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CNN Live Sunday

Aftermath of Hurricane Rita

Aired September 25, 2005 - 16:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Some Gulf Coast residents are thinking about going home, while others wait to see how much damage they'll face. And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN center. I'm Tony Harris.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Lin.

CNN has reporters staked out along the Texas and Louisiana's coast. this afternoon. They'll be joining us throughout the hour.

But first, the damage assessment from Hurricane Rita is beginning in earnest today. Some part of Port Arthur, Texas remains under water, and so does a stretch of coastal Louisiana, plus some areas farther inland. Texas governor Rick Perry puts estimated damage from Rita at more than $8 billion in his state alone.

And one day after the storm, a reverse migration of millions of people, Houston wants the people who fled ahead of Rita to return to the city in stages, beginning today and lasting through Tuesday. Governor Perry says evacuees from southeast Texas should stay where they are for now. And parts of coastal Louisiana are closed to inbound traffic.

Now, many of those who returned will not have power when they get back home. In Texas, more than a million customers lost electricity. And the dual hurricanes have left 700,000 people powerless in Louisiana.

And the price of oil futures dropped today amid reports that the U.S. oil industry escaped a major hit. Damaged to the nation's crucial oil infrastructure is being described as a glancing blow.

HARRIS: Well Carol, if it wasn't Hurricane Katrina, we can all be thankful for that. But make no mistake, this latest major hurricane to strike the Gulf Coast is a disaster unto its own and it's deepened some of the misery that began with Katrina. We'll begin in Louisiana in coastal Vermillion Parish, CNN's Rick Sanchez is there. Hello, Rick.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony. What we've been monitoring here is the effect it's had on people who live along any of the bayous or any of the rivers or any of the bays, because as you know, this hurricane pushed an awful lot of water, several feet of it, in fact. And as it did, it literally overtook many of the small towns and many of the cities that snake around rivers like the Vermillion River, for example, which is not far from where we are right now. Let's start do this. Let's start off with some of the pictures of the area that I described to you about an hour ago when we found ourselves right in -- right on Main Street in this town called Erab (ph) out there off of where we are right now.

Now, you can see from the pictures that it's not so much the depth the water, at least at this point, because we're told by some of the officials here that the water has actually receded somewhat, but what an expansive view you have of the flooding in this town, how much it just continues to cover, not just the center of the town, but going all throughout.

We look down the side streets. And we can see it continued for quite a while. So, it's substantial flooding that's affected towns like that. And they go all the way up and down the coast, coming in from Louisiana.

Now, the National Guard has been out there. And they're trying to do rescue operations by going home to home, trying to see if they can find people inside of them. If they don't, they put orange marks on it to signal that that home has already been cleared, so they don't duplicate their efforts.

As far as the overall operation is concerned, 82nd Airborne is here. And they're doing most of the air recovery and air rescues up to now. They're telling us that somewhere between 200 and 250 people have been taken out of that area. That for the most part, they are all accounted for, as far as they can tell, with the exception of one family, which they're not sure if that family actually was able to get out before they arrived or not.

But it's certainly still an ongoing rescue effort here, although, a far cry from what it was Saturday when rescue officials first arrived and really had no idea what was going on in those towns.

Two places to key in on, one is the town of Innercoastal (ph), which is south of where we are by 20 miles. And then the town of Cameron, in Cameron Parish, which we understand has been leveled. And we're trying to get some more reports as to exactly what happened there. There's a good possibility, and certainly we hope that most of the people got out.

The best news today is that Hurricane Rita, or Tropical Storm Rita, in its present form, or whatever it is at this point, has left the area. Remembers, there was a lot of talk about the hurricane staying here. And if it stayed for two or three days, they were saying they would get up to another 25 inches of rain. Well, the fact it's finally pulled out has given these waters a chant to recede. And as we see the waters recede, it makes the rescue efforts a lot easier for these people involved with this here. And it certainly alleviates the situation for the residents who are living in water at this point. Tony, back over to you.

HARRIS: Boy, I have got to tell you, Rick, it's amazing looking at these pictures, of these folks in Erab (ph), and the job they're doing getting men and pets out of harm's way there. These are amazing pictures you're showing us.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As a matter of fact, what they were doing was they had to take the dogs and they had nowhere to put them, because they're traveling through the town in these trucks. The trucks are actually the only high ground that they're giving to that town. So, they take the dogs, the dogs would go with them on the rescue missions, and then eventually they would have take them back and put them on the railroad tracks so they can alleviate themselves or do whatever dogs have to do.

