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CNN Live Sunday
Aftermath of Hurricane Rita
Aired September 25, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Up ahead this hour, the search for survivors is underway along the Louisiana and Texas coast.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In New Orleans, Rita serves as a reminder of just how vulnerable the city remains.
HARRIS: And then, assessing the damage, one home at a time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINA RIVERO (ph), HURRICANE SURVIVOR: We're walking on the side wall, with the roof right there. It just opened like a can of spam.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A can of spam. Good afternoon, everyone, I'm Tony Harris.
LIN: And I'm Carol Lin. Welcome to our special continuing coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. CNN has reporters positioned all along the Texas and Louisiana coast this afternoon. They are going to be joining us live throughout the hour.
HARRIS: But first, the latest damage assessment. Flood waters are going down slowly but surely in Lake Charles, Louisiana, one of the hardest hit cities, despite widespread flooding and damage. Officials say it could have been much worse. Hitting the road to return home. It's happening right now as the first wave of nearly three million who fled Houston ahead of the storm are making their way back.
Many are ignoring officials' requests that they do it in phases over several days. Those returning home may be without power. More than one million customers lost power in coastal Texas. That's the case for 700,000 in coastal Louisiana after being hit by two hurricanes.
LIN: And one of the hardest cities hit in this hurricane was Lake Charles, Louisiana. That's where we find our Jason Carroll standing by. Jason, is the curfew still in effect?
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Curfew is still in effect. Also another bit of good news here. Initially, emergency officials thought that those who had evacuated would be able to return as soon as tomorrow. They're now saying that estimate no longer in effect. They're saying there's so much debris on the roads, the city still has no power or water, they're asking people to stay away for at least several more days. But, there is some encouraging bit of word out here. That is that the water has receded significantly from Lake Charles.
In fact, where I'm standing right now, you would not have been able to do that yesterday. You would not have been able to see these pylons yesterday. They were submerged by the water. I also want to point your attention to that bridge you see out there in the distance. That is the I-10 bridge. It is currently closed. Actually, it was closed yesterday. State police telling us just a short while ago, confirming to us that they believe or got a report that it was hit by a barge during the storm, and so that's why it's been shut down. The state Department of Transportation divers are out there trying to assess that situation, trying to find out whether or not it is stable enough to reopen. In the meantime, it remains closed.
The situation in downtown Lake Charles at this point: It's a clean-up process right now. They're trying to clear out all that debris clogging the streets. When we had an opportunity to check things out, we just saw trees and debris from buildings, downed power lines just about on every street, in just about every neighborhood that you saw. But, once again, at least the water has receded. That is certainly a bit of good news to some of the folks who decided not to leave. They're right now in the process of trying to reassess, trying to check out their homes.
We spoke to one man. His name is Bryan Reddin. He bought his home about two years ago, finally got a chance to get back in there today, see what his home looked like. We had a chance to go along with him. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYAN REDDIN, LAKE CHARLES RESIDENT: As you look inside, the floors are all muddy. I mean, here's the water line. There's a water line. I never thought it would get this bad. I mean, this is a lot worse than I ever thought. That's where the couch was, up here. And that light was on that stand. Of course, that's the water level. That's where it came up to in here. Here we are, an oceanfront view. This was for -- we had some looters. They started hitting yesterday morning. We don't really tolerate looters. That's just something we believe in. We're not going to tolerate it. It's terrible. Like I said, if you didn't get hit by the water, you got hit by the winds. I mean, I can't tell you how many hundreds of homes that are damaged because of trees going right through them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Water and wind, that was definitely the story out here in Lake Charles. Reddin had no flood insurance, so he is now, like so many thousands upon thousands of other people, now left homeless because of a hurricane. Carol?
LIN: Jason, what's the report on people still missing? The police are saying that they are checking and compiling lists of the missing and trying to figure out what's happened to some folks. CARROLL: They've received so many calls from folks at the Lake Charles Police Department, from people calling saying they are looking for loved ones in the area, people who may have evacuated. Obviously because there's no power they can't get in touch with those people.
They're trying to compile a list of all of those names of people who their family members are trying to reach out to. They're going to cross-check that list with their homes, they're going to do site checks at the homes, see if they can get out there to see if anyone tried to wait out the storm, trying to see if anyone needed help. But I will tell you that most of the people in this town -- remember, the police chief out here telling me he believes it was upward of 85, 90 percent of the people here evacuated. So, some of those people they're trying to reach out to may not be here. They may be in other areas. Carol?
