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CNN Live At Daybreak

Rita: The Aftermath; Firsthand Look; Search & Rescue

Aired September 26, 2005 - 05:30   ET

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


ANNOUNCER: From the Time Warner Center in New York, this is DAYBREAK with Carol Costello and Chad Myers.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK.

Coming up in the next 30 minutes, the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. The storm makes a mess out of Lake Charles, Louisiana. We'll go there for a first-hand look at the destruction.

But first, "Now in the News."

A terror crackdown in France, police today detained several people in the cities of Trappes and Normandy. They are suspected of having ties to fundamentalist Islamic militants. A French TV station reports the detainees are suspected of planning attacks.

Karen Hughes, the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, is in Egypt. She's involved in talks in Cairo with Egypt's prime minister. She also praised the head of a Sunni Islam religious institute for condemning the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Back in the States, in Georgia, school is out. On Friday, Governor Sonny Perdue asked public schools to close today and tomorrow as a fuel saving move. All but 4 of the 181 districts agreed.

To the Forecast Center now and, Chad, good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol, New Orleans, officially, from the storm picked up six-and- a-half inches of rainfall. They were concerned about two to three making four feet of flooding. Obviously it was the levee problem, though, that caused the flooding in the Ninth Ward.

COSTELLO: But you know the good news is the Army Corps of Engineers is saying this morning it will only take them a week and a half to pump the new water...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... out of those heavily damaged neighborhoods in New Orleans.

MYERS: And because the rain came in when the pumps were working, that rain didn't cause the flooding that they had feared.

COSTELLO: Yes, and the pumps are only up, what, they're at 44 percent capacity now.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: But still, they're doing amazing things with what they have.

MYERS: That's right.

COSTELLO: Amazing things. And they're working 24 hours a day,...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... so kudos to them.

Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: President Bush back at the White House after wrapping up a three-day swing through the hurricane region.

CNN's Elaine Quijano reports he heard recommendations on how to improve the federal response to disasters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the fourth stop of his Hurricane Rita trip, President Bush visited FEMA's Baton Rouge office for an update on the federal government's response there.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's still assessment on the damage of Hurricane Rita. And one of the things that is important for the citizens of this state to do is to listen to the governor about when it is OK to return back to your homes.

QUIJANO: His visit, the last stop of a two-day tour, was designed to show the president actively engaged in the preparation and response to Rita and to try to recover from political criticism over the response to Hurricane Katrina.

Earlier, in San Antonio, the president heard how the lessons learned from that storm were applied to Rita.

One general bluntly answered a question from the president, saying that Katrina made clear a national plan is needed to better coordinate rescuers' efforts.

MAJ. GEN. JOHN WHITE, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: Five helicopters show up at the same place to get one person out. That's the sort of simplistic thing we'd like to avoid. And we're not maximizing the use of our forces at best efficiency. Certainly that was a train wreck that we saw in New Orleans. QUIJANO: Mr. Bush said part of the reason he wanted to observe that Rita response was to improve coordination among federal, state and local officials and determine whether that coordination should be led by the U.S. military.

BUSH: Is there a natural 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? And that's going to be a very important consideration for Congress to think about.

QUIJANO (on camera): A Department of Homeland Security official says any military involvement will be in support of DHS' lead role, insisting Homeland Security's authority will not be diminished.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And later this morning, the president will make a statement on the nation's energy supply in the wake of Rita and in the wake of Katrina. That will happen at 10:55 Eastern. CNN will bring that to you live.

And of course that brings us to the e-mail "Question of the Morning." What do you want to hear President Bush say about the U.S. energy plan? What do you want him to say about oil prices? DAYBREAK@CNN.com. DAYBREAK@CNN.com.

Ready or not, hurricane evacuees are returning to Houston. This, despite state officials calling for a staggered re-entry plan.

In the meantime, Rita dealt its most punishing blow to southern Louisiana.

CNN's Sumi Das is in Lake Charles this morning.

Good morning -- Sumi.

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well after the hurricane hit, the mayor of Lake Charles, who has actually lived here all of his life, said the lake had risen higher than he'd ever seen it. The lake is actually receding now, but there are still many signs that a powerful storm plowed through this area. There are no open stores, no gas stations, no sewer system, and like much of the Gulf Coast that was in Rita's path, no electricity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two days after Rita hit, hundreds of thousands of customers across Texas and Louisiana are still without power, but there are bright spots. Texas Gulf Coast evacuees are returning home, without the maddening waits they experienced as they fled.