HARRIS: Great pictures. Rick Sanchez, we appreciate it. Thank you, Rick.

SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks, Tony.

LIN: All right. It's still a dangerous situation right now. The waters are -- were rising throughout day yesterday, and particular in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Nobody knows how much damage is there yet. It could have been much worse, though, and yet officials are begging people, do not come back yet. CNN's Jason Carroll is there, live with the very latest -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Carol, you'll remember, initially officials said they thought it might be possible for people to come back who had evacuated on Monday. Now some of those officials are saying to us that that's -- that that estimate was a little too early. There's so much debris out on the roads. Too early for those who evacuated to come back on Monday.

But there is some encouraging news. You heard Rick talk about waters receding. Yesterday we couldn't stand where we are right now. That would have been impossible because Lake Charles over here was all the way up to this level where you see these steps right over here. You couldn't see the pylons out here yesterday as well, all of those were covered. In fact, it was covered all the way up through this walkway up to that grassy area that you see. So you can see the big difference between yesterday and today.

The fact that the water has receded around these parts is definitely encouraging news for the rescue crews, emergency crews that have been out on the roads, they have been out ever since very early this morning, before dawn, in fact, to try to get out there, try to get more of an accurate assessment of just how bad the damage is.

In terms of what we've seen, it's been a lot of structural damage to buildings and homes, downed trees, power lines nearly on every single street. In fact, at one point, just getting into and out of downtown Lake Charles was impossible unless you had a chain saw on hand.

Nearly 400 people in the Lake Charles area had to be rescued. That is a recent number that we're also being given. Carl Simbasky (ph), he's one of the folks we ran into and spoke to, he was one that rode out the storm at his home. His home, unfortunately, was badly damaged during the storm. So now he calls his boat his home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lake Charles doesn't look like Lake Charles anymore. My oldest son went to Florida to get away from this storm. And when he comes back, he's going to be shocked. It doesn't look the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: I think a lot of people are going to be shocked when they come back to find what Lake Charles looks like at this point.

Right now, there is no water in the immediate area, no power as well, no estimate when either one -- when water or power will be back into service. So, that's another reason at this point why emergency officials are saying, can't come back now, it's just too soon -- Carol.

LIN: Jason, also the police chief gave a news conference a short time ago and he said looting is becoming a problem, so much so that he issued a warning saying if anybody is out there, I'm going to arrest you, and if I have to chain to you my bathroom sink, I will.

CARROLL: Absolutely. We heard that over the weekend as well, especially in the downtown area where you had a number of shops with windows blown out, partial cave-ins there, and they are concerned about the looting. And one of the officers told me, he said, that is one thing we are definitely not going to stand for. So he wanted us to get that world out there as well. So, I'm glad you mentioned that.

Definitely one of their concerns. But I still believe that the major concern, the larger concern, at least at this point is all of that debris they have to get cleared away so they can get into some of these areas and get an accurate assessment of just how bad the damage is.

LIN: Yep. You showed us some pretty dramatic pictures. Thanks very much. Jason Carroll reporting live in Lake Charles.

HARRIS: Well, this time around the federal government seems ready to go. President Bush's point man for Hurricane Katrina has taken charge of the post-Rita effort, and his troops are on the move. He is Vice Admiral Thad Allen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICE ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD: The number of people moving forward with the 82nd Airborne is over 3,000. There are 300 marines that are poised to go in around Homeland, Morgan City. We have the Iwo Jima offshore running search and rescue sorties with helicopters. And we have urban search and rescue teams sent in by FEMA, they're staged at Lake Charms right now. So we pretty much have the area circled. They're doing sweeps, they're doing deliberate patrols with aircraft to try and locate any pockets of people. Overnight Coast Guard aircraft rescued 60 people down there. And it's a continuous assessment and search to make sure we get the entire area covered. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Officials in Houston are breathing a sigh of relief. Hurricane Rita spared the city the massive devastation that Hurricane Katrina unleashed on New Orleans. Now officials are bracing for the return of nearly 3 million people who fled ahead of the storm. Our national correspondent Bob Franken is in Houston and he joins us live with the latest.

