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CNN Live Today

Hurricane Rita Approaching; Water Rushes Over Levee in New Orleans' Ninth Ward

Aired September 23, 2005 - 10:32   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are just past the half hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. We want to bring you the latest information on the levees that we're following in New Orleans. We had said that there was a breach of the Industrial Canal levee. Right now, they're calling that an overtopping. They're not sure if that's from storm surge or from the rain that has started to fall in New Orleans from Hurricane Rita. But they do say that they have localized the flooding. It's in the lower Ninth Ward. And, of course, this was one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The flooding is running over the top of it and they are working with local contractors to try to shore that up and try to keep that from going. So the rain just starting in New Orleans and already a problem with one of the levees.

Our Mary Snow on the scene. We'll get back to her in just a moment. Right now, let's take a look at what else is happening in the news concerning Hurricane Rita.

Fleeing to avoid a natural disaster, evacuees enduring a manmade tragedy on a highway south of Dallas. This bus was carrying about 45 elderly evacuees from Houston and Rita's possible path. It caught on fire on a gridlocked interstate and as many as 24 people are feared dead. It appears the malfunctioning brakes sparked a fire and then that caused onboard oxygen tanks to explode.

That crash brought some traffic to a standstill, but the flow of evacuees outside of Houston has been gradually moving along today. About two million people are under evacuation orders, and there have been estimates that a remarkable 90 percent have heeded that warning in some areas. Overnight, many drivers ran out of gas on the clogged highways as they inched along maybe a mile or two an hour.

Also concerning Hurricane Rita, the Category 4 storm weakened slightly overnight, but it remains extremely dangerous as it drifts toward landfall probably tomorrow morning. It's expected to hit the upper coast, Texas coast, or into western Louisiana.

So the projected path of Rita is now taking it east of Houston. The Texas town of Beaumont could face winds of 140 miles an hour. Emergency crews have scrambled to evacuate about 500 elderly patients from that area. Military aircrafts are whisking them to Dallas, but officials say they still need to be found and evacuated.

A lot of families have become separated in the hurricane evacuation. Staying connected can be a greater challenge if an older relative is living in a nursing home.

Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here to relieve that stress with today's top five tips. And Gerri, unfortunately older people, again in the news with the breaking news with that bus fire out of Dallas, so tragic. At least 24 people dying on board as they were trying to make their way from Bellaire, Texas, into safer ground in Dallas.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: That right, Daryn. And for that reason, you want to be checking with your nursing home administrator, your managed care facility administrator, and asking the critical questions. Do you have an emergency plan in place? Do you have contracts with an ambulance service or a bus service to evacuate people as needed? And what is the track record of that service? How well have they done in the past?

Now, Daryn, importantly a shortcut for getting information on these nursing homes is that medicare.gov. That's because Medicare takes inspections of these facilities on a pretty routine basis, so they know how well they're operated. And you can get that information at the Medicare Web site -- that's medicare.gov -- for information, hard information, on how well the nursing home is operated that your parents live in.

KAGAN: All right, Gerri, stand by with me. We'll get to your other tips in just a moment.

Right now, we want to go back to New Orleans and talk about what's happening with the levee that's impacting the lower Ninth Ward. One of our photographers, our CNN photographers, Alfredo DeLara, is there and he has seen it and he's on the phone with us right now. Alfred, what have you seen?

ALFREDO DELARA, CNN PHOTOGRAPHER: Well, Daryn, we just evacuated the area of the lower Ninth Ward, where the breach was. The National Guard is trying to pull their skeleton crews that stayed behind to keep an eye on this thing in the Jackson Barracks. They're in the middle of evacuating that area right now.

We can see the water coming up very, very quickly. We're talking five to ten inches in the one or two minutes that we were standing in this one spot, the water had come up that high. And we are now getting word just right -- just two minutes ago from the Louisiana state troopers that there is another breach now in the Chantilly area, which will affect the western part of New Orleans. You remember, the lower Ninth Ward is the east part of New Orleans, divided by the Industrial Canal.

