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CNN Live Sunday

Aftermath of Huricane Rita

Aired September 25, 2005 - 18:00   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The aftermath of Rita on the Gulf Coast, the path of destruction spans as far as the eye can see. We are live with the latest.
Meanwhile, the search goes on for victims in Texas and Louisiana who may be trapped by raging floodwaters.

And gauging Rita's impact on the economy. From natural gas to oil, we are going to tell you what affects you're going to have to deal with, if any, the hurricane can have on those markets. It is September 25. And you're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

Good afternoon, from the CNN center in Atlanta I'm Carol Lin.

To our top story in just a moment, but first this damage assessment on the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Rita. Rita's high waters trapped hundreds in Louisiana's Vermilion Parish. Heavy rains and sea water surge left nearly 10 feet of water in some places. More than 100 people were rescued yesterday. Search and rescue efforts are going under way right now.

And thousands of people who left Texas and Louisiana are trying to get home today. Roads back into the Gulf Coast towns have been filled with cars all day. But Calcasieu Parish on the Texas-Louisiana state line is closed to people trying to return because of road damage.

Some people will return to homes without electricity. 1.1 million in Texas lost power. In Houston alone, 350,000 people are in the dark. Rita knocked out power to another 400,000 in Louisiana. And in addition to 300,000 still without power because of Katrina.

Now, storm damage to U.S. refineries depends on the location. Overall damage isn't as bad as first thought. But there was some serious damage to refineries in the Port Arthur, Texas area.

Rita's winds and rain are gone, but the high waters do remain. The mayor of Lake Charles, Louisiana said the lake was higher than he'd ever seen. The waters are receding. Chris Lawrence is live in Lake Charles with the problems caused by that water.

Chris, what are you seeing right now?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, you know over the past day, we have been in some neighborhoods that were literally cut off, totally inaccessible, whether by huge trees that just cover the entire road, downed power line, some of them completely flooded. But in some other areas, some smaller neighborhoods, we're starting to see a little bit of a break. Maybe the first areas where rescue crews and recovery crews can get in there and start to get this city back on its feet again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): This is what the road in Lake Charles looked like Saturday as we drove in.

(on camera): But here we are less than a day later and it's hardly a difference. All of that water is drained and the road is completely dry.

(voice-over): We passed entire neighborhoods where the water was splashing into the homes. And now, those same homes look like they've come through the worst of it, unlike some of the families affected by the storm.

BRANDY DUFFOURC, HIT BY KATRINA & RITA: Come get me, 30 miles outside Lake Charles.

LAWRENCE: Brandy Duffourc has been sleeping in the back of a U- Haul with her boyfriend and three kids. Hurricane Katrina chased them out of New Orleans to Texas. FEMA let them come back to look at what's left of their home until Rita forced them to dry for safe cover again.

DUFFOURC: On the way home, blowing all over the road and we were scared. We were scared. We were scared.

LAWRENCE: They ran out of gas in the middle of the night.

DUFFOURC: We was like, oh, no, what are we going to do? Praying we would see lights somewhere. And gas. Then we say -- it said Days Inn on the exit sign and we pulled in here. That's was all we could do and just call family to come and get us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was dark. We couldn't see nothing.

LAWRENCE: They couldn't even afford to check in to the hotel. So they slept in the truck outside. They've lost everything in these two hurricanes including any desire to go home to New Orleans.

DUFFOURC: I don't want to keep running from hurricanes every time. Every time we're in the Gulf, we're scared. I don't like that. It just feels, like we never stopped running.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's all messed up this.

LAWRENCE: Two storms are just too much?

DUFFOURC: Too much. Too much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The storm messed up everything over there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Yes, I think that pretty much sums it up, what little Megan had to say about that. The thing is whether we left them, they were still waiting for their family to come from Texas to come pick them up, try to get them back into Texas. And honestly, they said, they don't really have any plans to go back to New Orleans. They said they're going to try to stay in Texas, maybe get the kids into a school. Try to give them somewhat of a stable life after everything they've been through this last month -- Carol.

LIN: Chris, it's still a serious situation on the ground. A curfew is in affect and police are reporting problems of looting.

LAWRENCE: Yes, that's right. You know, with that family the way just sitting on the side of the road in that parking lot all last night, they told me the husband actually stayed awake all night just to make sure she and the kids would be OK.