And Bob, they would like -- those officials there would like for folks to come back in stages, wink, wink, nod, nod.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Take a look in back of me. They're coming back whenever they feel like it. And officials expect that. If they had their (INAUDIBLE), they would come back in this these phase plan that would get people into the city in a period of days until Tuesday. But of course, people want to get back to their homes. They're very aware of the reports that their city was spared. So they to want make sure that their homes were spared too.

Several hundred thousand of them are going to come back with power problems, although the electric utility here promise by Friday everybody will be restored with electricity. So, a lot of people are counting on that. A lot of people would like it to happen more quickly because it is extremely hot here.

A heat index that ranges between 103 and 108. But the people are going back. There are some signs of bottlenecks, but not the kind that accompanied the evacuation out of Houston a few days ago. And although, there's been a lot of criticism of that, officials are saying repeatedly, that even with all of the problems, they believe they did the right thing. There were almost no deaths or injuries associated with Hurricane Rita. And they say that that evacuation, as difficult as it was, may be largely responsible -- Tony.

HARRIS: CNN's Bob Franken, always a trooper along a busy freeway, highway there in Houston for us. Bob, thank you.

LIN: Lots of people going back to who knows what.

President Bush is back in Washington after a two-day swing through the hurricane ravaged region. One of his first orders of business will be asking Congress to consider putting the U.S. military in charge of future disaster operations.

CNN's Ed Henry joins me now from the White House with more details. It seems to make sense, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. In fact, the president just arrived a few moments ago back here at the White House after an extremely busy weekend. Mr. Bush clearly stung by criticism in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that he did not act swiftly enough. The White House now presenting an image of a very hands-on commander in chief.

As you know, on Saturday, he was in Texas, as well as in Colorado at the U.S. Northern Command, trying to help coordinate efforts. Then today, the president was in San Antonio. And they met with military leaders at Randall Air Force Base. He was briefed on the situation, on the federal hurricane response, which obviously, by all early indications, suggest went much smoother this time around, because of two key factors, lessons learned from Katrina as well as the fact that Hurricane Rita did not pack the same punch as Katrina.

Still, there's once again very dangerous flooding in New Orleans. So the president's last stop today was in Baton Rouge. That's where the president met with Governor Kathleen Blanco as well as Admiral Thad Allen. After those briefings, the president expressed optimism. He was upbeat about getting New Orleans back on its feet quicker this time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We also got briefed on the levees in New Orleans. There is flooding, obviously, in the Ninth Ward. The Corps of Engineers gave us a briefing about rebuilding, repairing levees and then once again, pumping the water out of that part of New Orleans. It's -- I would say it's an optimistic appraisal in the sense that work has started now and they can start to -- they are draining that part of the city, again.

HENRY: Now, during his stop at Randall Air Force base, military officials urged the president to craft a national plan to coordinate search and rescue efforts. Clearly, Major General John White today telling the president that he felt in very blunt terms, that it was a train wreck after Katrina. That is one reason why, as you mentioned, Carol, the president today said he now wants Congress to take a close look at whether or not the military should be taking the lead role in reacting to national disasters, as it already does for terror attacks -- Carol.

LIN: Ed Henry, live at the White House. Thank you.

Just ahead, find out what it's like for a Coast Guard rescue swimmer called in to save people from flooded homes along Louisiana's Gulf Coast.

And later, first Katrina and then Rita, we are going to give a live update from New Orleans on the efforts to recover there. Could be walks weeks away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: A big swath of the south is feeling the wrath of what was Hurricane Rita. Our meteorologist, Brad Huffines is here to show us where Rita is now -- Brad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: Busy day. All right. Thanks very much, Brad.

Rescue crews are searching for dozens of people perhaps still trapped in Southern Louisiana. The rescue operations are not nearly on the scale we saw in New Orleans after Katrina, but they go to show how many people did not heed the warning to leave. Here's CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): One at a time, U.S. coast guard helicopters bringing rooftop castaways to safety. In Vermillion Parish, in Calcasieu Parish, in Cameron Parish, no word on who they are or what their stories are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the area to be evacuated, I'd say there's about 1,000 people.

COOPER: We only know they chose to stay after being told to evacuate. Most did flee at the urging of the governor and the president. This is what they faced.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was like eight foot of water.

COOPER: More than 250 people now on higher and drier ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, that was a shelter for the New Orleans evacuees, the Pinnacle Building.

COOPER: Last month, Vermillion Parish provided safe haven for Katrina victims. Today, the shelterers sought shelter.