Now we're hearing about a breach on the western side of that levee, which would impact the areas that -- like I say, Chantilly, the western part of New Orleans. So it looks like things are pretty bad here. EOC had told us this morning that air operations, helicopter operations, would be suspended because of the winds. And the only way to stop these sort of breaches would be to drop very large sandbags from helicopters. I think the conditions are going to make that impossible for the moment -- Daryn. KAGAN: Tell us again, Alfredo, about how quickly that water came upon you.

DELARA: Yes, very, very quickly. I mean, we were standing on an area where we had been working just yesterday with the search and rescue teams from Task Force One, doing body removal. And this area had completely dried out. When we arrived this morning, there was about maybe half a foot of water. And as we were standing there, in a one-minute period, we saw the water come up five to ten inches. And it is just rushing, gushing in.

I'm trying to get back to the bureau right now to feed you some pictures so you can see it for yourself. But it's just total disbelief. National Guard, as I said, had troops standing by in the Jackson Barracks, in this part of the lower Ninth Ward, keeping an eye on this. And they are currently evacuating. We have pulled out and are standing on a bridge overlooking the levee break. We're trying to get a live truck over for you here right now so you can see it all going down.

KAGAN: Yes, and there's been some talk of different terms. It's an overlapping, if it's a levee break. But to you, it really looks like the levee broke, with all this water gushing in?

DELARA: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. This is the area, the area where I'm talking about in the lower Ninth Ward, this was where a very large barge that had been left out here in the canal had been buffeting against the levee with the winds from Hurricane Katrina. It was acting as almost a battering ram. And the concrete wall of the levee was already shattered.

Now, the Army Corps of Engineers had placed a lot of sand here with helicopters, with earth-moving equipment and tried to shore it up. But it looks like it didn't hold. And now there is nothing stop that water from just pouring in.

I would say -- you know, I'm just guessing here, I don't want to speculate -- but, you know, this area could be flooded again very quickly. By noon today, this could be just where we saw it three weeks ago.

KAGAN: And, of course, this is -- as you were mentioning, this is one of the hardest hit areas in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

DELARA: That's correct. And there's -- that's the fortunate thing, I guess we could say. Because the area is completely depopulated. There is nobody in that area right now. The only people that would have been in this area would be emergency rescue workers from the Task Force One, Miami, Florida, Dade County Fire and Rescue that were searching for bodies in this area.

We have been working that area for the last three days with them, and have not seen any residents there. So the risk right now is to these emergency workers and to the National Guard that were standing by watching the levee. As I said, they are pulling out at the moment, and we are looking across the bridge, and watching this water rise as we speak. It's incredible the way the water is just gushing in here, and there's nothing holding it back.

KAGAN: Well, your words tell one story and your pictures are going to tell another. So as you say, we're going to let you go so you can get back to our CNN bureau there in New Orleans and feed us the pictures back so we can see what you're talking about.

Alfredo DeLara, thank you so much. Our CNN photographer there on the scene, right there on the scene, talking about what we've heard with the levee.

It looks like there is another levee breach impacting the Lower Ninth Ward, and the water is gushing in. We'll show you those pictures as soon as they become available.

Let's bring in Gerri Willis back in. We're doing quickly top five tips when you're dealing with older people who might or might not have to get out of a dangerous situation. Sometimes your second tip is it might be better for them to stay put.

WILLIS: That's right. Sometimes with some types of emergencies, for example, tornadoes, you don't get evacuated. With older folks you have to hunker down wisely. That means they need plenty of food and especially water, because older folks dehydrate more quickly than younger people. So fill up the tubs, fill up the sinks, and make sure you have enough on hand for your parents.

Also, link up again. If you have trouble getting in touch with people that may have been evacuated before you or after you, you can always go to the Red Cross. They have a registry that will help you link up with family members. And, remember, relocate stat. There's a great Web site we want to send you to called aplaceformom.com, which can help you find a new place for mom, particularly if you're in the New Orleans area. Also, call 1-877-MOM-DAD9 if you live in another area.

