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Lou Dobbs Tonight
New Orleans Floods Again; Galveston Hopes to Avoid Direct Hit; Bus Carrying Senior Evacuees Explodes; Traffic Jams Plague Texas Evacuees; Bush Reschedules Texas Trip; Hurricane Rita Threatens Energy Industry; Interview With Governor Jim Doyle
Aired September 23, 2005 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, HOST: Wolf, thank you and good evening, everybody.
In just a few hours from now, coastal residents of eastern Texas and western Louisiana will be facing the full force of Hurricane Rita. Rita is driving massive storm surges and bringing with it torrential rainfall.
Rita is now a highly dangerous Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 125 miles an hour, even higher gusts. Those winds are expected to drive a storm surge of as much as 20 feet into the coastline. Current projections suggest the likely point of impact is the Texas city of Port Arthur. Officials predict the entire city could be flooded.
There is already serious new flooding in New Orleans tonight, after an eight foot storm surge overwhelmed damaged levees. Flood waters pouring into the devastated city quickly reaching a depth of more than four feet, and in a highway tragedy linked to Hurricane Rita, as many as 24 evacuees were killed when a bus caught fire on an interstate near Dallas. The bus was carrying residents of a nursing home located near Houston.
We have reporters all along the coast of eastern Texas and western Louisiana tonight, as powerful winds are pushing storm surges along the coast.
We begin with Mary Snow in New Orleans -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, what New Orleans was hoping wouldn't happen did. We are seeing more flooding in New Orleans. This is the first time since Hurricane Katrina that its battered levees have been tested.
What happened today is that water topped over two damaged sections of the industrial canal levee. That's a levee that connects Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River.
And the Army Corps of Engineers is not calling this an official breach of these damaged levees, but clearly you can see water pouring in throughout the day to the lower Ninth Ward. One military official telling us by midday that he's experienced water that was four feet deep in about a section of that area, 30 to 40 blocks.
Now, the engineers did expect flooding. They just didn't expect it to happen so quickly. They expected it to happen over the weekend. And as you mentioned, engineers saying that a storm surge over seven feet is what caused that water to top off. The Army Corps of Engineers is saying that it's positioning crews and equipment to try and shore up these fragile areas when it can -- Lou.
DOBBS: Mary, first, is there considerably more rain expected, and are we to expect even more flooding over the course of the weekend?
SNOW: one would have to assume so, Lou, because this is really just the first day of this rain. And we are getting pockets of rain and wind, as you can probably imagine and see for yourself, coming through. The forecast had called for several inches of rain, but over a longer period of time. And because the flooding is happening quicker than engineers thought, one could assume that they'll probably experience more flooding in these low-lying areas.
DOBBS: Mary Snow from New Orleans. Thank you very much.
Let's go now to Rob Marciano. He's in Beaumont, Texas. That's just inland from Port Arthur, which is expected to be directly in the cross hairs of this powerful hurricane -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Lou, you're right about that. Just up the road from Port Arthur, just to the west of Orange, Texas. Those three cities make up what's called the Golden Triangle here in southeast Texas, and it looks like they very well may bear the brunt of the storm.
Behind me is the Neches River, one of the many rivers at the side of not only Texas but southwest Louisiana that are going to be really what sets this storm apart from, say, Katrina. (INAUDIBLE)
Right now you can see the wind is blowing at my back out of the northeast. And that's good: it's blowing with the current and pushing for the most part this water out to sea, or at least down towards Sabine Lake, where it belongs.
You can see past that drawbridge there are a number of fishing vessels, but beyond that military cargo vessels that are tied down in anticipation of what could be a 20-foot storm surge right here.
Also, the live oak trees. This is an old city that has a lot of history. There are lots of these old 50- to 100-year-old oak trees here. They're going to drop -- you can be sure with over 100 mile an hour winds start coming through here, they're fully going to be all but gone. It will be a (INAUDIBLE), that's for sure.
Right now the waves on the Neches River are lapping up against the side here, but what we have to be concerned about is when the wind turn southerly, that's when the surge is going to come in. Not only this river, but also the Sabine River that slices across the border of Louisiana and Texas, back to the river (INAUDIBLE) and Lake Charles, this dumps into Lake Charles itself, then Big Lake and into the Gulf of Mexico. All of those rivers are going to be stopped as far as their normal drainage is concerned, and the floods, the storm surge is going to be pushed up. It could be up to the border, 10, 40, 50 miles inland. (INAUDIBLE) as that happened.
Lou, they haven't had a storm, a major hurricane come through here in several, several years. Some would say that this area of the country is overdue, especially those in the Panhandle. The folks here in Beaumont certainly don't want to hear that news.
Most of them, most all of them, really, are gone. An evacuation like I've never seen before. (INAUDIBLE) 25, 30 miles an hour. Rains are pretty steady.