It may get worse before it gets better. Forecasters expect the waters to rise here through Sunday slowing down the rescue mission already stately pace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should be able to do it in two days. If the surge continues to rise and covers additional areas, and we have to do it all by air, we're going to have some problems.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, some of these rescuers have incredible accounts of saving people from flood waters. Israel Parker is a rescue swimmer for the U.S. Coast Guard. He joins me now on the phone from New Orleans.

Israel, what was it like for you out there, yesterday? How many people did you manage to rescue?

ISRAEL PARKER, U.S. COAST GUARD: Actually, we got about five people. My crew. We were actually out there with several other crews, and all together I think we pulled 70 people.

LIN: I mean, were you working with 40 knot winds. What was that like?

PARKER: Yeah, there was a pretty stead 40 knot wind, also there was some gusts that were a little higher than that.

LIN: So, tell me what you had to do. Did you come in -- did you came in by air or by boat?

PARKER: We actually came in by air. We came in from actually Air Station New Orleans. Yes, we fought our way over, and that itself was pretty crazy.

LIN: And when you look down, you actually saw one of the people you rescued was a gentleman on top of his car. He had to wade through chest deep water to clamor on top of that car to tell you his wife was still trapped in the house. What did do you?

PARKER: Yes, ma'am. We came on scene and we saw the gentleman on top of his car. And we did a quick evaluation of what was going on around there, the trees and power lines. And they decided to put me down, and -- they put me down, and I asked the gentleman if he was alone, and told me his wife was still in the house. And keep in mind, it was like -- there was about five feet of water. It was actually going over the top of his car where he was standing.

LIN: But had you to make a choice, I mean, whether to leave him there or go for his wife who was trapped.

PARKER: Oh, yes, ma'am.

LIN: So, how did you make that decision?

PARKER: I didn't think that there was much of a choice, to be honest. We're obviously going to get all people, you know, out of there. Our highest priority is preservation of human life.

LIN: But you left him there, you went to get the wife inside the house. Was she OK?

PARKER: Yep, she was fine.

LIN: And then you reunited them at the car.

PARKER: Yep. And then we got them on top of the roof, which was -- it wasn't as tough, but -- it wasn't bad at all. We got them on top of the house. And then we -- I talk talked to the, Mr. Cooper, who was the AC at the time, and he, you know, formulated a quick plan.

LIN: Well, you had to hoist him up 200 feet. And then you sent the wife up first, and then you went up with the gentleman in the basket.

Did you guys have a chance to talk at all? Did he share with you, I don't know, his gratitude or some of his fears? It must have been an amazing moment.

PARKER: While his wife was being hoisted, actually, I had a minute or two to talk to him. And he said that the water rows so fast that they couldn't escape.

I guess an hour before it started flooding, they -- the roads were all open, and he told me within an hour that it was -- there was five feet of water inside his house. LIN: My God. Israel Parker, you must -- you must feel good about the work did you out there.

PARKER: Well, I mean, it's -- it is nice to see, you know, people come out of there, and come out of there unscathed. That's for sure.

LIN: All right. Israel Parker, thank you very much for sharing your story.

Tony, brave work. These people are taking incredible risks also for people who didn't choose to evacuate and found themselves trapped very suddenly.

HARRIS: I know they feel it -- it's part of their calling, but it is brave work. And it's good that we can talk to them and at least show our gratitude.

LIN: That's right. Hundreds of people successfully rescued, only one death from this hurricane from a tornado in Mississippi.

HARRIS: That's amazing. That's really amazing.

Still ahead, New Orleans struggles to overcome the challenges of Katrina and the latest flooding caused by Hurricane Rita. We'll get an update on how things are going right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back to our special coverage. We have the latest now on Hurricane Rita's aftermath in Louisiana. Officials are beginning to assess the damage, but they're finding that among the hardest hit areas right now, Vermillion Parish on the Southwest Louisiana coast. Rita lashed that area with ferocious wind and rain. And much like Katrina, its storm surge trapped many on their roofs.

Rescue crews are out again today searching for people who are still stranded new?

Now, to the east in New Orleans, flood waters are back in the city's devastated Ninth Ward. Rita's storm surge sent water over the tops of levees damaged earlier by Hurricane Katrnia. Mayor Ray Nagin says the flooding is contained, though.

And some 16,000 National Guard troops are now on the ground in Louisiana storm battered parishes and more are on the way. Nearly 2400 guard troops from Mississippi and Alabama who were helping with Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts are being shifted now to Louisiana and Texas.