It just shows you what people are thinking of after what happened in Katrina. That's just -- that much more of a concern for the families who are still out there in a situation like that.

LIN: You bet. All right, thank you very much, Chris Lawrence reporting live in Lake Charles.

Well, the man in charge of federal hurricane response in Louisiana says stockpiling supplies before Rita hit helped speed up the response. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen tells CNN that the military moved in quickly.

(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)

LIN: The admiral says it is still too soon for people to come back to the hardest hit areas.

Now, President Bush wrapped up his tour of the hurricane region with a stop at a FEMA office in Louisiana. CNN's Ed Henry joins me live now from the White House with more on the president's day.

Ed, it sounds like the president has a plan for future disaster relief. ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. In fact, the president as you mentioned now back at the White House after a very busy weekend scheduled packed with all kind of events to show the image a commander in chief very much in control of this situation, on top of this situation. Stark contrast of what we saw in the early days after Hurricane Katrina hit. White House very concerned about the president's poll numbers reaching a new low in part because of the damaging response to Katrina.

To give you an idea of the image they're now trying to project, a short while ago, the White House released a still photo of the president visiting that FEMA office in Louisiana. You can see there, the president very much in control. Also sitting side by side with Louisiana governor, Kathleen Blanco.

Again, much different, stark contrast to all of the finger- pointing, blame game we've heard about at the local, state, and federal level. The president side by side with the governor. He also was side by side with the governor as well as Admiral Thad Allen in Baton Rouge this afternoon trying to get a handle in this situation in New Orleans. The new round of flooding there, obviously a concern to the administration.

The president trying again to project the image that he's on top of the situation. He expressed optimism that in fact New Orleans would be able to pump out the water much quicker this time around.

Earlier today, the president was in Texas at Randall Air Force Base. And that's where he talked about this plan you mentioned, Carol, about whether the military should be more actively engaged in reacting to national disasters. He was briefed about the federal hurricane response, which obviously looks like it went much smoother this time around. In part because the military was engaged so early on and so actively in this process. Military officials pressed the president on crafting a national policy on search and rescue in dealing with national disasters. And the president reacted by saying, as you mentioned, Carol, that perhaps the Pentagon should be taking a lead role.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Is there a circumstance in which the department of defense becomes a lead agency? Clearly in the case of a terrorist attack that would be the case. But is there is an actual disaster which, of a certain size that would then enable the Defense Department to come a lead agency in the coordinating and leading the response effort? And that's going to be a very important consideration for Congress to think about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: The other major issue, of course, facing the president and the Congress, how to pay for all of these relief efforts. Before Hurricane Rita hit, of course, the estimates for the federal taxpayer tab from Katrina was some $200 billion. Today, Governor Blanco saying she's going to see tens of billions more -- Carol. LIN: All right. Ed Henry, long days ahead in Washington. Thank you very much.

Well, when Hurricane Rita slammed into Louisiana, it slammed into Cameron Parish. That is where she made landfall. Entire fishing communities were reduced to scrap by the storm. Rita Kaye (sic) is there and is on the telephone right now. Randi -- excuse me Randi Kaye.

Randi, you were talking just a few minutes ago about the devastation. I mean, these people saw flood waters coming in so quickly, they didn't know what to do.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Absolutely, Carol. And luckily, a lot of them evacuated. They did make some rescues, about a dozen rescues or so earlier today. But they do believe that most of the people are out are there.

But here is the situation there. We have gone into Cameron Parish by ground about so far as we can go. We were spending the day with General Russell Honore. And he got us down here. We're going to get in the air with him very shortly and see from the air. But I can tell you from the folks here on the ground, they tell me that they have 15 feet of water, 15 feet of water in Cameron Parish.

The courthouse apparently still intact but full of mud. The school, the hospital is damaged. Maybe about three homes, I'm told, still standing from the folks who went up in the air earlier today.

Cameron, 90 percent of their homes gone. Creole, 70 percent of their homes gone, Holly Beach, 100 percent of their homes gone. Johnson Bayou, 60 percent of their homes gone. These are all part of -- these towns are all part of Cameron Parish. So thousands of homes gone.