LIN: You bet. Jason Carroll, it looks like a beautiful summer day behind you. Such a deceptive scene, indeed. Thanks very much.
HARRIS: Well, call it a Cajun-style rescue operation, if you will. In southwestern Louisiana, neighbors with flat-bottom boats are helping neighbors, and National Guard troops are helping, too. The place is Vermilion Parish, and our Rick Sanchez is there. Give us a situation update from where you are, Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Tony. Very different in many respects from where Jason Carroll was reporting from. Lake Charles is really, not a big city, mind you, but it's a big town. Certainly, a big town compared to this area, which is really an assortment of little towns, little towns all the way from here, all the way through the bayous to the Gulf coastline.
In these little towns, there are a lot of people who are having a tough time of it right now. Because what they didn't expect to happen, what they tell me hasn't happened since the 1940s has now occurred. And is that the Vermilion River has overflowed its banks and for the most part flooded many of these little towns. Towns like Erath, for example, where we were not long ago. Just a couple of hours ago, found ourselves right smack in the middle of town, looking around and finding what appears to be an expansive flooding that has really covered most of the town, going for blocks and for blocks.
I think you see in the video that some of the National Guard officials are doing what they can. They're going home by home, trying to figure out if anybody was left in there, if there's anyone left to rescue. They told me -- in fact, you were there, you were listening, Tony, on the air, when he told me -- that they figure 1 percent of the people is all they had to get to because 99 percent had already gotten out, one way or the other. They did also spend some time, and you may see that in some of the pictures that we're showing you, getting some of the dogs out. In fact, they took them and put them onto dry land, so to speak, dry land being the trucks that they're operating.
And they kept them with them as they went on the rescue operation. When they got to higher land, they would put them out, or they'd keep them and let the dogs do what they had to do because they couldn't be on the truck in that heat for such long periods of time. It's in other towns, though, a little further south that things get a little more difficult. Towns like Intercoastal, for example, towns like Cameron, which is even further down, which is supposedly devastated.
Getting exact numbers as to how many people were affected there, it's hard to figure at this point. The numbers we've been given by some of the 82nd Airborne folks, who have been out here doing some of these rescues, some of them who you see behind me getting ready to go out on yet another mission, is that they've rescued somewhere between 200 and 250 people. They say there's at least one family which they could not account for, but they're not sure right now whether they may have gotten out during the flooding. Because prior to the flooding somebody went to them and said, "You need to get out of here." And they said, "No, no, we're going to stay." And they said, "This is as dangerous a place as you can be." And they said, "We're going to stay." And they said to them, finally, "Look, you may to want give us your children, at least, let us get them out."
And they kept the children, as a matter of fact. Still not known exactly where they were. It's not like they're saying that they were affected by the storm severely, don't know if they perished. It's just a big question mark at this point. A lot of questions remain to be seen. Tony, back to you.
HARRIS: Rick, just a quick one. If a lot of those folks weren't expecting the Vermilion to flood, it sounds like they may not be covered with any kind of flood insurance, which would mean, I guess their option is FEMA.
SANCHEZ: That's a good question, Tony. This is Cajun country, and there's a certain free spirit about the people here. They say, "Look, Rick, it wasn't since 1940. I was 5 years old the last time this happened. I never would have figured it could have happened again. We've had all of those storms in between." Well, it happened again. So, I suppose now they're going to have to try and figure some things out.
As to what kind of insurance they have, it's hard to tell. I guess it depends on what kind of home they have, as well. And a lot of these places, you know, they're usually mobile homes and cases like that. But there are also some big ones, as well, on the banks of the river.
HARRIS: CNN's Rick Sanchez, for us. Rick, thank you.
LIN: Well, that's the situation in Louisiana. In Texas, the big problem is lack of power. Yet, so many people are hitting the road, getting in their cars, getting back on the interstate, to figure out what happened to their home. You can hardly blame them. National correspondent, Bob Franken, standing by with the latest on the interstate. Bob, I mean, I'd be curious, too.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm sorry. Say that again? It's very noisy with all of the cars, Carol, that are ignoring the phased drive in that Texas officials were asking them to do. People are just taking it upon themselves to come back to Houston as they feel like. Of course, they were in huge traffic jams when millions of them, literally millions obeyed the evacuation order and got out earlier in the week. It was just a traffic jam of historic proportions.