HARRIS: Well Carol, many are wondering what kind of a setback Rita delivered to New Orleans' recovery efforts. Some residents and business owners may be allowed to return to the city as early as Monday. Our Jeff Koinange is monitoring the situation in New Orleans for us. He joins us from there live.

Jeff, good to see you.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, too, Tony.

I can tell you, lots of listens have been learned following the debacle that followed Hurricane Katrina. And you can see it today, Tony, work crews out in force doing two things.

First of all, repairing the levee, the industrial canal levee that had cracked according the Army Corps of Engineers. You could see helicopters dumping 7,000-pound bags of sand making sure that that water does not spill over into the lower Ninth Ward.

Also we can see folks fixing electrical power lines. This is very important, Tony, people are going to come back, the power, water, sanitation has to be restored. And we could see workers out in force. This is amazing to see this happening literally 48 hours after Rita.

Of course, Mayor Ray Nagin saying he wants residents to start returning as early as Monday, maybe Tuesday. He wants 250,000 to 300,000 people by some time in the coming days and coming weeks, the areas have to be ready for them. And pumping, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, again, they're saying pumping the water out of the Ninth Ward, it could take basically one week to do that. So, that's some good news coming here, even after this city has been hit by two major storm, Tony.

HARRIS: Jeff, last week when Ray Nagin was calling for the repopulation of certain areas of New Orleans, there was a lot of criticism. Vice Admiral Thad Allen in particular was pretty critical of that, telling folks to take their time and be careful and cautious. This time around, it looks like both parties are on the same page.

KOINANGE: That's good to see Tony, isn't it? It's amazing how valuable lessons have been learned since hurricane Katrina. Before then, everybody was speaking in different tongs, now on the same page, it's good to see at least now they've learned those lessons are and are moving on. You can see helicopters flying overhead, rescues still going on in certain parts of Louisiana.

And in fact since there aren't many people, a lot of animal rescues were taking part today Tony. One animal organization said that they had rescued hundreds, literally hundreds and hundreds of pets. People had literally packed up, left their pets, and the pets were either wandering the streets or just stayed on house porches. Lots being rescued today, obviously in the coming days. So a lot of work being done at the core, Tony. It looks like they are nipping this at the bud.

HARRIS: In New Orleans, Jeff Koinange for us. Jeff thank you.

Well the damage figures from Port Arthur, Texas, could have a big impact on how much you pay for gas. We'll get the latest from Port Arthur just ahead in a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: We've got more on the aftermath of hurricane Rita in just a moment. But first a check on other stories in the news right now.

Israel launched a series of air strikes in Gaza over night. Officials say targets were weapons manufacturing infrastructure.

Also more than 200 wanted Palestinians were arrested in the West bank. This comes after two days of Hamas rocket strikes against Israeli citizens in Israel.

And in Afghanistan, five American soldiers were killed today in the crash of an army helicopter. All five were crewmembers. A military spokesman said the helicopter was returning from a mission in support of an ongoing operation in southeastern Afghanistan.

And Vice President Dick Cheney is out of the hospital after surgery to repair aneurysms on the back of both knees. A spokesman says the vice president is doing well and plans to work from home tomorrow. An aneurysm is a ballooning weak spot in an artery that can burst in left untreated.

HARRIS: And a check now with the latest damage assessment from hurricane Rita, the storm triggered more flooding in New Orleans, especially the Ninth Ward, which was devastated by hurricane Katrina, but officials are upbeat will repairing breached levees and pumping out the water once again. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco says she'll ask for more than $31 billion from the federal government for levee repair and roadwork.

In Texas, the big move is underway as residents begin returning to their coastal homes. In Houston alone, officials are bracing for the return of nearly 3 million who fled the city ahead of the storm. So far the return is slow, but ordinarily. Many of those returning to their coastal homes in Texas and Louisiana will find that there is no power.

Texas officials say more than a million customers lost power, more than 700,000 in Louisiana face the same hardship after enduring two hurricanes. Despite Rita's power, officials say damage to the vital concentration of oil and gas refineries along the Gulf Coast appeared relatively light, however they say it's still to early to determine whether there would be an impact on oil prices.