But again they do feel they got most of the people out. The man who we spoke to with the office of emergency preparedness Freddy Rashard, told me he did a flyover earlier today, and he saw the slab where his home once was.

So again, 15 feet of water. They are having the Coast Guard coming in. General Honore is arranging for that, as we speak, for the Coast Guard to come and handle law enforcement here. He's ordering the marines to come in and do search and rescue in Cameron before nightfall and stay here 24/7.

This is a parish of about 10,000 people, and about 2,000 people in the city of Cameron. It is completely shut down. They don't want anybody coming back.

I am told, Carol that FEMA is on the ground here. They arrived this afternoon. Not bringing supplies, but they are working on a plan right now with the officials of the Cameron Parish. And they know -- they know what to expect here because back in 1957, Hurricane Audrey came through here and destroyed this entire fishing community. They are vowing to rebuild. They hope they get permission to rebuild here along the coast. And they hope to start doing that, Carol, believe it or not first thing tomorrow morning.

LIN: Hard to believe with the devastation that we're seeing as you are talking. Randi, thank you very much. Randi Kaye who is about to go airborne with General Honore to get a bird's-eye view of the damage where Hurricane Rita made landfall.

Now, there is at least one death to report to you so far. One person was killed when a tornado spawned by the remnants of Hurricane Rita touched down in Belzoni, Mississippi. Last night's twister caused extensive damage to an industrial plant and several homes. The death appears to be the only fatality so far directly linked to the hurricane. But it is still pretty dangerous on the ground. In fact, Brad Huffines who is in our hurricane center is reporting news of more tornadoes -- Brad, what are learning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: Good advice. Thanks very much, Brad. We'll be in touch throughout the evening with these tornado warnings and watches. Thank you.

Our coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Rita moves to Texas, where in some areas the scenes are just as bad as what we've seen in Louisiana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN SIMONS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Simon in Port Arthur, Texas. A lot of concerns how this town would hold up. We'll tell you how they did coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Amazing amateur video, waves crashing inside his house. We're used to that sound in the beach but not in the living room. See and here one family's drama as Rita roared inside.

And we saw the federal response when Hurricane Katrina hit. That raises the question, is America prepared for the next disaster? We're going to take a look at one disaster scenario straight ahead on CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: The aftermath from Hurricane Rita in Port Arthur, Texas. There is no power, no running water. And the streets in the center of town are two or three feet under water still. CNN's Dan Simon is there.

Dan, is it looking as bad as it sounds?

SIMONS: Well, Carol, the town of Port Arthur actually considers itself lucky tonight, that's because it did not have the widespread devastation that so many people feared. That said, as you mentioned, there were some cases of street flooding. This is a railroad underpass. And you can see that car partially submerged. There were also cases of structural damage. We talked to the owner of a motel who's really hurting tonight. A man with a very interesting life story. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMONS (on camera): A lot of people are saying that Port Arthur dodged a bullet. You didn't dodge a bullet.

MICHAEL NGUYEN, BUSINESS OWNER: No, I don't think so. Not me.

SIMONS (voice-over): Michael Nguyen owns the Driftwood Inn Motel here in Port Arthur, Texas. A motel he recently renovated.

NGUYEN: Everything is almost new.

SIMONS: Now, much of it has been destroyed.

The hurricane winds barreled through the back portion of the motel ripping off the roof and peeling back walls.

NGUYEN: These thing fly everywhere, just fly everywhere.

SIMONS: All of this debris?

NGUYEN: The debris, yes.

SIMONS: For Michael, the motel represents a lot more than a business. 30 years ago, he says he fled Vietnam, having fought side by side with American soldiers.

(on camera): You're from Vietnam?

NGUYEN: Yes, sir.

SIMONS: You came to this country with no money, only the clothes your back?

NGUYEN: That that's right. Bear hand.

SIMONS (voice-over): He scrimped and saved until he could own his own motel. The 85 room Driftwood has already enabled him to give his and his wife and children a brighter future.

SIMONS (on camera): You put five kids through college with this motel.

NGUYEN: Yes, sir. I used through this motel, I put kids through universities. One of them become a doctor last year.

SIMONS: But despite his own loss, Michael feels worse for some of his guests. Several of whom fled Louisiana after Katrina.

