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American Morning

Texas and Louisiana in the Bull's Eye; Unprecedented Evacuation in Texas

Aired September 23, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. Texas and Louisiana in the bull's eye. Hurricane Rita showing no signs of weakening, roaring toward the coast. Residents in Louisiana brace for another beating as they find themselves on the wrong side of another massive storm again, the latest on this hurricane's path is straight ahead -- Miles.
- MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien. About 40 miles north of Houston, on interstate 45, at the trailing edge of an amazing long line of cars. They do everything big in Texas, including an evacuation that is unprecedented -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The pictures look terrible, miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, my special interview with former President Bill Clinton, his perspective on the price of disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FMR. PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: The way were paying for Afghanistan, and Iraq, and Katrina and the tax cuts today is we borrow the money every day. We've never paid for a war with borrowed money like this, ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: President Clinton talks about paying for Katrina, and now possibly paying for Rita, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody.

Hurricane Rita getting closer, people in the projected path getting out. The traffic, as you saw just moments ago, in Texas and Louisiana, absolutely terrible. Miles is in Houston this morning.

Miles, good morning to you.

I know you're at the trailing edge, so actually it doesn't look so bad. How bad was it, though, getting there?

M. O'BRIEN: Well, actually, getting here wasn't much of a problem, Soledad, because we were sort of inside the unpopulated bubble, if you will.

Let's push off down here, Dan, if you could, and you can see what I'm talking about here. You see the long line of taillights that is just about a quarter of a mile beyond me here. And as you look a little bit closer, you see car after car after car, disabled, stopped, people sleeping. This vehicle right here in front of me, they've got every last possession they could jam into this tiny Toyota Corolla. They're still asleep here. I'm not going to wake them up. But as the morning progresses, we're more and more traffic building into this clogged up pipeline, as this unprecedented evacuation, approaching two million people, continues.

Now, take a look. There's a gas station right kitty-corner from where I stand right now. It is the only open gas station we saw in our 30 to 40 mile journey from the center part of Houston to this spot right now. And as you can see, it's a very popular place right now. I'm sure they will pump until it pumps dry. There are reports of tanker trucks out and about, in around the Houston area, in and around this part of Texas, providing gas. National Guard driving those tanker trucks. We haven't seen one of those yet. So this is, in some cases, very problematic for people, because they're stranded alongside the road. They have no gas. They have no way of moving on beyond here.

I should tell you, though, we're pretty far from real danger zone here. We're about a hundred feet above sea level, about a hundred miles from Galveston, where so much of our attention has been focused.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Let's check back with Miles. As we mentioned, he is actually right on the tail end of lots of traffic, and that is the story out of Houston today, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: It is something, Soledad. You know, I spent a lot of time in Houston over the years, and I'm used to the traffic here.

S. O'BRIEN: Obviously, we're having some troubles technical problems with Miles' signal. Let's see if we can get that back, and we'll continue on this morning.

As Miles was saying, by some estimates, more than two million people, two million people, are trying to evacuate out of Houston on Interstate 45. Now the traffic is only going north. It's going away from the city. It's still backed up for more than 40 miles or so. Most major routes now only go out of town. That didn't prevent, though, 100-mile long traffic-jam lines on Thursday.

Bob Franken has been on the roads. Let's listen to what his report has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After hours, sitting in traffic gridlock that stretched for miles and miles, in incredible heat, trying to obey orders, trying to flee the threat of a killer storm, so many of the evacuees, those trying to be evacuees, were seriously wondering whether they should just take their chances with the storm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The way I feel, I'd rather buck Rita right in the face! Just me and Rita, ride it out. That's just how I feel right now, because traffic is not moving. We go a car length at a time. One car length, one car length. It's frustrating.

FRANKEN: So officials responded with a so-called contra-flow program, where all or most of the highways lanes were reserved for outgoing traffic, closed to incoming. The confusion seemed to cause as many problems as contraflow solved.

GOV. RICK PERRY, TEXAS: I urge everyone to exercise patience.

FRANKEN: To add insult to injury, the roads were cluttered with cars that simply ran out of gas. Those filling stations that had any left were dealing with irate motorists, jostling to buy every precious drop they could.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Category five storm, and look at all of these vehicles just sitting here. That's why you got a lot of people just wanting to stay home fight it out, because this is not set up right, not at all. I'm not happy with it.