LIN: We have an update on FEMA recovery efforts. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says its top priority is the safe and secure return of residents to the storm-affected areas. So truckloads of water, ice, and meals are already in Louisiana, and more are on the way. Now FEMA, though, mixed signals here, also urging caution. The acting head of FEMA says even though the response operation is in full swing, evacuees should think twice about rushing home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID PAULISON, ACTING FEMA DIRECTOR: We hear the mayors of the city to please wait and be patient, and I want to reiterate that. Until those cities are safe, until the mayors and the local officials determine those cities are safe, we would ask people to stay where you are, be patient, wait a couple of days make sure it's safe to move back into your home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Well in true Texas candor, Governor Rick Perry says the town of Port Arthur really got whacked. The damage is extensive and it could be days before basic services are restored. Our Gary Tuchman is in Port Arthur looking at the wind ravished, soggy aftermath. Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, hello to you. There is no power here and no water, but there is actually lots of good news here in Port Arthur, because they were fearful that if this storm hit directly or just to the west, that most of it 58,000 people would be under up to 20 feet of water. That's why nearly everyone evacuated, including the police and fire department, but it didn't happen.

This is a flood behind me, but this is merely from rainwater. It is only five feet in its deepest point and the flooding here is very sporadic, nothing major. That is exceptional news for Port Arthur, which is very vulnerable. There is a lot of damage here. Many homes have lost roofs and windows. And like we said there's no power, and lord knows how long that will take to be put back on. We saw that during Katrina. You can go weeks without it and people here are very concerned about that.

Right now they're very grateful this whole town is not under water. There has been some looting here, as we've seen a lot over the last few weeks in the Gulf Coast region after hurricanes. Inside a hotel here, they've actually put in a makeshift jail. The jail is at the Holiday Inn, right next to the bar. And they're bringing people accused of looting and some other crimes into the conference room there, and they actually have written on a sign that says "jail," and when they get up enough people to fill up a room, they take them to the real jail. All police officials right now are at that hotel because their police department was flooded.

A short time ago we met a man who came here to talk to us. Really interesting story. You think you have bad luck; you ought to listen to this guy. He was in New Orleans for hurricane Katrina. His house was damaged, had to evacuate. Where else did he come? To Port Arthur. Listen to what he has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE GIBBS, VICTIM OF HURRICANES: We lost the roofs, had major flooding, down stairs was damaged by water.

TUCHMAN (voice over): So then you came and evacuated here to your mother-in-law's?

GIBBS: Been here for about -- moving in and out for about a week now, making trips with a u-haul.

TUCHMAN: What happened to your house here?

GIBBS: Trees down, lost the roof, house shifted, so now you can't open and close the doors. Basically, just destruction, just like in New Orleans.

TUCHMAN: Do you feel like you're the recipient of some awfully bad luck?

GIBBS: Yeah. My aunt called me and asked me if something bad was following me. I said, I don't feel like that, but you know, it is pretty ironic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: If you're like me, ask Paul, where is he going next, and then you stay away from there. He said he's staying in Port Arthur. He isn't going anywhere from here, and we hope that Port Arthur doesn't see what it just saw.

HARRIS: Oh, boy. Gary just a quick question. You mentioned the looting. I'm wondering if there's a distinction being made between the folks who are looting because they need basic supplies and those who are looting because they want convenience items, or are all the looters being treated equally?

TUCHMAN: Right. We asked the police about that because, obviously, that was an issue during hurricane Katrina. They tell us that the people they've locked up, who we haven't met personally, but they tell us the people they've locked up have taken not essential items but items for their enjoyment. That's the way they put it.

HARRIS: Oh I see. OK in Port Arthur, Texas Gary Tuchman, Gary thank you.

And coming up, I'll speak with a family of Lake Charles, Louisiana, about how their lives have been changed by hurricane Rita. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: With Rita gown, Gulf Coast homeowners now face a difficult job of picking up the pieces and starting over. This is what one survivor found when he went back after the storm battered Lake Charles, Louisiana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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 could get this bad. I mean, this is a lot worse than I ever thought. That's where the couch was. And that light was on that stand. That's the water level. That's where it came up to. Here it is, it's oceanfront view.

We had some looters. They started hitting yesterday morning. We don't really tolerate looters, so -- that's just something we believe in. We're not going to tolerate it. It's terrible. Like I said, it's -- you didn't get hit by the water, you got hit by the winds. I mean, this -- I can't tell you how many hundreds of homes are damaged because of trees going right through them. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Wow. That was Brian Reddin, and there he is now live joining us with his wife, Beverly, from Lake Charles. Good to see you both.

Hi.