(on camera): Apparently whoever had this room fled new Orleans. These are brand new clothes. These folks probably lost everything they had in New Orleans from Katrina. They come here to Texas, and they have to leave the motel because of Rita. So they really been victimized twice.

NGUYEN: Take this sign down from the street.

SIMONS: Michael thinks it will take at least six months to get up and running again. His plans of selling the motel and retiring put on hold indefinitely.

(on camera): How are you going to get by?

NGUYEN: Well, I survived in the war without, you know, nothing. Building, we can rebuild. So, money doesn't matter. That's life. Very precious.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMONS: Back here live in Port Arthur, what you're seeing behind me is really the exception rather than the rule. The key tonight for this town is really getting the electricity restored. Because it's so hot, and without electricity, there's very little you can do. Carol, back to you.

LIN: Dan, thank you very much for that story.

Well, the scenes are eerily reminiscent of those we saw play out the New Orleans just a few weeks ago. Residents, this time of southwestern Louisiana, who chose to ride out the storm only to wave their arms in the air for help. We are going to talk to a Coast Guard officer who's been involved in Rita rescues and who was also involved in saving those hurricanes during -- during Hurricane Katrina.

And we're going to check in on New Orleans. Levee breaks have filled parts of the city with water once again. A live update from there when CNN LIVE SUNDAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Yes, that was a coffin floating away.

The situation in Louisiana after Hurricane Rita is devastating. There are waters there up to 15 feet in some places close to where Hurricane Rita made landfall. And rescues are still under way for people who are unaccounted for.

Coast Guard Lieutenant Craig O'Brien has flown search-and-rescue operations both during Hurricane Rita and Katrina. He joins me now by telephone.

Lieutenant, what has been your latest operation?

LIEUTENANT CRAIG O'BRIEN, COAST GUARD (via telephone): The latest operations are for Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans has actually started to slow down quite a bit. We've had reports of the water starting to recede and in Vermilion Parish were the majority of search and rescues cases occurred yesterday. Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans was quite busy starting Friday morning, ma'am. As the outer bands came through the New Orleans area, all five of our aircraft were airborne, conducting search and rescue operations if Fushon (ph), Lafette (ph), Dulac and right in the New Orleans metropolitan area as we're conducting levee assessments.

LIN: Can you give me an idea of the kind of people that you were coming across. Were they elderly? Were they children?

O'BRIEN: It's always a mixture. And there was much -- more searching with Hurricane Rita, compared to Katrina. Which made the flying more challenging, day time and night time. All five of our crews fly very close behind the eye passage. So we're experiencing very challenging conditions.

LIN: Challenging, meaning dangerous?

O'BRIEN: Yes, certainly. We're experiencing gusts sustained at -- winds sustained at 60 knots with gusts up to 75 and that included last night as well.

LIN: Uh-huh. Well, those are tropical storm force winds. I mean, how are you even able to lower a basket and a search and rescue down to the rooftops to get these people up?

O'BRIEN: Yes, ma'am. It's critical team work between the pilots, the rescue swimmer and the flight mechanics. We're well trained. Not that we're used to the conditions, but we adapt to the situation at hand, the environment.

And we came across families, elderly, and it was amazing to see that people had actually survived some of the conditions in Vermilion Parish, more specifically, Pecan Island area and the White Lake area, where locals detailed a 10 to 12 foot tidal surge that came in with the storm in limited sometime.

LIN: Yeah. We heard, lieutenant, yesterday, that there were 1,000 people on top of their rooftops that needed rescuing from the air. What was that scene like?

O'BRIEN: Yes, ma'am. As I said, all five of our crews were on scene really close to storm passage. We worked very closely with the locals out of Abbeyville Airport and the Vermillion Sheriff. They were taking 911 calls. And unlike New Orleans where it is a close- knit metropolitan area, we there to fly around and search a little bit for the addresses. It was tough to keep the situation aware with the sheriff personnel that were on board of our helicopter since the entire city the entire area was flooded.