FRANKEN: And then there was the airport. Houston International story could be best summed up this way. Too many passengers, thousands too many, and way too few security people to search them. The lines in the terminals were interminable. And now, airport officials say that all commercial flights will stop later today. Anybody who can't get out is out of luck.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to Bob Franken. He's at the emergency operations center this morning. Bob, any improvement that you can see?

FRANKEN: Well, officials had said that the experience with Hurricane Katrina had taught them that they needed to evacuate decisively. That's what we've seen the last few days, but there are an awful lot of people, thousands of people, who probably the next lesson should be how to evacuate effectively.

S. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken for us this morning. Bob, thanks a lot.

Well, the area of greatest concern for a direct hit by Rita is between the Louisiana state line and Galveston, Texas. The mayor of that community island -- island community rather, estimates that 90 percent of the residents have actually gotten out by now.

Correspondent David Mattingly in Galveston for us this morning.

David, good morning.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. That 90 percent figure, nine out of 10 people on this island evacuating, is extraordinary for any community, so officials feel like they're in a good position to respond to whatever needs this community might have in the aftermath. But something also unusual happening today. You saw what a mess it is on the mainland. There have been reports of people who have evacuated from Galveston, calling up, saying, can I please come back? They're saying this, because for days, we were looking at the worst case scenario of a category-five hitting this island with a direct hit. That does not appear to be the case at the moment as the storm continuous to track off to the north-northwest, putting this island on the less intense side of the storm, where there is less wind and less of a storm surge, but officials are saying, don't even think about coming back here, because the storm could easily change direction, and we could easily find ourselves in very much a significant harm's way.

Even as it is, this island stands to take a very, very strong punch from this large and very powerful storm. The public officials, the police, the fire, they've all hunkered down in a hotel near here that's actually on the waterfront, built to withstand a storm like this. They're readying their plans to respond after the storm goes through. Right now, we have the wind picking up just a little bit, the surf pounding a little stronger than it normally would this time this morning. We're expecting to see those tropical storm-force winds hitting here late this afternoon, and we are under that hurricane warning with hurricane conditions expected in the next 24 hours -- Soledad.

Well, David, when they say 90 percent of the folks in Galveston have gotten out, how many people, numbers wise, does that mean are left?

And we are under that hurricane warning, with hurricane conditions expected in the next 24 hours -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, David, when they say 90 percent of the folks in Galveston have gotten out, how many people, numbers-wise, does that mean are left?

MATTINGLY: The people that are left, the mayor last night was estimating just a couple of thousand, which you -- when you look at it, is extraordinary for any community. For any sort of evacuation order to go out, it's been our experience all through this season, when you hear mandatory evacuations go out, you might be lucky to see 60 percent of the people deciding to leave. Here, they have 90 percent out, and for that reason, they think that the chance of loss of life on this island has been reduced significantly.

S. O'BRIEN: David Mattingly reporting for us this morning. David, thanks a lot, appreciate it.

Let's check back in with Miles. We mentioned a couple of technical problems, but I think we've resolved them. Miles, again, the traffic is the big story. And, of course, we heard about the gas problems. What's being done, really, to try to clear up these issues? Because you can imagine people's frustrations. I mean, why bother to evacuate if you can't get further out of town a couple of miles away from your house?

M. O'BRIEN: This is the Catch-22, Soledad. They've encouraged everybody to get on the road. They get on the road, it takes them 18 hours to go 20 miles and the tank is dry. That is a bit of conundrum.

And they have supposedly had some tankers out, which have gas, which they will fill up people's cars. I've heard some reports on the radio, people calling in their cell phones, hey, there's a National Guard tanker truck over here, get over here. They will look at your gas gauge, make sure it's below a half and they give you some gas to move on.

But very few gas stations are open. There's one nearby here that is. What a lot of people have decided to do is, just out of frustration, is just pull over their cars, shut them down, and they've had a good night's sleep. The scene all along the shoulder here where I stand are people sleeping in their cars, cram-filled with their possessions.

Now, as this evacuation continues -- and, of course, you got to remember, the emotion that goes along with this evacuation comes right on the heels of Katrina. People remembering Katrina, not taking any chances, making their way north. In many cases, having a hard time doing it, but, still, getting out of harm's way.