Back to you.
DOBBS: Rob, thank you very much. Rob Marciano from Beaumont, Texas, just -- just inland from Port Arthur, which is going to be the point of impact for Hurricane Rita.
The outer bands of this hurricane are also hitting the city of Galveston, Texas tonight, located to the southwest of Beaumont. Some low-lying areas of that city have already flooded. Nearly all of the 60,000 residents have fled to safety.
Sean Callebs reports now from Galveston -- Sean.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Lou. This thin strip of barrier island really agonized over the past several days as Rita churned in the Gulf of Mexico, many fearful that the eye was going to pass right over this area or dangerously close.
Well, it looks like it's going to skirt this area and the weak side of the storm. As you can tell right now, we're getting hit by a little rain, some gusting wind, nothing too terrible at this moment. I'm sure you can see the gulf behind me, churning out there.
There's a 17-foot sea wall right behind me that leads down to the beach. And that was put up after the punishing hurricane back in 1900 that killed more than 6,000, the single most deadly hurricane to ever hit the U.S.
People in this area know the history of that. They take hurricane warnings very seriously. Also the vivid images from Katrina still very fresh in their minds, so the mayor, other city leaders doing everything they could over the past 48 hours to tell people to evacuate this low-lying area, to get to other areas of the state for safety. And certainly one of the things that clogged up those major roads, interstates over the past 24 hours.
Now the area you're talking about that flooded is just down about seven or eight miles from where we are to the west of us. The flood wall only protects about 10 miles of this strip of island that runs about 31 miles. And we saw even last night, around midnight Eastern Time, the water began pouring over from the gulf and beginning to flood roads and low-lying areas. Also a big concern, the bay, is just not terribly far from where we are, and in essence they're concerned that, as this storm continues, the high tide comes up, those two water areas are going to meet each other.
But really good news compared to what they had feared. They were concerned that they would get a tidal surge, a storm surge of somewhere between 28 and 30 feet. Well, that has been pared back dramatically, the mayor saying a little more than an hour ago they're expecting a storm surge of about seven to eight feet. So certainly, very good news for people on this island, property owners, business owners.
As you mentioned, there are about 60,000 people on this island. We've been all over this island in the past few days, and very difficult to find anybody out. We know of a few people who have been holed up with safety. We had a talk with a police officer earlier today. He said he heard estimates that perhaps 95 percent of the city had evacuated. He thinks it could be even higher than that.
There is an emergency command center in a hotel here right on the strip. It's occupied by medical officials, military officials, emergency officials, and they're going to monitor this -- monitor this storm. It certainly is going to be weak, but it's not going to be anything to be taken lightly. They're expecting winds -- it could get about 100 miles an hour. The time that they're really going to be concerned, Lou, from about 8 p.m. Eastern Time to about midnight as those outer bands really begin lashing this area -- Lou.
DOBBS: Sean, thank you very much. Sean Callebs from Galveston.
Like Galveston, Houston, America's fourth largest city, it will probably be spared a direct hit from the hurricane. Houston, a city of almost two million people, is a virtual ghost town, nonetheless, tonight, after a massive and chaotic hurricane evacuation.
That evacuation turned deadly this morning. At least 24 evacuees, most of them elderly from a nursing home near Houston, were killed when their bus caught fire.
Bob Franken is live in Houston with the story -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you point out, Lou, even before the storm has hit, it has caused terrible tragedy. Those victims came from this nursing home in suburban Houston. They were on their way up Interstate 45, which of course has been a chaotic jumble of traffic. Their bus got just south of Dallas when apparently there was a fire in the brakes, according to authorities.
Regrettably, these were people who were old, and infirm. These were people who, many of them were on oxygen tanks, and the officials believe that those oxygen tanks caught fire, as you might expect, and exploded. And now they believe that there are at least 24 who died in that. Several others injured, but at least one of them is also critical.
The investigation is still going on. Part of it will be done by the National Transportation Safety Board.
It was very poignant when that bus accident occurred. It backed up traffic even worse on I-45, so officials decided to move the bus before they had removed the victims from that bus. So they pulled it very gently to the side of the road and then did what they had to do with those who had not survived the fireball. The traffic began crawling again on I-45.
And of course, it has been crawling. Gargantuan traffic jams in the last days or so as the city of Houston tried to evacuate. The people did get out. Tonight we see that the surrounding highways are now pretty much free and clear, and Houston is having one of its finest traffic days ever because just about everybody is gone.
One other thing. The mayor has said that he is not going to be publicizing any homeless shelters for those who stay behind. He said that he wants people to stay in place. The only time somebody will be brought to a shelter, if he is in dire jeopardy -- Lou.
DOBBS: Bob Franken from Houston. Thank you.
Joining me for the very latest forecast on where and when Hurricane Rita will strike is Ed Rappaport. He's deputy director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Ed, where do you expect this storm to make landfall, the principle target at this hour?
ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: We expect the center to make landfall in less than 12 hours, just before daybreak tomorrow, in the upper Texas coast to near the Louisiana border.
But, again, as we know, this is not just a point. This is a large storm. Hurricane force winds extends out about 100 miles to the right of the storm. That's where the storm surge and the winds are going to be strongest.
DOBBS: And those -- those winds, hurricane force winds, extending out 100 miles, Ed. Tropical storm winds, how far beyond that?
RAPPAPORT: Tropical storm force winds extends almost 200 miles. And in fact, that, of course, brings that contour over the coastline, and, in fact, in the last hour or so, we've had gusts reported to over 50 miles per hour in both Galveston, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana.
DOBBS: And our reporter, Mary Snow, from New Orleans, obviously winds there were picking up, rain sufficient to breach the levees already. What can that region, the New Orleans area expect here, in your best judgment?
RAPPAPORT: My expectation isn't -- that it isn't the rain so much that caused the problem there, but, rather, it's the winds on the squalls that are associated with them. Strong east winds to near tropical storm force have pushed water up to four to six feet above normal levels there. And we're going to see that reach a maximum probably around midnight tonight at the next high tide cycle.
DOBBS: Ed, the storm has weakened to a Category 3. What should those people along the coast be expecting in terms of the strength and the power of this storm now when it does hit in about 12 hours?
RAPPAPORT: We think that it will remain at about Category 3 intensity, so maximum winds will be at least 115 miles per hour, with gusts above that. Of course, those winds are driving the storm surge.
So everywhere east of the center is going to have a storm surge, perhaps, extending out for 100 miles on the order of 10 to 15 feet locally to 20 feet. So to the right, to the east of the center it's going to get the highest storm surge, and waves will be on top of that.
DOBBS: Oh, boy. Ed, thank you, as always. Ed Rappaport from the National Hurricane Center. We'll have more from Ed Rappaport later here in the broadcast as we update you on the progress of Hurricane Rita.
Also tonight, chaos on the highways as more than two million people try to evacuate the Texas coast. We'll have a special report on another huge failure in our preparations for a major disaster.
President Bush was due to visit Texas today before the arrival of Hurricane Katrina, but the White House changed the president's schedule at the last minute. We'll have a report for you.
And Hurricane Rita threatening to inflict major new damage on our energy industry less than a month after Hurricane Katrina. How this massive new storm could affect fuel prices in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The first bands of rain from Hurricane Rita are now hitting the Texas and Louisiana coast, the center of Hurricane Rita. It is now a Category 3 storm. It's headed straight for Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas. The National Hurricane Center says the storm will come ashore with winds of about 120 miles an hour.
In New Orleans tonight, a new flood emergency. Two already damaged levees have been breached. Those breaches were caused by an eight foot storm surge in front of Hurricane Rita.
And in southern Texas tonight, traffic jams have been so severe there that some residents have been forced to turn back and return to their homes. Some residents of Galveston were allowed to return tonight, because they were stuck in traffic and could not move north.
The evacuation nightmare in south Texas has raised new questions about our nation's disaster preparedness again and the effectiveness of our nation's homeland security system. Three weeks after the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, critics are saying this evacuation should have gone much smoother.
Katie Pilgrim reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The road out of Houston, a parking lot.
LINDA KOFFEL, HOUSTON-AREA EVACUEE: It took me 12 hours to go 10 miles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been a disaster. We saw people camping on the freeway last night. They had pitched tents, because there was no place to sleep because they were running out of gas.
PILGRIM: A scramble to bring in more gas.
CHIEF HAROLD HURTT, HOUSTON POLICE: A lot of the service stations were closed or out of gas, so we're kind of making this up as we go. We've never had an evacuation this large.
PILGRIM: At the airport, Houston officials offered passengers another way out, by bus.
ROGER SMITH, HOUSTON AIRPORT SYSTEM: The operation staff has been making announcements, walking alongside the lines and asking people, "Do you want us to provide you assistance if you can't get out?"
PILGRIM: Nature has come up with a one-two punch named Katrina and Rita.
MAYOR LAURA MILLER, DALLAS, TEXAS: It's obviously a horrific event. The whole city is very upset about this. We've handled two waves of evacuees now. We've never had anything this horrible happen.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: We moved 2.5, 2.7 million people in a -- basically a 24- to 48-hour period of time. And, obviously, traffic was excruciatingly slow at times out there. But the immediate and the ultimate goal of getting millions of people out of the way of this storm has been achieved.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: There's been every reason for local and state officials to be prepared. The planning was in place. There was time to prepare, but Katrina and Rita unfortunately proved, to different degrees, officials are still not ready, Lou.
DOBBS: Kitty, thank you very much. Kitty Pilgrim.