LIN: Lieutenant, we heard also that there was some false reports of people being trapped. That families were calling in to 911, wanting rescue crews to go and just check on the house to make sure people evacuated. Not really fair or a good use of resources, especially the danger that you were encountering. Was that a problem for you? O'BRIEN: No, ma'am. With the crews that -- the missions I flew late last night, we didn't see any such reports, such as that. Matter of fact, one of the addresses that was pointed to us was -- we located 14 people in a house. And Army National Guard was able to land 16 close proximity. And air lift those people out. All total, we rescued about 41 people from the Abbeyville area just from the Coast Guard and that doesn't include the Army National Guard numbers.

LIN: Life-saving missions and a lot of grateful people out there. Lieutenant Craig O'Brien, thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate your time.

LIN: Well, Houston escaped the brunt of Rita and now it's time to head home, but not everyone is being let back in. So find out why before you hit the road.

Also, for over a week, we kept hearing, what a damaging strike by Rita could mean for gas and oil prices. But with just a glancing blow to that industry, are we in for some good news?

And riding out Hurricane Rita, one family captures it on tape. Trust me you are going it feel like you were there. You're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Just some of the devastation and the pain felt after hurricane Rita. Now, we are just beginning to estimate the cost of hurricane Rita's damage. And the numbers already astonishing. $8 billion. That's just for Texas alone as estimated by the governor there. Governor Perry says he expects the federal government is going to be generous and cover all of the recovery and cleanup costs.

Now the price tag is going to be much higher in neighboring Louisiana where the governor today said she's going to ask Congress for $31 billion just for levee repairs and getting the states roads passable again. The main east/west traffic artery in lower Louisisana is opened again but not much else.

TROOPER JOHNNIE BROWN, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE: If you're looking towards 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 off of I-210, for example because the parish is shut down. The parish officials over there have shut down the parish for up to 48 hours.

LIN: So consider this, if you're planning on returning home, across Louisiana and Texas tonight, homes and businesses are in the dark. Nearly 2 million households are without electricity. Many of them have yet to get power back after hurricane Katrina. Emergency officials say restoring power is lower in priority than providing food, water and medical help.

And what could be the most remarkable figure from hurricane Rita? The death toll, from the actual hurricane, one person. And that was caused by a tornado that touched down in Mississippi. Relieved authorities in Texas and Louisiana report no deaths as a direct result of the hurricane.

Many Houston residents say they're ready to come home despite all of that disaster still on the ground. But city officials hope they don't return all at once. CNN's Bob Franken is in Houston right now with more. Bob, what's the hope by government officials? People want to know what happened to their houses.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the police officials are saying that even though they have this elaborate return plan, they're not going to enforce them. It's probably a good thing. As he surveyed the web of highways from overhead, Houston police chief Harold Hurt was well aware that thousands of residents were just ignoring the three- day phase return plan. Coming back whether they felt like it, which meant right away --

HAROLD HURT, HOUSTON POLICE CHIEF: Nothing like it was the other day.

FRANKEN: Not as bad but there were often bottlenecks and slow-moving cars. Tediously crawling back to the city, they so hastily left to escape the ferocious storm that really never came to Houston. Gasoline was still a big problem. There wasn't enough of it. But resourceful drivers were finding some. Sometimes enduring the lines they could have avoided.

HURT: People are lined up to get into one service station and less than a quarter a mile down the street, there's no line at all.

FRANKEN: But the mayor of Houston acknowledged that more people are needed for the smooth flow of that precious petroleum.

MAYOR BILL WHITE, HOUSTON: If you work in a gasoline station, if you work in a convenient store, if you're a jobber, if you work in a grocery store, then you know, you need to show up for work.

FRANKEN: Electric utilities are scrambling to restore power that will still be out for several hundred thousand of those returning. Without all of the problems, Houston is well aware it didn't get hit as hard as many of the neighboring communities, and for the mayor, he just said that he is, obviously, having a big sigh of relief. Carol.

LIN: You bet. All right, thanks very much, Bob Franken, reporting live.

Many consumers worry that hurricane season is going to send gas prices soaring but at least for now it looks like things won't be as bad as they had feared at least not right away. Wall Street oil analyst Peter Beutel joins me now by phone to crunch some of those numbers. Peter oil futures fell today. Is that good news for consumers at the pump tomorrow?

PETER BEUTEL, OIL ANALYST (via telephone): its extremely good news. While we may see some late price increases from last week come through to the pump early this week. By the end of this coming week or by this time next week, we will be look at lower prices, I feel. Also, it does appear now that gasoline prices have put in a high, and I expect that we will not see prices as high as the ones we had right after Katrina for approximately five years or more.

