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American Morning

Hurricane Rita Nears the Gulf Region

Aired September 23, 2005 - 09:30   ET

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


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We continue to bring you updates on Rita's path, and Rita's expected landfall as well. Miles is in Houston this morning. Of course, that's a site where everybody is trying to get out of as they evacuate today.
Miles, good morning.

How's it going?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm at the Shell gas station. We arrived here two-and-a-half hours ago or three hours or so. There was still gasoline here. People were waiting -- I mean, it was just absolute gridlock all around here. You can see it's all cleared out. The reason, there's no more gas. And that realization has -- sorry about the car alarm. That realization has dawned on people here as the sheriff's deputies come up and said, look, there's no gas here, and no one knows when there will be gas here.

Among the people waiting in line Constance Barrett, Brandon Barrett, and a boa constrictor and a python. We'll get to that in a moment.

Constance, you began your journey at 6:00 a.m. Yesterday. We're well into 27-and-a-half hours, or thereabouts. Do you regret leaving when you did?

CONSTANCE BARRETT, HOUSTON-AREA EVACUEE: At this point in time, yes. I think we were misled, as you pointed out to me. If we had left at 6:00 a.m. this morning, I'd be halfway in. We were following instructions. I think everybody was trying to do what they were told to do. Everybody was trying to respond. And it's just -- 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. People were running out of gas.

M. O'BRIEN: Now you're down in the red zone. And really, if they had done this so-called contraflow, reverse the directions of the interstate, a little sooner you might have been in better shape. Tell us what happened when they changed it to contraflow, the police officers were enforcing some traffic rules, which seem a little silly.

BARRETT: They did. What they did they opened up the contraflow, they did not open up between 45 North and 45 South. And what they were doing is allowing the people on the feeder roads to go around to get on to the contraflow, but the people that were already on 45 that were gridlocked were still stuck there. We were moving, essentially, a mile an hour. M. O'BRIEN: So they were saying, look, it's a traffic violation to cross the median.

BARRETT: Yes, they would not move the pylons. They would not allow us to feed over in that direction to alleviate some of the congestion.

M. O'BRIEN: At this point, was there steam coming out of your ears?

BARRETT: No, you know, the nice thing is everybody was really working together. People were very friendly in traffic. They were very polite. There was no frustration. I don't think the frustration hit until about 2:00 a.m. this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, quickly, we've got Brandon here. He's 10 years old. He's got a python and a boa, your valuable possessions. Are you a little tired and over this?

BRANDON BARRETT, HOUSTON-AREA EVACUEE: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Are you frustrated?

B. BARRETT: A little.

M. O'BRIEN: And overnight, were you at all scared about it?

B. BARRETT: A little. It's just -- what I've seen from Hurricane Katrina and what I think now, it's like I should be scared.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Brandon, and the snakes and mom, thank you very much. And we hope gas comes soon for you all.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: A little while ago Sanjay Gupta checked in with us and he was talking about what the strategy is in hospitals here. You, of course, in New Orleans, you'll recall in the midst of Katrina and in its wake there was just a horrific situation that developed in, in particular, Charity Hospital in New Orleans. But also Tulane Medical Center as well, where there is no power and there's no capability for the medical staff to provide really the kind of care you would expect in a U.S. medical institution.

Many of the hospitals here say they are better prepared for this sort of thing. Little things like the generators are not in the basement, for example.

Nevertheless, there are a couple of hospitals that have had to be closed down. Dan Wolterman is the CEO of Memorial Hermann hospital chain. He has 12 hospitals in his chain. Two of them had to be closed because they didn't feel they were sort of hurricane hardened if you will.

Mr. Wolterman, good to have you with us. Explain now why those two hospitals had to be shutdown and what is happening to the patients.

DAN WOLTERMAN, CEO, MEMORIAL HERMANN SYSTEM: Good morning, Miles. Let me explain.

Two of our hospitals, Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital and Memorial Hermann Fort Bend (ph) Hospital were decided to be evacuated because of their proximity to the Gulf. They are hurricane hardened. We believe they could have got through the storm quite well, but we felt that we err on the side of patients' and employees' safety. So we moved all those patients to our other 10 hospitals in our system throughout Houston.

