And that's where the big fight will be starting probably late next week.

BLITZER: And there's no doubt that John Roberts will be confirmed. The Democrats, the Democratic leader, Harry Reid, even though he's going to vote against him has made it clear there will not be a filibuster. And even if there were a filibuster, the Republicans together with those Democrats who support John Roberts would be able to break a filibuster with 60 votes.

Already, some other Democrats like Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Max Baucus of Montana states that -- Joe Johns was suggesting our Republicans states at least in president elections, they've already made it clear they'll vote to endorse, to support this confirmation.

So for all practical purposes, it's a done deal. The formality will happen next week on the Senate floor. We'll of course continue to watch all of this. Daryn, it's going to be interesting to see what happens, to put it mildly, once the president in the coming days, as we now anticipate, will go forth with his second nominee, this one to replace Sandra Day O'Connor.

KAGAN: Yes, the intrigue that gets even and even greater in Washington D.C., and we'll be looking to you to help us cover that along with Joe and Jeff Toobin as well. Thank you all.

And that's going to wrap it up for me, but the news continues right here on CNN with the latest on Hurricane Rita. Kyra Phillips will be with you after the break, and I'll see you tomorrow morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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