In the city of New Orleans, there is still concern, of course, because Rita may create perhaps a five or six-foot storm surge there. Now, the city, of course, is largely evacuated, but those levees are weakened. And there is concern there could be greater damage in that city, believe it or not.

CNN's Carol Costello is there with more on preparations there and how people are hunkering down to the extent that there are people there -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, there are a couple of people left. Actually, most of the people left in the city of New Orleans are people working to restore the city. Most of the residents, frankly, have left. But there are a few sticking out the storm. Right now, it's just raining very lightly, but the wind is becoming a problem. There are very strong gusts, strong enough to, like, kind of knock you to the side, but not knock you over. So maybe 30-mile-per hour wind gusts. At least that's what I'm guessing.

The biggest concern here is that the buildings are in a weakened state in many neighborhoods across this area. And also, there is a lot of debris, a lot of garbage. And, of course, that could all blow around and then possibly hit you and physically injure you. So they're really advising people to stay inside.

As far as mandatory evacuations, some parishes surrounding New Orleans are instituting mandatory evacuations starting at 8:00 this morning. That means they really do want everybody out. Although I don't know that there's enough police officers to go door-to-door to remove people and they're not going to do that, anyway. They're just asking people to leave. Yesterday, the city of New Orleans, by late afternoon, looked kind of like a ghost town. But through much of the day, people were still outside working. They were repairing electrical lines, they were cleaning out their homes and businesses. But then by late afternoon, it became quite the ghost town in the city of New Orleans, and for good reason. That -- you know, I mention those weakened buildings and the debris blowing around. And the Louisiana governor echoed that sentiment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: And if some people insist on staying and believe that they can weather this kind of storm, that perhaps they should write their Social Security numbers on their arms with indelible ink.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The "Times-Picayune" is reporting some seepage from a levee in the Ninth Ward. The Army Corps of Engineers really expected that, so that means there's about a foot of the water in that neighborhood. That includes St. Bernard Parish. And as you know, that neighborhood was already terribly flooded and damage. There simply are no people there.

The biggest concern is a sustained rain. So it would have to rain like three to six inches over a six-hour period to cause any more major flooding in the city of New Orleans.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. Carol Costello, in the city of New Orleans. Back to you, Soledad. And as I leave you, I just am impressed with this scene here. Eighteen-wheelers, station wagons, SUVs, minivans all just parked on a long line of cars. People just gave up at some point in the wee hours last night, are sleeping right now.

But what lies ahead of them, even though the traffic is good right here, we push off in the distance. What lies ahead is that just wall of red taillights. So in many respects, more of what they encountered last night lies ahead. Let's hope they have enough gas to get themselves out of harm's way -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, absolutely. As this storm is approaching -- we're expecting landfall within the next 24 hours or so. All right, Miles, we'll check in with you again. Thanks.

And we're going to have much more on Hurricane Rita in just a few moments. Could this Category 4 storm, in fact, get even stronger as it closes in on the Gulf Coast? We're going to bring you an update from the National Hurricane Center, just ahead.

Then, the nightmare, as Miles was describing, on those roads in Houston. We'll talk to an evacuee who's had to flee Katrina and now Rita. Miles has her story coming up next.

And then a little bit later this morning, my special interview with former president Bill Clinton. Some of his thoughts on working with President Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In fact, I go out of my way to say, look, he believes this. He has a deep conviction and he's right and I just disagree. You can borrow money (INAUDIBLE) today, but the pay-out over the long run...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Those stories are all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: There's the loop. Hurricane Rita continues on a path towards Texas and Louisiana. Every small shift in speed and intensity and direction makes a major difference to places like Houston and Galveston and New Orleans.

Ed Rappaport is a deputy director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. We check in with him again this morning. Ed, nice to see you, as always.

When we spoke yesterday morning, Hurricane Rita had just dropped from 175 miles per hour wind speeds to 170, now down to 140. Is this any kind of significant diminishment or is it still really strong and potentially really bad?

ED RAPPAPORT, DEP. DIR., NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well, every little bit helps. Because it's still a Category 4 hurricane, capable of causing extensive damage. We think there may even be a little further weakening just before landfall, but we still believe that the hurricane will come ashore as at least Category 3 intensity and possibly still Category 4.