And finally, get help for elderly folk whose may have found this situation anxiety producing and upsetting. There's actually a way to hook up with national crisis centers across the country. That number, 1-800-273-TALK -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, thanks for going through those. We have a lot of breaking news to get to today, but very important tips.

Also we're getting close to the 11:00 a.m. advisory with the latest on the information on Hurricane Rita, the latest stats on that. We'll get that to you as soon as possible.

And this breaking news out of New Orleans, potential levee break impacting the already very hard-hit Lower Ninth Ward. We'll get to that after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Very serious situation developing in New Orleans, where one of the levees impacting the Lower Ninth Ward, one of the hardest- hit neighborhoods, appears to be giving way again. Our CNN producer Carey Bodenheimer is there on the scene and joins us now on the phone -- Carrie.

CAREY BODENHEIMER, CNN PRODUCER: Hi, Daryn. I am in the Lower Ninth Ward, looking over towards the Jackson Barracks area. And I can see the water coursing in. It's water as far as you can see, with small mounds of earth or gravel sticking out. But water is pouring into the neighborhoods of the Ninth Ward. Those neighborhoods are, for the most part, unpopulated, but it still has to be just a crushing blow to morale to watch this happening. If you're a city official or if you're with the levee board, this can't be good, and it's sort of -- the winds are gusting. The waters, just, you know, just coursing in, and it's water as far as the eye can see in both directions.

KAGAN: This is water that's hard to tell if it's from -- how hard is it raining now there right now?

BODENHEIMER: It's not raining very hard. The winds are whipping fairly hard. I'm in a large, large truck, and it's just getting battened around by the winds. I've gotten to as far as I can proceed on the road, and it's just underwater as far as I can see ahead of me towards the big bridge over the Industrial Canal leading into New Orleans.

KAGAN: As we were saying before, this was one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but it had finally dried out before this started happening.

BODENHEIMER: It's not dry now, and I can't see how it's going to be dry for, you know, for the foreseeable 48 hours or so. I just can't see how this flow can be stopped under the current conditions.

KAGAN: But as you were saying and as we heard from our photographer earlier, Alfredo DeLara a little bit earlier, basically everyone except for emergency workers had gotten out of this neighborhood. So in terms of danger to personal safety, that is one thing that as a difference to Katrina, doesn't need to be a concern.

BODENHEIMER: It is basically depopulated here, but the bottom line is, is there's just no of knowing. The communication system is still so depleted that the city, and the police and the fire department really don't know who's left in the city. They do basically think it's unpopulated, except for media and emergency personnel, but who knows. There's just no way of knowing for certain whether people are still trying to live here.

KAGAN: Still so many questions, but as you say, there's one thing that's not a question. That is that water is filling in to Lower Ninth Ward once again. Carey Bodenheimer on the phone with us from New Orleans.

Thank you. Our photographer, Alfredo DeLara, on his way to sending back pictures so we can see exactly what they are talking about. We're getting close to the 11:00 a.m. advisory with the latest stats on Hurricane Rita.

We'll get to those after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Once again, the situation with the levee impacting the lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. Our Barbara Starr, our Pentagon correspondent, having a chance to talk to the military commander in that area, Lieutenant General Russel Honore. Barbara, what have you been able to learn?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, we've just spoken to General Honore. He, of course, quite concerned about this levee leak situation. And what he sketched out for us is what the plan is now. The winds are picking up in that area. He said there are reports now of 40 mile-an-hour gusts. So they cannot put helicopters into the air.

What is going to happen is the Army Corps of Engineers is now assessing the break, trying to get a fix on exactly what is going on. What they are expecting to do on the military side is put boats in the water and go back through the Ninth Ward, try and make sure there is no one there that needs to be rescued.

Again, they have to put boats in the water, General Honore says, because with the wind picking up to 40 mile-an-hour gusts, they cannot put helicopters into the air. They are well aware that -- of this break that is putting water into the Ninth Ward, possibly putting water into other areas.

General Honore said, you know, estimates -- no one knows what's going to happen -- estimates they could be facing up to four feet of water. That's a number that has been out there. But he also points out it's complicated by the fact of the rain.