Interestingly, it has been your regular kind of day, as people come zipping in. There are bottlenecks on the highway, but there are always bottlenecks on the highway. For the most part, we're being told people are getting in at certainly a better pace than they had the last time around. Houston, of course, was spared the ferocious storm, that everybody thought might be the problem, the reason that they evacuated, unlike many other cities along the Texas and Louisiana coast. The mayor of Houston had some comments to make about how he was feeling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL WHITE, MAYOR, HOUSTON, TEXAS: I mean, obviously, a sigh of relief that the nation's fourth-largest city didn't see the suffering that was inflicted on our brothers and sisters in Lake Charles and western Louisiana.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: In fact, Houston did so well, did not have to deal with the storm, so much so that it was able to send some of its municipal facilities and emergency equipment to places like Lake Charles. Carol?
LIN: All right, where help is much needed. Thank you very much. Bob Franken, reporting live. Tony?
HARRIS: We'll take a quick break and come back with more of CNN Sunday right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: A progress report now on the flood damage in New Orleans. The Army Corps of Engineers is offering an optimistic appraisal, and some residents could begin to head back to the storm-beleaguered city by tomorrow. Our Jeff Koinange is in New Orleans right now. Jeff, I'm sure not a mass re-entry, but at least in at least one neighborhood.
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about that, Carol. You know, the neighbors here have gotten used to what they call the hurricane shuffle. They had to leave here during Katrina. A lot of them went to Houston, Texas. They had to leave Houston to come back here and leave again after Rita. A lot of them doing what is being called as the hurricane shuffle.
But, having said that, Army Corps of Engineers working feverishly around the clock to fill up the industrial canal. This is the one that, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, had cracked, and water was gushing and flowing into the lower ninth ward and other parishes. We could see helicopters working throughout the day, dumping 7,000- pound bags of sand. That was good news. And more good news coming from Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, in a press conference earlier today, who talked about the water levels receding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHLEEN BLANCO, GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA: Water levels in Orleans Parish are dropping slowly. The corps of engineers tells us that they continue to patch the damaged levees. A north wind should drop the water dramatically in the canals and the lake, as well. And this will allow the corps to resume serious pumping efforts and to get a lot more work done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOINANGE: A lot more work done, indeed, Carol. The workers are literally sitting and waiting right now because they cannot go into those areas that are flooded. In some parts the water was up to six, eight feet high. They cannot go out in those areas until that water is pumped out. Again, the Army Corps of Engineers telling CNN that that water could be pumped out in as few as seven days to10 days' time, which is really good news because it took so long to pump the water out after Katrina. Carol?
LIN: You bet. All right, Jeff Koinange, thank you very much. Tony?
HARRIS: Well, Carol, some 16,000 national guard troops are already on the ground in Louisiana. Another 2,400 or so are being shuffled from Katrina to Rita recovery efforts. General Douglas Pritt of the U.S. Army National Guard is commanding the joint task force dealing with the recovery, and he joins us from Lake Charles. General, good to talk to you.
GEN. DOUGLAS PRITT, JOINT TASK FORCE COMMANDER, U.S. ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: It's good to be here.
HARRIS: Well, you were a part -- let me ask the question: Were you a part of the effort after Katrina in Louisiana? I'm assuming you were.
PRITT: We were in New Orleans for approximately three weeks, and our area included the lower ninth ward, the upper and eastern portions of the Orleans district.
HARRIS: Are you sorry to hear about the levee breaches that have brought water back into the lower ninth ward?
PRITT: Indeed, we were sorry to hear about that. Our soldiers had adopted a number of projects in the lower ninth ward and tried to repair some schools and clinics in the area so that when the citizens came back, they had something to look forward to and seeing something had been restored. Unfortunately, the Franklin Douglas High School, where we had cleaned up the facility, has flooded again.
HARRIS: A big setback, a minor setback? Does it hurt the morale of everyone involved? PRITT: I'd say it's a minor setback. We overall had nine projects, and so far that's the only one we've heard of that suffered any damage with the flooding.
HARRIS: General, what are you seeing in Lake Charles?
PRITT: Well, we have a task force here that consists of an infantry battalion from the Oregon National Guard, two engineer battalions from the Louisiana National Guard, two M.P. companies, and a number of search-and-rescue teams that are on station to conduct operations. We're doing everything from clearing the main roads, to provide access to the utility companies and the civilian authorities, to providing security along the freeway during the mandatory evacuation.