LIN: Now how you can account for falling gas prices, given that a quarter of the refining capability in the United States has been shut down.

BEUTEL: Well, I think to a large extent we discounted that early this past week. We had actually discounted more. We had been looking at the possibility of it hitting Houston or the Houston ship channel. When that didn't happen, we started to see some profit coming -- coming in. And at this point, it looks like most of the really bad news is out. And that thing probably can only get better from here. At least I think that's the thinking with the market has embraced today.

LIN: Peter what about home heating oil for the winter?

BEUTEL: Well, families are going to be paying $300 to $600 more to heat their homes this winter if it's a normal winter. In the northeast using home heating oil. In the Midwest, people may be forced to pay up to twice what they paid a year ago to heat their homes.

LIN: And that's because?

BEUTEL: Well, it's because of a lot of things that happened even before Katrina. But bottom line, prices have been rising now for about 45 months. There have been a number of factors behind it. The number of factors has been just high demand and low supplies. We now seem to have reached a point in which these higher numbers are starting to eat into demand. And that may be a good thing for the future, potentially at least in terms of oil and gas prices.

LIN: I talked with the president of Shell Oil in the last hour. And he was saying that most of the oil companies are good partners with one another when it comes to this kind a disaster. They're consulting with one another about supply and demand. But for those suspicious consumers out there, how do we know that the oil companies are not going to try to take advantage of this situation and raise prices artificially?

BEUTEL: Well, they don't have any desire to raise prices artificially. The market's been very kind to them anyway. Crude oil prices are roughly 3 to 3 and a bit times what they were just three years ago. And so for an integrated oil company, they're doing quite well already. For those owning refineries, we're looking at the highest margins for taking crude oil and turning it into gasoline and heating oil that we've seen, well, since I've been watching it. So at least for a very long time.

LIN: It would be nice if only they could give the consumer and the hurricane zone a break this winter. Peter Beutel, thank you very much.

BEUTEL: Thank you.

LIN: Well, more on the aftermath of hurricane Rita in just a moment but first, we're going to check some stories that are happening right now in the news.

Vice President Dick Cheney has left a Washington hospital, a day after undergoing surgery to repair aneurysms on both backs of his knees. A spokesman says the vice president is doing well and plans to work from home tomorrow.

And a U.S. military helicopter has crashed in southeastern Afghanistan, killing all five crewmembers on board. The military said there were no indications the plane had been shot down. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

And a car bomb has critically wounded a prominent Lebanese journalist north of Beirut. The anchorwoman was rushed to the hospital where her leg was amputated. She has been an outspoken critic of serious presence in Lebanon.

Israel is clamping down on Palestinian militant's activity after two days of Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli citizens. Israel aircraft fired rockets at a Palestinian vehicle south of Gaza City today killing two Islamic jihad militants.

And our coverage of the aftermath of hurricane Rita -- too many hurricanes in one summer continues! Ahead, already ravaged by hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has even more problems, thanks to Rita. So we're going to check in there.

And want to know what it was like when hurricane Rita hit? All you have to do is watch and listen to this incredible home video.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Lake Charles, Louisiana, where a curfew is still under way. There is no power, no water. Although the water, the floodwaters are starting to recede. Now, Rita's storm surge swept much of that part of southwestern Louisiana especially the Cajun country is now under water. This amateur video for example shows water gushing into one home in Vermilion Parish where U.S. Coast Guard helicopters have plucked dozens if not hundreds of hold outs from their rooftops. Vermilion sheriff says he didn't know why people stayed during the storm but said no casualties have been reported. Another resident captured this video of water filling up its home and destroying its contents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Floating. Water is getting a little bit higher. Clothing, four and half feet, five feet. Somewhere around. Four and half, four feet. See if I can reach around and get a look through the house. That's my dining chairs. Floating. I don't know if you can see. Waves are going over the front window. All the windows are just about out. The low ones anyway. Yeah. Lost everything, buddy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Can you believe that? He was showing his living room and his dining room. The hurricane caused the Vermilion River to overflow its banks, swamping a string of hard to reach towns in the bayou.