President Bush was expected to be in Texas tonight for a firsthand look at emergency preparations there for Hurricane Rita. His visit, designed in part to prevent any repeat of the criticism that the president and his administration faced after Hurricane Katrina. But the White House changed the president's schedule at the last minute.
Suzanne Malveaux reports now from the White House -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, initially President Bush was supposed to travel to San Antonio, Texas, first, and, of course, a White House spokesman, Stella Carlin (ph), saying that he was going to be visiting with search and rescue teams there, but that FEMA made the decision they wanted to reposition those teams closer to where the storm was, that the president did not want to slow or delay that process.
So the president instead is on his way to Colorado Springs, Colorado. That is where the headquarters of U.S. Northern Command. That is where he'll be tracking Hurricane Rita.
All of this, of course coming when the White House has a heightened sense of sensitivity here about how it is being perceived. President Bush earlier today was at the FEMA headquarters in Washington where he received a briefing from officials.
And already critics are beginning to question all these meetings, his travel, whether or not these are simply a series of photo ops. President Bush was asked by a reporter whether or not traveling to Texas would actually get in the way of the military recovery operation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNTIED STATES: We will make sure that my entourage does not get in the way of people doing their jobs, which will be search and rescue immediately. And rest assured, understand that we must not and will not interfere with the important work that will be going forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So Lou, the White House and the president very much aware of the perceptions here. And the last time, of course, receiving scathing criticism that he just was behind the ball, and all this responding quickly enough.
The president and the White House also aware the criticism coming that if they move forward, perhaps some of these events would be seen as simply photo ops.
Now we don't know whether or not the president is going to have an event or a speech when he arrives at the northern command center. We know tomorrow he's going to be having breakfast with the troops. He'll also tour the operations -- emergency operation center there, as well, to try to figure out, his spokesman says, just how the communications is working between federal, local, and state officials -- Lou.
DOBBS: Well, Suzanne, the president has taken responsibility for the failures to respond in Hurricane Katrina. It's not often any leader at any level gets a second chance so quickly to assert leadership. He certainly can't be criticized this time for not being involved and engaged. MALVEAUX: Well, you know, really it's really a catch-22 for the administration. On the one hand, if he lays back or steps back a little bit -- as you know, what is normally his management style is to delegate and to let others take responsibility. He does not, generally speaking, like to move too quickly because he doesn't want to get in the way of operations. We have seen that many times in the past.
But, obviously, people have criticized him before. They do not want to face that again. But they face criticism for moving forward and appearing in public, as well.
DOBBS: Thank you very much. Suzanne Malveaux, appreciate it.
Still ahead, key refineries in Port Arthur, Texas, are directly in the path of Hurricane Rita. Our nation's energy crisis could worsen if those facilities are damaged. We'll have a special report next.
And New Orleans, flooded once again, a new levee breach setting back recovery efforts there. We'll have the latest for you from one of the top officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: For the second time in less than a month, much of our energy industry is now being forced to standstill by a major hurricane. Offshore oil rigs and platforms, refineries along the Gulf Coast all closed tonight ahead of the hurricane. This unprecedented assault on our energy resources will be felt by all of us all across the country.
Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The numbers alone are alarming: one-third of this country's refining capacity, 1.5 million barrels of crude pulled up every day, another five million barrel offloaded from ships, all stopped.
JOHN KILDUFF, ENERGY ANALYST, FIMAT USA: But it's more than that. It's also where the natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico comes in and gets processed and sort of fixed up to be able to be used and burned at your stove and for industry. Also, it's where the petrochemical industry resides. This is it. I've described -- this storm in particular is almost a potential heart attack for the nation's energy infrastructure.
TUCKER: As of this evening, 99 percent of oil production and 72 percent of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico was shut down.
Nearly 30 percent of the country's daily refining capacity has been lost in preparation for Rita, and as a result of Katrina. We are losing just about 4.5 million gallons of gasoline an hour because of the standstill in the gulf. The price at the pump will go up.
BOB SLAUGHTER, NATIONAL PETROCHEMICAL AND REFINERS ASSOCIATION: In the instance of two natural disasters, one on top of the other, the industry will do everything it can to get everything back immediately. But it's unrealistic not to expect there to be some impacts.
HOWARD GRUENSPECHT, ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION: But there's no question that the impacts on production and refining and, in the case of natural gas, natural gas processing plants has made a tight supply situation tighter.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: And that supply is going to remain tight, Lou. Under even the best case scenario, production is not expected to remove -- resume for at least a week.
DOBBS: Bill, thank you very much. Bill Tucker.
We reported earlier on the disastrous evacuations in Texas. We'd like to know what you think about the issue of evacuations in this country, whether from natural disasters or terrorists. Do you believe the development of fast and effective evacuation procedures for every American city should be a top priority for local, state, and federal officials? Yes or no? Cast your vote at LouDobbs.com.