And we're also going door to door, ensuring that those people's homes that sustained damage, just knocking at the doors, see if anyone is inside and if they need any assistance. And we're also, as we go through the neighborhood, handing out food and water to those people that don't have vehicles to come to the distribution sites.
HARRIS: General, how thankful are you that so many people took the evacuation orders to heart and left these areas?
PRITT: Well, we're extremely pleased that the citizens heeded the warnings, and I think based on the recent events of Katrina, took those warnings very seriously. When we were in New Orleans, we were conducting search-and-rescue operations 17 days after the hurricane hit. In fact, we found one gentleman in his attic who had survived for 17 days.
Here, I would say today, after our operations are completed, 90- plus percent of the search-and-rescue efforts will be completed, and we'll only be bringing out those people that, for some reason, have decided, due to illness or some other medical condition, they need to be evacuated. For the most part, it's gone extremely well.
HARRIS: Didn't you have a lot of environmental concerns when you were in and around New Orleans and concerns about power lines being down? What's the situation relative to those kinds of concerns in Lake Charles?
PRITT: There are certainly power lines down. The entire power grid is turned off, and the utility companies are estimating it might be at least a week before they're able to restore power. They certainly expect to get power restored in certain areas, and hopefully to some key facilities before that. There are a number of downed power lines, and we're very thankful the grid has been turned off.
As far as the pollution is concerned, we haven't seen any catastrophic events at all, minor spillage that occurred, but it's pretty insignificant in the big scheme of things, whereas in Katrina we had significant oil damage, pollution in the lower ninth ward, particularly.
HARRIS: General Pritt, thank you for your time. PRITT: It's our pleasure. We're happy to be of service.
HARRIS: Thank you. Carol?
LIN: Well, it may be Sunday, but that's not stopping the financial markets from reacting to Rita. Still to come, we're going to tell you what happened to the price of oil today. Was the damage to some refineries enough to worry investors?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Welcome back to our special coverage. I'm Carol Lin. Hurricane Rita swept from the Gulf Coast through Texas and Louisiana, ruining property with wind and water along the way. And hardest-hit communities along Interstate 10 in both states. Our Chris Lawrence took a drive to see the destruction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE (voice-over): We started driving east out of Baytown, Texas, and almost immediately started seeing damage along Interstate 10. It looked like Hurricane Rita came right over the main east-west connection between Texas and Louisiana.
LAWRENCE (on camera): We got off the highway here in Beaumont to knock on a few doors, see how the neighbors are doing, but it seems as if most folks got out early. Good thing, too. When you take a look at some of the damage here, I mean, it's hard to believe what it would be like to be inside when that thing comes down on top of your home. In some areas we saw a lot of wind damage. In others it was the flooding, like here at this trailer park in Vidor, Texas, where the water's coming up just about knee-high just about everywhere we walk.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): That doesn't matter much when it comes to saving fuel and supplies for the next few days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE RESIDENT: When I got back, even though it looks devastating, we're in real good shape, from what I thought it might have been.
LAWRENCE (on camera): So, some folks who are making their way in, trying to get a first look at their property, but we met other people who actually stuck it out during the storm.
RIVERO (ph): My mother was being stubborn and wanted to stay, and I sent my son off and stayed with her, because I didn't to want leave her alone.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Christina Rivero (ph) took us through her apartment complex in Vidor.
RIVERO (ph): We're walking on the side wall, with the roof right there. It just opened like a can of spam. I was under a mattress, saying, "We're going to die, we need to take shelter." We were trying to call the police station. No answer. All night, no answer. This is downstairs. Water just started streaming in from our apartment. It just started flying off -- water started pouring in. There was at least ankle-foot water. This is downstairs. Imagine what upstairs looks like.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): As we drove further east, there was a church smashed in from the top down, debris hanging from an overpass, and an overturned truck that flipped over on the side of the highway. We got to Lake Charles, it just got worse. Entire neighborhoods cut off by trees, power lines. A lot of them were close to being completely flooded. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Lake Charles, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: We'll take a moment now and show you some new video in to CNN. We'll be looking at the airport in Lake Charles. This has to be the airport in Lake Charles. As Rick Sanchez was telling us a bit earlier, this is a small city, but a big town. As you can see here, just a lot of destruction on the ground there at the airport in Lake Charles, Louisiana. That's got to be a hangar that's been destroyed, and the planes inside, you would imagine, heavily damaged at this point. Look at that.