Now, as for General Honore because of all of this, he certainly is in the area. He is going to be going to Lafayette, Louisiana. He will be joined by members of the 82nd Airborne there and he will be surveying the situation from there over the next hours -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Barbara, stay with me here because -- get to answers to some questions here.

On the phone with us right now, we have Colonel Rich Wagenaar with the Army Corps of Engineers. Colonel, thank you for joining us.

COL. RICH WAGENAAR, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: Good morning.

KAGAN: What can you tell us about what you know is happening with this levee?

WAGENAAR: Right now we have one barge overtopping location on -- near harbor navigation canal, and three smaller locations where the water elevation is going -- is causing water to flow over the repair that we had in place there.

KAGAN: So you're saying -- you're calling -- this might be a matter of semantics, but perhaps you can help us understand. You call it an overtopping. Is that different than a levee breach or a break?

WAGENAAR: It's much different. Because the height of the repair was seven to eight feet in that location. And right now we have a gauge reading in that location of 7.8 feet, which is much higher than anyone had predicted at this point in the storm.

KAGAN: So this water is rising faster and having more water to deal with than you had already anticipated?

WAGENAAR: Correct. We had anticipated somewhere between six and eight feet during the peak of the storm, but the readings we have now is 7.8 feet on the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal.

KAGAN: So with the rain just beginning from Hurricane Rita, you're almost already at what you thought was going to be the ultimate amount of water you're going to have to deal with at this point?

WAGENAAR: Well, this is on the inner harbor, so this is a different location than 17th street, London Avenue. Right now, we still feel good about the repairs we have on that 17th Street and the London Avenue canal, and we have everything under control at those two locations right now.

KAGAN: Yes, but let's talk about this one point where things seem to be very desperate already in the lower Ninth Ward. Our people who are on the scene there said the water rising six to 12 inches in a matter of moments, and the water continuing to gush in already at this point.

WAGENAAR: Correct. Right. And that's the overtopping over the repairs we had in place.

KAGAN: And so what can you do at this point besides let it happen?

WAGENAAR: Well, right now, we're trying to get boats in there to put aggregate on top of the repair to close this overtopping location. We're checking to see if we can get helicopters in there. But because of the weather conditions -- they're deteriorating at this point -- that is probably unlikely.

KAGAN: So right now, it appears that there's too much wind to fly helicopters in order to be able to land some more sandbags?

WAGENAAR: That's correct. Right now, the weather's too bad here to fly helicopters at the present time.

KAGAN: And when you say go in with boats, you're talking -- you're not talking about boats into the neighborhood area where the water's already flooding in, you're talking about the other side?

WAGENAAR: Correct. Coming in from the canal side and trying to repair it using -- via boats that we have in that area.

KAGAN: And is it under your department and for you to be concerned with people who might or might not be in the lower Ninth Ward? We have reports that there are -- that this area is depopulated, everyone's gotten out. But we also have people on the scene who say there's really no way to know exactly how many people are left there because the communication system is so bad.

WAGENAAR: Well, I mean, we're working with Orleans Parish EOC to make sure that they are updated with the water situation as we see it with the repair that was in place.

KAGAN: And with the rising water and with this overtopping, as you call it, do you anticipate the lower Ninth ward is going to be right back where it was after Katrina?

WAGENAAR: Well, I would hope that it's not in that -- that the water is pretty much peaked at the elevation right now, somewhere between seven and eight feet, which would we would have about a one foot flow over our repair. That's what we're hoping for. That would mean that, generally, the water would be a little bit lower, three to four feet in the lower Ninth Ward. I hope it doesn't get back to the original condition it was three or four weeks ago.

KAGAN: Because you had already made so much progress there. Colonel Rich Wagenaar with the Army Corps of Engineers, a very important and focused day for you. We wish you well in trying to clean up that situation.

We're going to have a lot more on this situation, what they call an overtopping, perhaps a levee breach. The Lower Ninth Ward, as we understand it, that area has been depopulated. There aren't people there. But the water rushing in in an area that has already been devastated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

More on the latest on Hurricane Rita at the top of the hour after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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