Hurricane Rita is now expected to slam into the coast of western Texas and eastern Louisiana with full force now in less than 12 hours. Joining me again with the very latest on this hurricane is Ed Rappaport, deputy director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Ed, have we seen any significant diminishment in the wind and the speed and the power of this hurricane?
RAPPAPORT: We certainly did yesterday when it went from Category 5 to 4 and then down to Category 3. We haven't seen much change over the last six to eight hours, so we still expect now landfall at Category 3 intensity.
DOBBS: And the storm surge, there had been some speculation that there would be huge storm surges. Have those -- have you been able to cut those estimates yet?
RAPPAPORT: Now the estimates are down from what they could have been for a Katrina like hurricane, or what Rita was earlier, but still, major hurricane in this area is going to produce a storm surge of 10 to 15 feet, and you're going to have wave action on top of that. And historically, most of the lives lost in this country have been -- in hurricanes have been due to storm surge. So we're really glad that the people have gotten away from the coastline.
DOBBS: You're projecting this storm hitting just before dawn tomorrow. How much -- how powerful do you expect this storm to remain as it moves inland beyond Port Arthur, Texas, as the center point?
RAPPAPORT: We do expect this landfall to occur before daybreak tomorrow. And we have a graphic here. I can show you what the inland impact is going to be.
Here's the coastline. And the area in red is the area we're expecting to have hurricane force winds. And that could extend inland up to about 100 miles along the track of the hurricane.
In addition, there will be rainfall in this area. And unfortunately, it looks like the storm will slow, maybe even stall near northeastern Texas. Could get rainfall in excess of 25 inches. So there's potential for a flood risk inland areas and a flood risk, of course, along the coast from the storm surge.
DOBBS: Ed Rappaport, thank you very much, from the National Hurricane Center.
Coming up next, a storm surge from Hurricane Rita is already overwhelming New Orleans' flood defenses. I'll be talking with a top official of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about what they're doing tonight and what they expect the damage to be. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The impact of Hurricane Rita is already being felt, of course, in New Orleans where an eight foot storm surge has already breached the levees there tonight. Floodwaters are rushing over those damaged levees much earlier than officials had been expecting.
And joining me now on the phone from Port Allen, Brigadier General Robert Crear of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. General, how bad do you believe these breaches to be?
BRIG. GEN. ROBERT CREAR, ARMY CORP OF ENGINEERS: Sir, good afternoon. Sir, what we have is -- they're not breaches, what we have is overtopping. And these are overtopping levees where they had breached in the past that we had done temporary closures to those levees.
And those are located near the Industrial Harbor and Navigation Canal in New Orleans, both on the east and west sides. The temporary levees were made to elevation seven or eight feet, so what has happened is water from Hurricane Rita rose beyond this and overtopped those temporary closures.
There's a combination the wind and storm surges that were higher than these levees could withstand at this early time period, since we were unable to unwater the area and then close the levee.
DOBBS: Now, General, as you describe it, the water is simply flowing over those levees. You're confident that their integrity remains intact then effectively?
CREAR: Yes, sir. That is, in fact, true. We've had people out on the ground all day, inspecting other levees, inspecting the entire length of this particular levee. The good thing right now is that the water inside the Industrial Canal has fallen one foot since the Rita we took this morning at 8:00. DOBBS: Well, that's excellent. Do you expect that to continue, even with the heavy rainfall that's on its way as a result of Hurricane Rita?
CREAR: Right now, the biggest problem we have or issue is from the surge. The surge, again, over eight feet is what topped the levee, and that's what causes the volume of water. Right now pumps, as you know, we had actually pumped that area dry ...
DOBBS: Right.
CREAR: ... with our pumps. And so we're pretty confident that any rain from, you know, three to nine inches over this period of time, that our pumps can, in fact, could handle that.
DOBBS: Well, outstanding, General. And you and all of your people are doing an amazing job there, which is what we always expect of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. General Crear, thank you for being with us.
CREAR: You're welcome. Thank you.
DOBBS: One of the hardest parts of evacuating towns and cities, of course, ahead of any major storm is helping those who cannot help themselves. Evacuating the sick has been a major challenge all along the Gulf coast.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins me now from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Sanjay, how tough is it to -- when one thinks of all of the intensive care units, nursing homes, convalescence center, I mean, it's mind- boggling to think about preparing evacuation for those people.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (AUDIO GAP) medications. Sometimes it's just too big of a gamble to try and evacuate them rather than to just keep them here. Now having said that, a lot of patients do get evacuated. It was difficult to evacuate the patients from this hospital earlier.