You don't know at this point whether it's from the storm surge, the flooding, the wind, probably the tornados, and, Carol, probably a combination of all of that. Some of the small planes there at the airport, the tail section virtually ripped off of this plane here. Just a lot of damage. New video into CNN of damage of the airport there in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The nation's commander-in-chief is considering whether the military should take a bigger role the next time disaster strikes. The president is back in Washington after touring the Rita-ravaged coast. CNN'S Ed Henry is live at the White House for us. Hi, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Tony. In fact, the president is back here at the White House after a very busy weekend. The White House clearly trying to show the image of the commander-in- chief who's very hands on. They were stung by the criticism that the president did not react swiftly enough in the early days after Hurricane Katrina hit. That has helped sink his poll numbers to record lows.
That's why today we saw the president just this afternoon in Baton Rouge, meeting immediately with Governor Kathleen Blanco, as well as Admiral Thad Allen, trying to deal with the situation of the -- all of a sudden -- the new flooding in New Orleans, the second round of flooding. The president back expressing optimism that he believes the water will be pumped out much faster this time. Earlier today the president was in Texas at Randall Air Force Base, where military officials briefed him on the federal hurricane response.
Clearly, the early signs are that response was much smoother this time, in part because of lessons learned from Katrina. One move that was made, the military moving in quickly, and being much more active and aggressive in the early days immediately after Rita hit. That's why, as you mentioned, the president also now considering whether that role should be expanded. Military officials at this air force base telling him they believe the president should craft a national policy dealing with search-and-rescue efforts. The president responded, he wants congress to now take a look at whether the military should take a lead role in reacting to national disasters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Is there a circumstance in which the Department of Defense becomes the lead agency? Clearly, in the case of a terrorist attack, that would be the case. But is there a national disaster which -- of a certain size -- that would then enable the Defense Department to become the lead agency in coordinating and leading the response effort? That's going to be a very important consideration for Congress to think about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Clearly, another major issue for the president and the Congress to deal with in the weeks ahead, how to pay for all of these relief efforts. Even before Hurricane Rita hit, the estimates were that federal taxpayers would be on the hook for some $200 billion or more. You heard a little earlier on CNN that Governor Blanco in Louisiana was calling for tens of billions of dollars more, because of that new flooding in New Orleans. The president has already said the government will pay any price it needs to get the Gulf region whole again. But he's...
But he's also called on congress for spending cuts to offset those costs. So far leaders in both parties not showing much of an appetite to actually cut other popular federal programs.
It's going to be a major battle ahead. Tony?
HARRIS: CNN's Ed Henry at the White House for us. Ed, thank you.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, taking a look at specifically what's happening on the ground, all of oil production along the Gulf of Mexico has been shut down in the wake of Hurricane Rita. I'm going to be talking with the president of Shell Oil Company to find out that it means when it comes to heating your homes and filling up your gas tank.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Welcome back to our special coverage. You are looking at new video from the U.S. Coast Guard. This along the Louisiana Gulf Coast. Look at that, just entire neighborhoods submerged. You can barely see the rooftops in some places. This gives you a bird's-eye view of what it must have been like to be rescuing some 1,000 people who were trapped on their rooftops yesterday, and rescues are still underway right now.
HARRIS: And you just have to be thankful that so many people heeded the warnings, took the evacuation orders to heart, and left this area. Look at these pictures. Imagine -- we just lost the pictures. Imagine if there were still people there in the hundreds.
LIN: Yeah. There was a street that went underwater, and earlier we saw some of the rescue vehicles and the power line companies were lined up on the highway, and came upon a part of the highway that was underwater. They couldn't get g any further.
HARRIS: And the infrastructure, as you can see from these pictures, virtually washed out, gone, no power. No phone service. The police -- we don't even know if the 911 system is up and running for folks in that area. But now, ass we come in on a residential neighborhood, you can see how high the water is, even today on some of these homes.
LIN: Halfway up the first story. And a lot of Houston still without power, New Orleans 75 percent without power, just one neighborhood, the Algiers neighborhood, which the mayor of New Orleans is still asking people to come back and to businesses restarted, only essential personnel are being asked to return to Houston right now, doctors, nurses, police officers, whoever can help reestablish the city.
HARRIS: Just happy to share these pictures with you from the U.S. Coast Guard, new video into CNN. And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Tony Harris.
LIN: And I'm Carol Lin. Let's bring you up to date on the latest developments on the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast region. Other than those pictures, we want to show you some of the latest damage assessment after Hurricane Rita.