Now an hour and a half east to New Orleans. The flooding there caused by Rita is already starting to recede in parts of the city, including the Ninth Ward. That is a part of town hit hardest by the flooding following Katrina. The Army Corps of Engineers says the water could be pumped out of the newly flooded areas within a week after the new levee damage is repaired.

For an update what is happening inside of New Orleans at this hour, let's go to CNN's Jeff Koinange who is standing by there. Jeff, the prediction is that people can start moving back to New Orleans, at least to one neighborhood pretty soon.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Amazing news there, Carol, because in the Algiers West bank neighborhood, but 2,000 people had come back after Katrina. Had to leave before Rita and now Mayor Ray Nagin is going to expect them back in the next day or two which is fantastic news. Going to be a lot more people coming in the next few days. At the same time, a lot of Army Corps of Engineers trying to fill that levee in the Industrial Canal. That's most important now. Because water had seeped about six, eight feet in certain areas of New Orleans Parish. Trying to seal that, dropping that 7,000-pound bag of sand into that industrial canal to seal that off, make sure. So valuable lessons being learned from this second hurricane.

At the same time, can find out -- all over the city, people still trying to come back. Leaving no man or animal behind. That seems to be the motto of this rescue team. They've come from all over the nation. This team is all the way from Phoenix, Arizona, and they say they've rescued hundreds of stranded and abandoned pets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We found them in rooms with doors shut. We found them in attics. There are right now going right back to where they know and what they know -- where the smells are. And they're literally staying in those houses.

KOINANGE: Once found and fed, the animals are tagged and put in kennels for shipment to various shelters.

As the Army Corps of Engineers worked around the clock to fill a cracked levee in the Industrial Canal section of Orleans Parish. To stop more water gushing into the lower Ninth Ward. And construction crews were out trying to restore power in a city that, for some neighborhoods at least, has been in a blackout state for nearly a month. Some residents, though, aren't waiting for the grid to be up and running. Rescue manager Gabe Heckler and his co-workers are back in town clearing all of the trash and sprucing up their establishment. He's optimistic.

GABE HECKLER: I would say tomorrow night at the latest. If we really stressed it we could do it tonight but I would rather like I said take my time. Make sure everything's safe and sanitized and ready to go.

KOINANGE: Heckler wants to set an example for other residents of New Orleans to follow, even those who may feel it's still not safe to come back. HECKLER: I feel it's perfectly safe here. The bad element that was here is gone. They have taken care of, that the National Guard and the army have gotten the bad guys out and now it is time to let the good guys in to have some semblance of normalcy again.

KOINANGE: A semblance of normalcy, like residents like Peggy Reynolds would welcome. She left after Katrina but returned more than a week ago and decided to brave Rita. She'd been sleeping on her balcony on an air mattress and still considers herself one of the lucky ones.

PEGGY REYNOLDS: More than lucky, I feel blessed. I really do.

KOINANGE: Feeling lucky and blessed, in a city still struggling to get back on its feet. And, Carol, Carol, you can tell the residents of New Orleans have a resilience and hardiness that is difficult to describe. The spirit of this city is anything but dead. Carol.

LIN: Jeff, and it seems like the devastation is kind of haphazard. I mean just looking behind you, one building destroyed and the other one standing. Do you have any idea what happened there?

KOINANGE: Absolutely this is what hurricane Katrina did. This was before the flooding and if I can just step away for a moment. It looks like a giant literally came and crushed that one building and left the other. It's literally the affects of hurricane Katrina coming, and the wind forced. I guess that house must have been older than the one next door. Just came and literally slammed into it and left the other one. And this is evidence throughout this city some houses literally standing and next door, another one crushed to bits. So Katrina and then furthermore, Rita, caused a lot of devastation. But that has not lessened or dampened the spirit of the residents of New Orleans, Carol.

LIN: Jeff, it's been to our advantage here at CNN U.S., to have your expertise. You normally cover Africa. You likened your experience when you covering the devastation in New Orleans to the war zones that you've seen overseas. We keep talking about how Rita spared so many people. Just share with me some of your impressions of this experience.

KOINANGE: I tell you what, when we drove out, soon after Rita had passed through town, it was incredible. It looked literally like a war zone. You couldn't tell where Katrina left off and Rita took over. That's exactly how it looked. And worst still, all of the neighborhoods, ghost towns. All you could see once and a while were little packs of animals abandoned and left behind.