They actually had to land on these helicopters in a graveyard site (ph) just next to the hospital and evacuate patients like that. They had several ambulances lined up last night to evacuate patients that way as well. But less than half a dozen or so remain in the hospital, basically, the goal to try to keep them stable through this hurricane. They're hoping they don't lose power. They're hoping they don't lose water. If they lose even half of the stuff, it's going to make it much more challenging.
DOBBS: Sanjay, hoping they don't lose power and maintaining the operation, is there adequate generators and foodstuffs and material to make their way through this storm?
GUPTA: I don't hear anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't hear your questions.
DOBBS: I think Dr. Gupta is not able to hear us. As you can tell, there's already plenty of weather there. We apologize for those technical problems.
From 9/11 to New Orleans, officials have seen their disaster response efforts collapse because of poor communications. That was only one example, and we apologize again for it.
The FCC is now demanding that shameful, dangerous lapses in communications surrounding natural disasters end, and that emergency workers get the communications equipment that they need. Lisa Sylvester has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three million telephone lines were knocked down when Hurricane Katrina roared ashore, 9/11 call centers forced to shut down. And police, firefighters and emergency workers operating on different communication systems could not talk to one another. With Hurricane Rita barreling down on the Gulf coast, the same problems are expected.
LEE HAMILTON, VICE CHAIR, 9/11 COMMISSION: It's a scandal that we cannot yet have first responders talking to one another four years after 9/11. This is so obvious, so simply, so urgent that it be done, that it's outrageous.
SYLVESTER: The 9/11 Commission detailed how the lack of communications cost lives in 2001. Yet, more than 90 percent of the nation's cities still do not have emergency radio systems that link local police, fire and emergency units.
DAVID AYLWARD, COMCARE EMERG. RESPONSE ALLIANCE: I can assure you that CNN, General Motors, IBM could not operate using the kinds of tools that we ask these folks to use, doing the most important job in the United States.
SYLVESTER: The Federal Communications Commission is pushing for an integrated, mobile, wireless system that can be rapidly deployed anywhere in country for emergency workers, first responders with smart radios that can switch between available networks on multiple frequencies, and a 911 system that can automatically reroute calls to another region.
SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: We need to, first of all, free up special frequencies and we need to change our system from the existing telephone system, analog, and make it digital so when a real crisis comes, these 911 call centers will be able to receive the calls.
SYLVESTER: Some of those frequencies will come from local television broadcasters who are switching to digital TV. Congress would like to move up the deadline for handing over the spectrum to first responders, now scheduled for 2009.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: But money continues to be an obstacle. It's estimated that it will cost about $15 billion for state and local agencies to upgrade their communications system. That amendment has been introduced here on Capitol Hill that will provide $5 billion in grands over the next three years -- Lou.
DOBBS: A month since Katrina, but nearly a little over four years since September 11th and we're still not ready. Lisa, thank you. Lisa Sylvester.
A reminder now to vote in our poll. Do you believe the development of fast and effective evacuation procedures for every American city should be a top priority for local, state and federal officials? Yes or no, cast your vote at loudobbs.com.
Still ahead here, on the Texas Gulf coast tonight, it is too late to evacuate. A live report from Beaumont, Texas as Rita approaches.
And the poor, again, in the path of a powerful hurricane. Our special report on this country's most vulnerable citizens living on one of our country's most dangerous coastlines. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Hurricane Rita is tonight closing in on the Texas- Louisiana coast with 125-mile-an-hour winds. The massive hurricane is projected to strike Port Arthur, Texas, early tomorrow morning. Gary Tuchman reports now from Beaumont just inland from Port Arthur -- Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, hello to you. We're in Beaumont, which is 15 miles to the west of Port Arthur. That's where we spent much of the day. And that is a city that appears to be in a lot of trouble. That's because it is only five feet above sea level at its highest point, other points, below sea level.
It sits right next to the Sabine Lake. It is expected, according to police and fire officials in that city, right on the coast of Texas, the southeast coast, that there will be flooding with over 20 feet of water in the streets. Not just by the water, but inland for several miles.
So, they asked everyone to evacuate. It is literally a ghost town. I've never seen an evacuation like that. It almost seems like a scene from the twilight zone. But everyone is gone, including the local police and fire officials. They all left four hours ago to go past (INAUDIBLE) in Beaumont.
There are some sheriff's officers from Jefferson County, that's the county that Beaumont and Port Arthur are in, that have remained behind. But we saw nobody in the city of 56,000 remaining. There's a lot of concern that the people have all gone, will have nowhere to go back to because they think it will be under feet of water when this is all over.
The weather has deteriorated, but it be nothing like it will be 9, 10, 11 hours from now. Lou, back to you.
DOBBS: Gary, thank you very much.
The sheriff of Jefferson County -- Jefferson County, of course, includes Beaumont and Port Arthur, he's planning to ride out this storm in a courthouse, so he'll be in position to respond quickly as the storm passes. Sheriff Mitch Woods joins me now from Beaumont.