Texas governor Rick Perry is estimating losses in Texas alone at $8 billion. And Louisiana is preparing to ask the federal government for more than $31 billion to cover damages associated with Rita and Katrina.
As millions of people who fled ahead of Rita continue to flock back home, officials in Louisiana close hard-hit Calcasieu Parish, which include Lake Charles. The flood that hit the city is starting to recede but parts of Lake Charles remain underwater and some of the cities' buildings suffered extensive wind damage.
The highway through the parish is open to traffic, but troopers are blocking off ramps.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNNING BROWN, LOUISIANA STATE TROOPER: If you're looking -- residents trying to get back towards Texas, they can still travel through the affected areas on Interstate 10, however to get off of the roadway, they won't be able to do that. They won't be able to get of I-210, for example, into Calcasieu Parish because the parish is shut down. Parish officials over there have shut down the parish for up to 48 hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Well, the only storm-related death reported since Rita blew ashore is that of a person in Mississippi who died in a tornado overnight. A bus fire during the evacuation in Texas killed as many as 24 elderly people who had fled a nursing home.
Now, crude oil futures dipped today during a special trading session. It happened after authorities reported minimal damage to oil refineries in the Houston area. Prices were down nearly a dollar, trading at about $63 a barrel, that's down nearly 11 percent from the record set back on August 30th , the day after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.
But wth me now is the president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister. Mr. Hofmeister, thank you for being with us. Just because there was very little damage, is very different from saying that everything is going to be back online pretty soon.
JOHN HOFMEISTER, PRESIDENT, SHELL OIL COMPANY: Carol, we're moving as quickly and as safely as we can to return operations to normal. We've got deliveries going on all throughout this area. We've made more than 160 deliveries already of 1.5 million gallons of gasoline, and we're working closely with Mayor White, Judge Eckels and the governor of the state to try and bring the supply situation back to normal as quickly as we can.
LIN: So when is it going to be normal and how much is a gallon of gas going to cost?
HOFMEISTER: Well, normal is -- normal is whatever it will be. We're drawing of inventories as we are currently without some of our refining capacity, but we had people working overnight, working throughout the day today at our Deer Park facility, and as safely as we can bring that operations back into line, we'll do that.
With respect to pricing, well, you know, this is an interruption to the normal flow of supply, so we watch the pricing very, very carefully. We will do everything we can to work with our f, with our wholesalers and our jobbers to make sure that pricing discipline is followed just as closely as we can across this country.
LIN: Well what does that mean for natural gas, heating oil for this winter?
HOFMIESTER: Well, natural gas and heating oil, of course, this is the season when we would normally be putting gas into storage and producing more heating oil. We've had to defer some of that because of the interruption in the supply chain, and, of course, to meet the needs of gasoline. But just as soon as we can, we will return to putting gas into storage and building up heating oil stocks. We're very conscious of the ...
LIN: Go ahead.
HOFMEISTER: We're very conscious of the price effect on people outside this region, as well as in this region, and we want to work very carefully to manage the supply to keep the prices in line.
LIN: Are you asking help from the federal government or other suppliers to maintain a healthy supply out there so that prices don't skyrocket?
HOFMEISTER: The industry does a very good job of responding to disasters of this sort. We are working closely with another to try to help each other with the technical requirements to get up and running. Whether that's pipelines, whether it's refineries, whether that's offshore rigs, we're all looking out for one another in order to make sure that the technical requirements are met.
LIN: John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Company, it sounds like you're dealing with a lot of unknowns, you don't have much news or much hope right now to offer consumers, but at least work is underway. I know you have a big job ahead. Thank you very much.
HOFMEISTER: Thank you, Carol.
LIN: Tony?
HARRISON: Port Arthur, Texas, gained its place on the national map only after suffering incredible damage from Rita. The extent of the devastation won't be known for days. We get some idea from CNN's Gary Tuchman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is much relief in Port Arthur, Texas, that this city of 57,000 people has not been swamped by the Gulf of Mexico. There was a lot of concern Thursday and Friday when it looked like Hurricane Rita was coming to this city. The thought was, and police and fire officials evacuated, too, and there was concern that this city could be under up to 20 feet of water. There is a 14-foot seawall and it was felt it would not hold and they told everyone to leave and almost everyone did.
Instead, the hurricane passed to the east of here, they got the left side of the hurricane, which is the weaker side. And there is flooding. You see some behind me. This is five feet of water covering this car, but this is from rainwater, it is not storm surge. So peoplehere are very relieved.