HARRIS: Well, where's Sara? I was hoping to meet Sara. Where is Sara and how is she?

BRIAN REDDIN: Well, she's in --

BEVERLY REDDIN, LAKE CHARLES RESIDENT: BRIAN REDDIN: In the truck, I think.

BEVERLY REDDIN: She wanted to be here, but --

HARRIS: OK. Well, let me ask you. You rode this storm out. Why did you do that? Why did you decide to make that decision to ride this thing out instead of getting out of town like so many of your fellow residents?

BEVERLY REDDIN: Well, the house, it's my mother's house, and it's 75 years old, and it's been through storms and hurricanes before, and so we just thought that that would be the best place for us to stay. We didn't want to get stuck on the interstate for 10, 12 hours and run out of gas. We thought that wouldn't be safe. We decided to stay.

HARRIS: Brian n hindsight -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

BRIAN REDDIN: No, I was just going to say, with what we saw about New Orleans and all the people -- I mean, everything's booked up. We really had nowhere to go. You know, sit it out or sleep in our car somewhere up north.

HARRIS: Maybe that's the answer to my next question. I was going to ask you, in hindsight, do you wish you had left? But it sounds like that was the only choice that you were even thinking about.

BEVERLY REDDIN: Yeah. I mean --

BRIAN REDDIN: That's about it. Because I mean, we prepared. We had plenty of water and fuel, generator. It's still going to be uncomfortable with no electricity, but staying in -- I mean, going somewhere going we don't know where we're going to stay, we decided to stick it out.

BEVERLY REDDIN: And, too, you know, we really -- everybody said it was going to Galveston, going to Galveston, so we knew we would be at least a couple hundred miles away, and so we thought that with us staying here, maybe we would just get some high winds. We had been through 75-mile-an-hour winds in that house, so we thought, OK, it's going to be all right. When it took a turn toward the north to us, it was pretty scary Friday night. Really all day Friday, it started Friday afternoon, and the wind really picked up, and then 1:00, 2:00, 3:00.

BRIAN REDDIN: I think it took a lot of people by surprise. I mean, Galveston and Houston got all the -- it was heading there, and people around here thought it was -- we didn't have that much to worry about, maybe some high winds.

HARRIS: Well, Beverly you --

BEVERLY REDDIN: And, too, we have three dogs and three cats, so it's kind of hard to get anybody to take al of those animals with you.

HARRIS: I have to ask you, you mentioned that this, Beverly, is the family home. This is a home that you decorated, you're raising a family in, and you're taking care of pets as well. On an emotional level how are you doing with a house that looks to be a mess right now?

BEVERLY REDDIN: Well, when we went in Friday, I told my husband we going to stay in our house at first because we thought, mom has a lot of trees at her house, and we thought well, maybe it's not safe at her house so we were going to stay at ours. And then when it look the like we were coming for us, they said we could have a 15 to 20 foot storm surge. I told Brian Friday I said, we need to get our things together, we need to take our clothes, our valuables, our jewelry and go to moms.

It's scary. I mean, we went back this there this morning, and it's like, why didn't we take that? You can't take everything. We're alive. My brother and his wife are safe, and my sister and her family's safe. You know, my mother lives in Arlington right now with my brother, visiting, and my other brother, and we just want to tell her that we're OK and don't come home yet.

HARRIS: Hey Brian, just a quick question. Where do you stand in terms of insurance? Did you have flood insurance? Did you just have wind and hurricane insurance? Where are you with that whole process?

BRIAN REDDIN: Well, I wish we did, but the house has been here for 30-something years, and it never -- we didn't have to get flood insurance at the time. That was not an option at the time. But now I wish we did have it.

BEVERLY REDDIN: I don't know what we're going to do. I've heard about the nightmares in New Orleans. I mean, our house has to be gutted, all the interior stuff, our furniture --

BRIAN REDDIN: Everything's ruined.

BEVERLY REDDIN: I don't know. And being that we don't have flood insurance. We have contents and -- we went home, we said, I wish a tree would have fallen on our house. You just --

HARRIS: That means FEMA. That really means FEMA.

BEVERLY REDDIN: FEMA that's what someone told us.

BRIAN REDDIN: Hopefully, hopefully.

HARRIS: Good to see you both.

BEVERLY REDDIN: Pray for us.

HARRIS: You look good, you look well, you look like a family, and say hello to Sara for us.

BEVERLY REDDIN: We took a bath in our swimming pool before this.