Sheriff, what have you done to prepare for this storm? Do you feel like you're ready?
SHERIFF MITCH WOODS, BEAUMONT, TEXAS: I think we're as ready as we can be at this point in time. This is the first time we've had to prepare like this. (AUDIO GAP).
The first thing we concentrated on was trying to do everything we could to have a safe and orderly evacuation. After that, late last night, we moved all of our jail inmates from our direct supervision facility on Highway 69 downtown here to a maximum security facility. All of my correction staff are present down here, as well as most of my law enforcement staff.
We have patrol deputies out on patrol right now, but I think we're as ready -- we've tried to position all of our rolling stock and equipment so that it's out of harm's way, and so that we can bring it back into use as soon as we get the all clear.
DOBBS: Sheriff, as Gary Tuchman was reporting, and before that Rob Marciano, you're going to get huge flood waters there, it appears now. You've talked about moving rolling stock into safe positions, you're positioning yourself and your officers and deputies in the courthouse. How far do you have to get from that coastline to be safe?
WOODS: Well, actually, we're right here, almost on the banks of the Nature's River (ph), but we've got a courthouse facility here that's very well constructed. We don't have all of our staff here. We'll pull some of our deputies back to high ground so that they can respond to the areas that may not be under water. We have a lot of our equipment that's right now sheltered in two massive military sealift ships that we have access to because of our port here. They've been a tremendous asset for us. So we've got a lot of equipment staged there. We've got two helicopters we'll be able to launch from the deck of that ship once the all clear's given and we have some boats in position here that we can launch from the ship also if need be.
DOBBS: Sheriff, I know you've got a tough night. All of your officers, all of your deputies, have a tough night ahead of you. We wish you and all the folks in Jefferson County there all the best. Thank you.
WOODS: Thank you for having me.
DOBBS: Hurricane Rita will hit an area of the Gulf Coast that, like New Orleans, has levels of poverty far above the national average. It is as if these hurricanes are seeking out poverty at some of its most extreme levels.
Three weeks after the Katrina disaster, this new hurricane is once again forcing Americans, all of us, to confront issues of poverty and race that we have ignored for some time. Christine Romans reports.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another monster storm revealing vulnerability and massive poverty along the Gulf Coast. In Rita's path, poverty almost double the national poverty. 22 percent of Galvestonians live below poverty lines, in Texas City, 15 percent, in Houston, 19 percent, high rates in Bay Town and Beaumont. In Port Arthur, a quarter of that population is poor, 20 percent in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
BOB GREENSTEIN, CENTER ON BUDGET & POLICY PRIORITIES: It isn't just the 20 percent or 25 percent who are below the poverty line, you have a lot of people who are just above the poverty line who can barely make ends met in good times. And if they lose their belongings in the hurricane, they're going to fall into poverty themselves. We could have much higher poverty rates by next week.
ROMANS: These Texas towns are above sea level. That could limit the flooding that inundated poor neighborhoods after Katrina, but poverty and disaster experts predict a very tough time for the Texas Gulf Coast poor.
CARLA PRATER, TEXAS A&M: Perhaps in a large family, one person had a good, steady job and they supported a large network of friends and family. And those people are all spread around and scattered now and displaced from their jobs. So it's just one more bad thing that's happening to them in a long series of problems they're having.
ROMANS: These Texas coastal cities have higher poverty rates than the rest of Texas, where white Texans are the least likely to live in poverty.
In Houston, only 7 percent are considered poor, 26 percent of blacks, while Hispanics are slightly poorer than blacks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: There is great debates about why there are these concentrations of poverty along the Gulf Coast. A debate touching on low wages, public assistance and race. But what many agree, putting hundreds of thousands of poor people in shelters, tent cities and FEMA trailers maybe for months and weeks, it probably won't do anything to break this cycle.
DOBBS: No. And it's extraordinary that these poverty levels are this high along a coastline which is, again, counterintuitive, and most of us assuming that people are better off, frankly, along the coastlines. And worse off on the interior. It's just quite the opposite. Thank you very much, Christine. Christine Romans
Heavy rains and winds from the hurricane are beginning to hit New Orleans already. Today, the storm surge from Hurricane Rita was too much for the city's damaged levee system. Water pouring over two damaged levees. Water is once again streaming through New Orleans neighborhoods, particularly the Ninth Ward, which suffered major damage from Hurricane Katrina.
Of course Ninth Ward resident Ernest Weems joins us tonight by phone. Despite pleas from officials, Weems is one of those that refuses to leave the city.
Ernest, why have you decided to stay there in New Orleans with the onset of Rita and more flooding and more rain?
ERNEST WEEMS, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: Well, I survived the first storm. And I'm working right now (INAUDIBLE). I'm just trying to help out whenever I can, wherever I can. And I've got to hang in there with it. I went through the first storm, so I think the second one wouldn't be too much, you know.