There is a lot of damage here. Houses do not have their roofs in some areas, stores have their windows blown out, but it could have been a lot worse. Now, the police department was flooded, so the police have moved to a local hotel here in Port Arthur. Only one hotel remained open. We were staying there originally, it was a beautiful hotel when we got there before the hurricane, now the basically kicked out everyone who is vacationing, police, news media, and those who decided to stick it out, there are very few but a lot of them are sleeping in the hallways of the hotel and in the bottom floor of the hotel next to the bar, where the bar was, there is a makeshift jail.
That's where people who have been arrested for looting and other crimes are being brought, to the holiday in where they stay inside a makeshift jail and that's where people who have been arrested for looting and other crimes are being brought, to the Holiday Inn where they stay inside a makeshift jail cell before being transported to a regular jail.
One other issue, this is an oil city, lots of oil refineries, much flooding at those oil refineries and very significant damage at one of them. This is Gary Tuchman, CNN in Port Arthur, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: We have other important news to tell you about. The vice president goes under the knife. Up next, you're going to find out how Dick Cheney is doing after a day of surgery.
Plus, a target in Gaza, the Israeli military launches an attack just weeks after its historic pullout. We're going to have the latest when CNN continues.
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HARRIS: And we will have much more on the destruction of hurricane Rita in a moment.
First, other stories now in the news. U.S. ground forces are reached the area in afghanistan where a U.S. military helicopter crashed, killing all five U.S. soldiers on board. Taliban militants claim they shot the aircraft down, but U.S. military officials insist there is no evidence of that. They say a mechanical failure may be to blame.
LIN: In Iraq today, the U.S. military says an American soldier was killed and two others were injured when their vehicle rolled over while on patrol in the western town of Trebil.
HARRIS: Anti-war demonstrators are speaking out against the U.S. campaign in Iraq for a second straight day today. They staged a peace festival in Washington. The main event came yesterday, an anti-war rally at the Washington Monument that drew a crowd of about 100,000 people.
LIN: Meanwhile, a smaller pro-troop demonstration was held today at the National Mall. Speakers included family members of troops and Iraqi citizens.
HARRIS: Vice President Dick Cheney is home from the hospital. His pace was a little slow as he emerged from George Washington University Hospital this morning. Cheney underwent six hours of surgery yesterday to repair aneurysms on the back of his knees.
LIN: The Israeli military says it blew up a car in Gaza today. Witnesses say two Palestinians were killed. The attack is the latest in a series of ongoing air strikes and raids into the West Bank and Gaza this weekend.
Two hundred six suspected Palestinian militants are under arrest. The raids follow two days of Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel.
HARRIS: Some of the Texas and Louisiana communities hardest hit by hurricane rita are rural areas and small towns. Dan Simon visited Orange, Texas, to find out what wind, rain, and looting left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look at this. The air ducts.
(voice-over): It looked like a bomb blasted through this Blockbuster Video in the small refinery town of Orange, Texas, the alarm still going off as we took a peak inside. DVDs thrown from their shelves as the forceful winds shattered the windows and created a tornado-like effect throughout the storm.
There didn't appear to be any looting here but police say other businesses did fall victim.
LARRY THURSTON, ORANGE RESIDENT: To me it's one of the lowest things you can do.
SIMON: The front door of this Radio Shack appeared to be deliberately smashed. In fact, authorities believe this entire strip mall was targeted by thieves.
But nature certainly caused the brunt of the damage here. A drive through town showed business after business and home after home heavily damaged by Rita's winds.
THURSTON: It scared me. Twenty inch oak tree coming through the roof of your house, that ain't not fun time. Scared me.
SIMON: Larry Thurston described the unforgettable horror when a tree ripped through his trailer, a familiar sight throughout this small town.
THURSTON: But perhaps the most unusual thing we saw, a stray llama, which had apparently got loose from its owner's back yard.
There were also plenty of lost and confused dogs. Orange fire captain Joe Myers offered this bleak assessment of his community.
JOE MYERS, ORANGE FIRE CAPTAIN: I would say every structure in this county has some form of damage or another. It's going to take us a while to rebuild and it's not going to seem the same without all of our trees. It's going to be a different place.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: That was Dan Simon reporting from Orange, Texas.
LIN: All right. Well, Rita was once pretty powerful, and it's still a problem, as it's heading north. Meteorologist Brad Huffines tracking Rita in the CNN hurricane center.