HARRIS: You did? You cleaned up for us. That's awfully nice for us.

BEVERLY REDDIN: We took a bath in the pool.

HARRIS: All right you guys take care.

BEVERLY REDDIN: We're trying to be positive.

HARRIS: And say hello to Sara for us, would you please?

BEVERLY REDDIN: OK, we will. Thank you.

LIN: Is that their daughter or their dog.

HARRIS: Their little daughter.

LIN: I just wanted to be sure. Bless them.

That was a very personal story. And take a look at the big picture. The aerial view, it really shows it all. We are seeing new pictures from Louisiana today of the devastation in St. Bernard Parish, one of the first to flood. It's difficult to tell whether it was caused by Katrina or Rita. In his own words now here is helicopter journalist J.T. Alpaugh.

J. T. ALPAUGH, HELICOPTER JOURNALIST: Unbelievable damage here, now that the water is gone outs of these areas, you can see what's left behind. And every time we look at this, and we've seen this for week upon week, and every direction that we look at, there is something different to look at. Just wow, look at this RVs strewn about, boats thrown into homes. You can see the wind is still blowing very stiffly here by evidence of the palm tree moving around. We're in the Monroe Area of St. Bernard Parish. Now, a lot of these mobile homes you see, these trailers, these aren't trailers that originally resided in these neighborhoods.

These weren't trailers that belonged in people's front yards. These are trailers that came from a trailer park sales place up here. These were all thrown and drifted, and water -- just thrown for nearly a quarter of a mile back throughout these neighborhoods. There are trailers strewn all throughout -- all throughout this area.

HARRIS: That's amazing stuff.

LIN: Mother Nature. HARRIS: Still ahead, coming up, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins a Louisiana mayor as he checks out damage in the town he's called home since birth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Welcome back. I'm Carol Lin. This is our special coverage. We're talking about the holdouts now in Lake Charles, who are looking at the destruction in their hard-hit area today. The city's four hospitals were evacuated well ahead of the storm, but hospital workers are standing by to work by generator if needed. Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spent some exclusive time with the mayor of Lake Charles surveying the damage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Mayor Randy Roach has called Lake Charles home his entire life.

MAYOR RANDY ROACH, LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA: The lake has risen higher than I've ever seen it before in my lifetime.

GUPTA: Saturday Lake Charles was ground zero.

ROACH: You're seeing a lot of damage caused by downed power lines, broken telephone poles, a lot of wind damage to the trees, and when the trees fall, they take everything with it. And there are several roads in town right now that are impassable.

GUPTA: When the storm came through, truth is from the hospital complex we could hear the roar of the wind and see the deluge of rain, but it was only at first light that we saw the aftermath of Rita's fury. City councilman Stewart Weatherford has also lived here all of his 41 years.

STUART WEATHERFORD, LAKE CHARLES COUNCILMAN: This is Lake Charles, this is as high as I've ever seen it, as far as the eye can see is our boat houses under the water.

GUPTA: The mayor invited us to go in the back of his truck to see some of this damage with him, as he's seeing it for the first time. Most critical obviously to everybody was what happened to Lake Charles. Here's the lake you see it over here. A lot of the flooding that's occurred in the city, actually because the levels rose high, flooding the streets all around it. You're seeing some of this damage through the mayor's eyes as he sees it for the first time. His biggest goal right now is to see that the mandatory evacuation did work, now a mandatory curfew as well, 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The damage not as bad as a lot of people might have thought it might have been, but an extremely dangerous place. Downed power lines, lots of water, they don't mix well.

ROACH: That's the primary thing that we're concerned with is results. The results is that we got everyone's attention, everyone who wanted to get out, got out. GUPTA: Making it a successful, very successful night. In fact, according to the mayor, not a single death, and very few injuries. For sure, this Christa Saint Patrick Hospital is staying open. Standing by now for the injuries that may occur during clean up. Chain saw injuries are a known threat after hurricanes. If necessary, doctors even will even perform surgeries here on emergency power as they did last night. But Mayor Randy Roach is on the move in his pick up truck, checking in on his citizens.

ROACH: I think everything we needed to do got done.

GUPTA: A clear indicator that being prepared paid off in this southwest Louisiana community.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Lake Charles, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Ahead in our next hour, we'll get the latest from the National Guard about search and rescue operations following hurricane Rita.

LIN: And you're going to hear from an oil company executive about the possible impact to your pocketbook after this storm.

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