I want to assure all the country that our world-class health care services are going to function. We're well prepared. We've learned our lessons through Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. We learned some more things through Hurricane Katrina. We've been preparing since Monday with our command center, preparing our staff. We have seven days of food, supplies, fuel for our generators. Our staff's coming in today after being off for 24 hours to get sleep and rest. We're ready for whatever comes our way.

Our helicopters, we do the only life-flight helicopter service in this region. We're moving those helicopters out a little later this morning to safe areas well north, and they will be brought back in once the storm passes.

M. O'BRIEN: So in essence, you learned a tough lesson back in 2001, Tropical Storm Allison caused a lot of flooding. Is it -- I mean, are you category four, category five ready then, or is that why you have closed down those two hospitals that are so close to the coast?

WOLTERMAN: No, we're ready. Our major tertiary level-one trauma center, Memorial Hermann Hospital and Texas Medical Center, is ready. All our hospitals are ready. We made the decision on the other two hospitals to evacuate, Simply because we felt they were too close to the Gulf. If the tidal surge came in on a direct hit, we did not want to risk our patients or our staff like we saw in New Orleans. So it was purely a precautionary measure. Those hospitals, we hope, will get back up and on their feet within a few short hours passing of the storm.

O'BRIEN: All right, Dan Wolterman, who's the CEO of Memorial Hermann hospitals, best to you and you're rather dedicated staff, who I know will put in long, long hours, whatever unfolds, as Rita comes ashore here in the Houston area, in the Gulf region.

Let's check other headlines now. Kelly Wallace is in with that. She joins us now from New York.

Good morning, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again, Miles.

And we are beginning again with the Texas situation, that bus explosion outside of Dallas. We want to tell you we're getting some more details about that fiery bus explosion we've been telling you about all morning. It is now believe that the incident started with a mechanical problem. A brake may have caught on fire and then spread to oxygen canisters carried by some elderly evacuees, causing a series of blasts. Of the 45 people on board that bus, about half of them are unaccounted for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. DON PERITZ, DALLAS COUNTY SHERIFF'S SPOKESMAN: The indication that we have, there were 45 souls on board the bus when they left south Texas. We believe the bus is from Bel Air.

QUESTION: How many accounted for at this point?

PERITZ: At this point we believe we have about half accounted for.

QUESTION: So as many as 20 people are dead on this bus?

PERITZ: It's possibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And there you're talking to, or you're hearing from, a spokesperson for the Dallas County Sheriff's Office. State officials say that the explosion caused a 17-miles backup on an already heavily congested interstate. Northbound traffic is being diverted. Obviously, a developing story that we will closely be following here on CNN.

President Bush, heading to his home state of Texas today to take a look at the preparations ahead of Hurricane Rita. The president said to meet with first responders in San Antonio. He then goes to the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, where military efforts for the storm are being carried out.

Turning now to Iraq. The U.S. military has launched an investigation into the shooting death of an Iraqi detainee. Officials say the prisoner had tried to attack a Marine guard during questioning in Fallujah.

Meantime, in central Baghdad, Iraqi police say at least two people were killed, 17 others hurt in a suicide bombing near a bus station. Authorities are now investigating that attack.

The nomination of John Roberts to head the Supreme Court moving ahead with bipartisan support. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Roberts Thursday in a 13-5 vote. The nomination now heading to the full Senate and a confirmation vote is expected next week.

And Houston's two airports are expected to stop commercial flights later this morning in just a couple hours. Houston's George Bush Intercontinental and Hobby Airports said flights will stop around 1:00 p.m. Eastern, but officials now say they might cease operations sooner. The airports have also said they will offer assistance to stranded passengers who cannot find other ways out of the city ahead of Hurricane Rita.

Lots of crowds there -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Otherwise, the specifics of those -- that assistance that they're offering, if they can't get them out, they're going to close the airline. Are they going to let them just sleep in the terminals or what happens...

WALLACE: Or take them, potentially, just to shelters and other areas.

S. O'BRIEN: Right. I guess we'll see. Kelly, thanks.

WALLACE: OK, sure.

S. O'BRIEN: From Louisiana to Texas to Arkansas, many people displaced by Hurricane Katrina and now Rita have been on a journey to pretty much nowhere.