But it looked so devastated. It looked so appalling that you just felt so bad. The one question we kept asking ourselves is, will this place ever rebuild? And for the folks who are going to have to come back in the coming weeks and the coming months, that's going to be a key question. Many of them do say they will. Others simply say, there's no way they're coming back. They're going to try and start somewhere else, Carol. So much, so much devastation but hopefully they will get back or the city will get back on its feet. LIN: Right, they say that this is greatest migration of Americans since the death bull days back in the 1930s. So it is true, will these towns rebuild? We will find out. Jeff Koinange, thank you very much, live New Orleans.

We've got much more ahead in our special coverage of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. So stay right there.

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LIN: On the "CNN Security Watch," is America prepared for the next disaster? The troubling early response to Katrina focused new attention on other potential emergencies, from terrorism to natural disasters. Tonight at 8:00 on a special edition of "CNN Presents," we're going to take a look at six disaster scenarios and find out if America is prepared for the worst and among the dangers, for example, a deadly outbreak of smallpox.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK SESNO, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): New York late at night, as much as this city of 8 million ever sleeps, but in Chinatown, a middle-aged man is restless. He has chills, ache, a fever of 103. No regular doctor, he makes his way to the emergency room at New York Downtown Hospital not far away. The patient is sent to triage where his vital signs are checked. So far no suspicions and no precautious.

PETER FROMM, EMERGENCY DEPT. ADMINSTRATION: Nurse is talking to the patient at this point. Is she wearing a mask?

SESNO: She is not wearing a mask.

FROMM: She is not wearing a mask.

SESNO: No she is not. Peter Fromm manages the emergency department.

FROMM: This is a typical room in the emergency center.

SESNO: The patient is examined by a physician but no alarm bells ring. He is sent home to rest.

FROMM: Well they are probably going to get told that if their symptoms worsen or other symptoms develop that they need to call us back. Return to the emergency center.

SESNO: Over the next 12 hours, a few more people show up with flu- like symptoms. That prompts a call to the city's department of public health. Where deputy commissioner Dr. Isaac Weisfuse takes the call.

DR. ISAAC WEISFUSE, NEW YORK CITY DEPT. OF HEALTH: During the non-flu season, if we had a big spike in flu-like illnesses that would clearly set off the signals to us that we need to investigate.

SESNO: Across the region, people are getting sick, many. Otherwise healthy, young and middle-aged adults. JOE HENDERSON, CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL: This is going to be the trigger event. Something suspicious here. It's not flu.

SESNO: Joe Henderson, the Centers for Disease Control's senior official in New York State is now drawn into this rapidly unfolding event. Testing begins. Henderson has a checklist.

HENDERSON: Just details about the specific case. And where we are and acquiring a lab specimen, it's what we call pushing everything in a forward lehm.

SESNO: Back at Downtown Hospital, that first patient returns. Now with red spots on his tongue and in his mouth. Dr. Chester Lerner, director of infectious diseases, sees him and is worried.

DR. CHESTER LERNER, DIRECTOR, INFECTIOUS DISEASE: You may very well likely have smallpox. We need to get the names and numbers of your family. People who you have close contact with.

SESNO: Investigators still don't know how bad it really is. A little over a week ago, terrorists sprayed smallpox virus into the air at train stations, subway stops, and a packed advent Lincoln Center. The disease has been incubating ever since 20,000 people may have been exposed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Well, smallpox attack is just one of the catastrophes we're going to be exploring tonight at 8:00 Eastern. It follows an encore presentation of "CNN Presents." examining the lessons learn from the response of hurricane Katrina. Can the nation put those lessons to work? We are going to examine six disaster scenarios to find out. So stay with CNN day and night for the most up to the date news about your security. Again, that's an encore presentation at 7:00 and a new "CNN Presents" starting at 8:00 Eastern.

Now at 9:00 Eastern, Larry King is live tracking the paths of destruction caused by hurricane Rita and I'll be back at 10:00 Eastern whether we're going to talk with the military officials leading the rescue and recovery efforts in Louisiana and Texas. The hour's headlines when I come back after a quick break.

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