DOBBS: Well, your reasoning, that if you could survive Katrina, that Rita, at least according to the projections, that you would be no worse off. Does it seem to you that the storm is going to affect you considerably tonight, do you believe?
WEEMS: No. Not that I know of, not to my knowledge. Just take it one step at a time, and, you know, trust in the good God above, you know.
DOBBS: Did they ask you to leave?
WEEMS: No. They didn't actually leave. They were told that the water's getting higher, but if we wanted to leave, you know, I said well I chose not to leave. You know, if there were (INAUDIBLE) I could help somebody else. I don't much too particularly want to leave. Of course this is my home town. I'm born and raised here in New Orleans.
DOBBS: Well, Ernest, we wish you all the best of luck. We thank you for talking with us. And get through this evening and the morning safely. Ernest Weems.
Still ahead, price gouging, it's been wide spread during this deadly hurricane season. One group of governors is now demanding action from the White House, demanding that price gouging be stopped. I'll be talking with the governor of Wisconsin.
And we'll have the latest on this hurricane as the dangerous, powerful storm heads for the coast of Texas and Louisiana. Stay with us.
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DOBBS: Bringing you right up to date on the latest on Hurricane Rita, this dangerous Category 3 storm is expected to make landfall just before day break tomorrow near the border between Texas and Louisiana. The storm weakened somewhat today, but it is still expected to slam into the Gulf Coast with winds of 120 to 125 miles an hour. The Gulf Coast could see storm surges as high as 15 feet. Rita is expected, then, to stall over Northeast Texas where it could dump as much as 20 inches of rain. Many Americans are paying more than the national average for a gallon of gasoline these days. Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin along with seven other governors is demanding an investigation into price gouging in the wake of these natural disasters. Governor Doyle joins me now from Los Angeles. Governor, how widespread is price gouging in your home state, first of all?
GOV. JIM DOYLE, (D) WISCONSIN: Well the individual gouging I don't think is widespread by retailers in this, but the basic fact is this, gas went up 60 cents a gallon in a day at the time of the hurricane. It stayed up at that level for a couple of weeks. There was no shortage of supply. We've been told by the federal government there was no shortage of supply. So we in Wisconsin just ended up paying 60 cents more per gallon, a total of $88 million excessive dollars that we paid, and I want Congress and the president to tell us who made that 60 cents a gallon, and to find a way to restore it to the people of the state of Wisconsin and the United States.
DOBBS: Well, Governor, I think that's a great idea. I think most of us who are buying gasoline would say that's a great idea. But we also looked to our governors as well as the federal government for some help here. A number of states here on the eastern part of the United States, our governors have said there's price gouging, we've reported on price gouging, and the state governments are saying, well, there's not anything we can do about it. And I guess my question to you is, why not?
DOYLE: Well at the state level, if we find -- and we've got investigators out. If we find somebody has gouged, we have difficulty with some of out laws. We have a pretty good law in Wisconsin in that we can proceed on it, but that's not -- and we're going to do that. And we can handle that at the state level. If the oil companies have put their prices up 60 cents at the time of the hurricane without any shortage problems at all, and that 60 cents has gone far up the ladder, not from the retailer, but up the ladder, there's really not much a state government can do. And that's why the federal government has to address it.
DOBBS: What do you think, very quickly, if you would, Governor, what should Congress, the president, the federal government do right now to stop it?
DOYLE: I think they should issue subpoenas to the major oil company executives. I think they should make them come in. I think they should have to open their books, and I think they should find out who made the 60 cents a gallon, and then they should, in some manner, find ways that they reduce that price or in some way return that money to the consumers of the United States.
DOBBS: Wisconsin governor, Jim Doyle, thank you very much, Governor.
DOYLE: Thank you.
DOBBS: The results now of our poll, 91 percent of you say the development of fast and effective evacuation procedures for every American city should be a top priority for our local, state, and federal officials.
Coming right up, we'll have the very latest on the hurricane as it is nearing the coast of Texas and Louisiana. Stay with us.
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DOBBS: Recapping the latest for you on Hurricane Rita, the first bands of rain from the powerful storm have made landfall on the Texas- Louisiana coast. The center of the hurricane, Rita, is now a Category 3 storm. The center is headed straight for Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas. And this is expected to make landfall just before day break tomorrow. The National Hurricane Center says Rita has weakened a little, but still will come ashore with winds of 120 to 125 miles an hour.
And as we conclude here tonight, we want to remind you that Judith Miller, the Pulitzer Prize winning "New York Times" reporter has been in prison now for 79 days for protecting her confidential sources in the White House CIA leak case. That CIA leak investigation began over two years ago.
Thanks for being with us tonight. Have a very pleasant weekend. For all of us here, good night from New York. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" starts right now -- Anderson.
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