BRAD HUFFINES, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And Carol, in some way it's more of a problem in some areas than you would expect, even though we're seeing clearing skies behind the storm, the heat is really settling in. With we'll look at current heat index, or feel like temperature readings in and around the Houston area in a couple of minutes.
But first, as Rita continues to move off into the Upper Midwest, the strands, the strings of thunderstorms continue across parts of Alabama, Mississippi, western sections of Tennessee, and now up into western parts of Kentucky. Some very heavy thunderstorms causing every county you see in red here across north central Alabama, across west central and east central Alabama and Mississippi.
These are active tornado warnings, most of which are Doppler radar indicated tornados, which is not unusual for storms of this type as tropical systems come n usually these rain bands that are developing carry with them these individual areas of potential tornados and wind damage.
And as we're looking at these areas, especially southern Mississippi, you're really under the gun once again with flood watches, tornado warnings, severe thunderstorm warnings, in and around Yazoo City to Crystal Springs through Jackson, toward Meridian, a very hard-hit area with lots of scattered damage and power outages.
Meanwhile we're seeing the center of the storm move up across parts of southern Illinois and into sections of southeastern Missouri, moving on out. These are the feel like temperatures for those get back into the Houston area. Heat index between 105 and 110. If you're cleaning up, please wait until it gets a little cooler or you may have to deal with heat stress as well as the effects of the storm.
LIN: You bet. Good advice.
All right. That brings the question, to stay or go? It's not easy, or at least a decision for any family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And everybody should decide for themself what they think they can handle based on the crew they got, but you can't blame a man for staying or for going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Straight ahead, three families who rode out the storm in Lumberton, Texas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Welcome back to our hurricane coverage. We've been showing you the areas of devastation from Hurricane Rita, but what about where Rita made landfall? Cameron Parish, that is where we find CNN's Randi Kaye standing by there. Randi, what is the damage year seeing right now?
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Well, Carol, we made our way in here slowly to Cameron Parish. It's a community of -- it's an oil community and a fishing community, and just -- we're on the outskirts of it right now. We're getting ready to board a helicopter with General Russel Honore to survey the damage here. But so far what we've seen is just major flooding.
We talked to some of the folks who did their own -- the Emergency Operations Preparedness Office here, this he did their own survey by air this morning, and they tell me that the courthouse is still standing, the elementary school is still standing, and about three houses. That's about it. We're talking about 2,000 people in this city. The parish is about 10,000 people. Thousands of homes are gone, other than the courthouse, not much left standing. In fact, in Cameron, I'm told 90 percent of the homes are gone, just ripped off their slabs. Holly Beach, which is also part of the parish, 100 percent of the homes. Johnson Bayou, also part of the parish, 60 percent gone. Creole, 70 percent gone.
They had pretty good evacuations, so they don't think there's anybody left there. They made a few rescues early this morning, but other than that, they don't think there's anybody in there.
But Carol, they tell me there's 15 feet of water in Cameron Parish. We were just standing on the Gibbstown Bridge which is the bridge into the parish, and there's about five or six miles of water covered. We went right to where the road pretty much ends, and there's just -- there's just nothing left. The head of the Emrgency Office for Preparedness here told me he flew over his own home and al that was left was the slab.
So these people are now homeless. It's a terrible site. We're going to be able to see it have from the air very shortly here with General Honore -- Carol.
LIN: That has to be heartbreaking. Randi, we're showing some pretty dramatic pictures here. I want to ask the control room. Was that Cameron Parish or was that just Gulf Shore Coast?
All right. We think that that was Cameron Parish we were looking at, as you were talking. Randi, the water was all the way up to the rafters in these homes, the roads were washed out, trees were down. It looked like a lake.
KAYE: That's exactly what it looks like. Even just driving in on the far outskirts, I mean, the rice fields are supposed to have some water, but they're completely covered in water. And we're talking several feet of water. This town, they had a major hurricane come through here, 1957, Audrey, completely destroyed their community. And they rebuilt. And I asked the head of the office here today for emergency preparedness when their plan is, and he said, starting tomorrow morning, Randi, we're going to start rebuilding.
LIN: All right. Randi Kaye, thank you very much for reporting in from Cameron Parish. We are going to be hearing more from Randi throughout the night as she takes an aerial tour with General Honore.
HARRIS: That's right, Carol. Live reports are just ahead from Lake Charles, Abbeville and New Orleans, plus Port Arthur and Houston, Texas.
LIN: Our extensive coverage continues. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