S. O'BRIEN: So where are you predicting landfall and when are you predicting landfall now?

RAPPAPORT: At this time, the forecast is for the center to come ashore just up the coast from Houston and Galveston. If it were to do that, that would put Houston and Galveston on the weaker side, but there is enough error involved in the forecast, 24 to 36 hours out, that there is still some risk of the center coming ashore to the west or south of them, which would put the worst conditions, the highest surge inland there.

On the current forecast, the worst of the weather will come into the upper Texas coast, Beaumont, Port Arthur, over to Lake Charles. You have to keep in mind that hurricane force-winds extend out about 100 miles from the center to the east, so a large area of the southwest Louisiana coast and upper Texas coast that has a significant impact from Rita.

S. O'BRIEN: So as the storm seems to be shifting a little bit to east then, how does that impact with the storm surge, and because of that, the storm surge damage could do to Galveston, and to Houston and to New Orleans?

RAPPAPORT: Yes, we don't expect any significant storm surge in the New Orleans area, although water heights have come up a few feet across much of the northern Gulf because of the presence of Rita in the Gulf of Mexico. In terms of ultimately the storm surge if the forecast track holds and the center passes just to the east of Galveston and Houston, the highest surge will be farther to the east on the right side, and these colors in yellow here along the Louisiana coast, indicate surge of around 15 feet, locally to 20 feet. So that would be Beaumont, Port Arthur area eastward.

But if the track shifts just 40 to 50 miles back to the left, southwest, that would put the highest surge into the Galveston Bay area.

O'BRIEN: So when you see pictures of all these people who are pretty much stuck on the highway because of traffic is so bad as they try to get out of Houston, are they at serious risk if the storm now comes through and they're still in their vehicles?

RAPPAPORT: Very much so. The hope, of course, is that the storm is off to the right, as far as they're concerned. So they don't get the strong winds from the storm surge, but that just moves the problem to another community. At this point, the worst risk is from Houston- Galveston eastward. And the highest risk even within that, the greatest concern is a little bit up the coast, Beaumont, Port Arthur and Lake Charles.

O'BRIEN: I know we are expecting another update from you guys around 8:00 in the morning. Ed Rappaport from the National Hurricane Center.

Ed, thanks. We'll check in with you again this morning.

RAPPAPORT: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come, big fears what Hurricane Rita might do to gas prices. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business," coming up next. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: As Rita heads toward the Gulf Coast, oil prices are reacting. Refineries along the Gulf coast are grinding to a halt once again. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Soledad.

Actually, the price of oil has dropped somewhat this morning, under $66 as the storm was downgraded from a cat-five to cat-four, and as it perhaps moves away from a direct hit of Galveston. But you know, that's just an hour-by-hour thing. Wall Street traders are watching this storm closely on Web sites. Eleven refineries have been already shut down. And as you suggest, Soledad, that process continues. We have some here. One analyst saying, no matter where the storm hits, and no matter how strong it hits, the supply of oil and gas will be affected because of these shutdowns. Best-case scenario, two million barrels a day. That's about 10 percent of what we use in the United States, will be lost for three days, likely making gasoline prices goes up five cents to 15 cents nationwide.

And CNN's Randi Kaye will be reporting in a few minutes from one of those refineries.

Meanwhile, let's talk about gasoline, particularly in that Gulf coast region. There are some shortages, as Miles has been suggesting already this morning, in that area. Exxon-Mobil, though, the world's largest oil company, is saying it will keep open its north Houston terminal for extended hours to provide gasoline onto those tanker trucks to bring it to gas stations and to stranded motorists. So, obviously, a very critical situation, because as you were saying just a few minutes ago, Soledad, it could be very dangerous for those people to be on the roads when the storm hits.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you know people are talking about maybe I should turn home and try to wait out the storm as opposed to sitting in their car, waiting out the storm as they hang out at a gas station, is sort of the choice between two bad choices.

SERWER: Yes, I mean, you can't just sit there.

O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.

SERWER: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, severe-weather expert Chad Myers is tracking Hurricane Rita for us. We're going to talk to him about. Plus, my interview with former President Bill Clinton. Hear his thoughts about tsunami recovery in Indonesia, rebuilding from Katrina, and his relationship with the Bush family.

That's all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

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