CNN's Dan Lothian has more on some of the evacuated evacuees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For New Orleans area native Bernice Batiste and her two daughters, the past few weeks have been like an unending nightmare.

BERNICE BATISTE, EVACUEE: This has been disgusting. I'm moving from one place to another place.

LOTHIAN: Evacuated from their submerged St. Bernard Parish home in the wake of Katrina, they eventually ended up at the Astrodome in Houston, before Hurricane Rita forced them to this military base in Arkansas two days ago. Now they have packed their few belongings to go to yet another shelter at a nearby church camp.

Seventeen-year-old Katrina, who has taken a lot of ribbing for her name, is exhausted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm tired of getting up early in the morning and moving.

LOTHIAN: She and her 16-year-old sister had just started school last week in Houston. Now they sit around.

(on camera): What do you do?

MILDRED BATISTE, EVACUEE: Nothing. I sit inside.

LOTHIAN: You just sit inside?

M. BATISTE: And color.

LOTHIAN: You sit inside and color?

M. BATISTE: And listen to the radio. LOTHIAN (voice-over): Since Rita started tracking toward Texas, more than 360 people initially evacuated from New Orleans to Houston have been flown to Fort Chafee, a National Guard training base. They are given meals and a bed, then will all be moved into private homes, church facilities or donated apartments.

COL. THOMAS HUNT, FORT CHAFEE POST CMDR.: So that they can be taken care of a little bit better.

LOTHIAN: Mervin Murphy appreciates the help. He escaped the flood waters in Jefferson Parish through his roof. He also arrived from Houston on Tuesday.

(on camera): Chased by another storm?

MERVIN MURPHY, EVACUEE: Yes.

LOTHIAN: How does that make you feel?

MURPHY: I'm glad I'm living. I'd lost my grip and I fell back down in the water.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): Murphy still has scars from the rooftop escape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We actually had all these shelves stocked.

LOTHIAN: But Dr. Brian Clardy, who along with other medical volunteers has been treating evacuees on the base, says all this instability has left some with scars that aren't immediately visible.

DR. BRIAN CLARDY, ASST. PROF. OF FAMILY MED.: Well, I've seen -- you know, we've had some mental health issues.

ANITA GOLDBERG, EVACUEE: I'm frustrated. I'm aggravated. I'm mad, you know? Because much as I love to travel, not this way.

LOTHIAN: Anita Goldberg says she had been on antidepressants even before the hurricane, but now emotionally, things are much more difficult. She wants her life back.

GOLDBERG: I hope I never go through this situation again.

LOTHIAN: There are other concerns, too, that while not as serious, are making life on the run for these evacuees very complicated.

(on camera): Some of them came up to me and started talking about the fact that they can't get their hands on their mail or on checks that were forwarded by their employers. Why? Because just about the time that they set up an address, they have to move.

(voice-over): It has been an unforgettable and traumatic hurricane season for these evacuees, survivors. But it's been especially difficult for those with children, like Bernice Batiste.

B. BATISTE: I'm doing -- all I do is just pray, because he's the only one that can answer your prayers.

LOTHIAN: Faith giving one family strength as they search for yet another temporary place to call home.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Fort Chafee, Arkansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Some 50,000 hurricane refugees are now in Arkansas. More are on the way.

Still to come, much more from Miles. He's in Houston. And we continue to track the path of Hurricane Rita as she approaches the coast. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The images from Katrina's aftermath reminded many of the devastation that occurred when the tsunami hit southeast Asia. Nine months later, as the U.N. special envoy for tsunami recovery, former president Bill Clinton is keeping tabs on the rebuilding process.

I sat down with Mr. Clinton and asked him how he thinks the effort in Asia is coming along.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we've come a long way. We've got some formidable challenges. The biggest emergency is getting the people who are physically miserable out of their tents.

S. O'BRIEN: Tents. People would say, with all the money you raised and with the all the world attention on it, how can people still be in tents?

CLINTON: Well, if you look at the -- we have people in very bad temporary housing in America a year after the last hurricane. I mean, I'm not talking about Katrina. I mean the last one we had that hit Florida.

S. O'BRIEN: How concerned are you that things that are happening here in the U.S., Hurricane Katrina and the rebuilding efforts now there, Hurricane Rita, whatever it ends up being, will draw focus away from your efforts in trying to, you know, keep the attention on the tsunami really in the forefront?

CLINTON: Not particularly, because there should be a lot of focus in the U.S. and around the world on Katrina. We've got a million people (INAUDIBLE). And there's amazing parallels, actually, between this and what happened in Indonesia. You've got Indonesia, half the people are living in homes with people.

Same thing here. We've never had a -- to the best of my knowledge, a government crisis where you had a million people dislocated and then huge numbers of them wind up living with other people just take them in. Should those people get some assistance? If so, what kind? How do you avoid abuse? You know, that kind of that. All these kinds of questions.

But I don't think so. For one thing, we've got, except for the Maldives, we have the financial commitments we need. So all we need is to collect.

S. O'BRIEN: What are the plans for the one year anniversary?

CLINTON: Well, we're -- first of all, we're going to be issuing reports and there'll be, presumably, memorial services and other commemorations in all of the countries during which time I'm going to encourage them to make a good accounting to the people. And now, you know, we have now a database up on the Internet.

S. O'BRIEN: The DAD?

CLINTON: The DAD, the DAD, which was adapted actually from what was done by the international community in Afghanistan, and which I have recommended to the states affected by Katrina.

S. O'BRIEN: Why do you think that would be a good thing for Katrina and whatever happens with Hurricane Rita?

CLINTON: Because you've got for the first time, we've got unprecedented amounts of not the first time, but to a greater extent than ever before, in both the tsunami and Katrina, and we don't know what damage Rita will do yet. You have a mix of government money and private donations. In every case like that, there is a need for accountability.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: The Bush/Clinton Katrina Fund has raised more than $6 million through online pledges, with another $90 million from corporate and individual donor contributions.

We've got more from New York and from Houston right after this short break.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody, as we come from New York and Houston this morning in a special split show. Miles, you know, it's interesting. We've been talking a lot about the evacuees and evacuation out of Houston and haven't talked a whole lot about what's happening in New Orleans which, of course, we're watching, because there's concerns about flooding again, and also about whether the levees are really going to be able to hold up as Hurricane Rita approaches.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, as you know, Soledad, from being there, those levee breaches were fixed with what amounts to giant sandbags just piled on top of one another. At the 17th Street Canal, for example, they used 2,000 sandbags about the size of SUVs. And so there's a natural amount of seepage that goes along with this.

Take a look at this picture two days ago at the Industrial Canal. There you'll see the evidence of a barge that may have either caused the problem or went through after the levee failed. So far the water level has not risen to the point where it's going to spill over the banks, but it is natural to see seepage from these repairs, according to the Corps of Engineers.

The big concern is every time Rita makes a click to the east, that inherently would raise the storm surge and rainfall levels likely that New Orleans would feel, and really at this point it wouldn't take very much rain to cause additional flooding, of course, in those same places that have already experienced tremendous flooding -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Closely, of course, Miles. Thanks.

We want to remind folks to stay with CNN all weekend for the latest on Hurricane Rita. We will be here. AMERICAN MORNING is going to have special coverage on Saturday starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time until noon as the hurricane comes on shore. And then on Sunday from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time in the immediate aftermath of that storm. We'll be cover that for you live.

We are back in just a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: I'm Miles O'Brien. Welcome back.

We're halfway between Houston and redemption from Rita. And the scene here is offering a lot of lessons about how to do evacuations and how not to do them. The sad fact is up on the highway there, those people that ignored the order yesterday and got in their cars this morning are breezing their way down 45. There is some congestion in the distance. The people who yesterday got up early, more than 24 hours ago now, and made their way here, well, they're out of gas and out of options for the moment.

Soledad, this is a story to watch. At least they're in a relatively safe place where we are now.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, but no question, Miles, we're going to watch it as well.

Thanks, Miles. We'll check in with you again.

We should mention, of course, special edition of AMERICAN MORNING coming this weekend. Let's get right now, though, to Daryn Kagan. She's at the CNN Center and she's going to take you through the next couple of hours on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

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