In Lake Charles, Louisiana, police are focused on protecting the city.

CHIEF DON DIXON, LAKE CHARLES POLICE: And I can assure you, we will arrest every looter. There will be no mercy. If I've got to chain you to my own bathroom, we're going to chain you to my bathroom, and that's not a pretty thing.

DAS: The governors of states hardest hit by Rita are learning fast that recovering from a hurricane is expensive. Texas Governor Rick Perry pegs initial cost estimates at over $8 billion. Louisiana officials will be asking Congress to dig deep into the national wallet.

Governor Kathleen Blanco says her state needs $31 billion for levee and roadway reconstruction. On Sunday, the governor met with President Bush.

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: We do appreciate your support. And I do want to tell you how much we appreciated watching all of the integrated forces at work as one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAS: Local officials are targeting October 3, that's a week from today, as the date when folks can return to the Lake Charles area. But they will be holding a press conference later today and they may reveal more details about whether or not that target date will actually hold -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And we'll no doubt carry that live.

Sumi Das reporting live from Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Our own Rob Marciano knows -- he knows well what the people of Lake Charles have suffered. Rob lived and worked there and has now gone back to take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on camera): Now we're going to drive into Lake Charles. We're going to catch up with some people and see how their lives have been changed.

All the exits are blocked. They don't want you getting off the highway, obviously. There's going to be streets flooded and blocked all over this place. Wow!

This is the -- this is like the Lake Charles signature buildings. It's made out of glass, or at least the walls are, and that's not a good recipe when a hurricane is coming through. Look at how all that glass is blown out. It kind of looked somewhat like this. There was an ice storm the last year I was here. See these trees don't see a lot of ice storms and haven't seen a hurricane in a while, either.

(voice-over): I used to live in this neighborhood.

(on camera): My house is on the other side of those trees. It's like every tree on this street is knocked down. It's not Katrina, but it's going to be tough living here for a while, that's for sure. I can't even see the house where I used to live. Every big tree is down for the rest of this block.

(voice-over): Block by block, signs of Rita were everywhere. It was time to track down an old friend. I couldn't connect with him on phone the lines were down.

(on camera): We're just going to drive down there and see how far we get and hopefully not run into too much high water.

(voice-over): Along the way, we ran into Sonny Lannin.

SONNY LANNIN, FRIEND: Hurricane Audrey was a drop in the bucket compared to Rita.

MARCIANO (on camera): No kidding?

LANNIN: Yes -- sir.

MARCIANO: He's using his boat to go back and forth between his house where he rode out the storm and dry land. And as Sonny left, we continued our search.

Is there a way for me to get to Rick Poole's house?

SHERIFF TERRY FAULK, CAMERON PARISH, LOUISIANA: No, we're not allowed to let anyone off of the main highway other than maybe the residents.

MARCIANO (voice-over): We tried anyway. And just when we had given up...

(on camera): How you doing -- bud?

RICK POOLE, FRIEND: Good to see you -- bud.

MARCIANO (voice-over): My friend, Rick Poole, is a builder who was helping in New Orleans.

POOLE: Your heart goes out to them people, and I was thinking, my god, this is terrible. But when it hits home, it seems to be, I mean, it's just -- it changes things.

MARCIANO: Rick gave us a ride to his house on the back of his tractor.

POOLE: It's worse than I thought it would be.

MARCIANO (on camera): Welcome home.

POOLE: There's nothing that soap and water can't clean up. You know it doesn't look like it got too, too high in here. This is my son's room and this is our bedroom. But you know the roof held. I don't know who put the roof on, but they must have done a good job. This is something that happened and good lord gave us the house and he'll give us the strength and the ability to fix it up again. But we are still blessed, our lives still in tact, so we're in good shape.

MARCIANO (voice-over): For the Poole's, and many other families, the long cleanup begins after the water finally recedes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And as those floodwaters recede, officials say about 90 percent of the homes in Cameron Parish are damaged or completely destroyed.

Up next, two areas of the Gulf Coast, two kinds of rescue operations. We'll show you the efforts still under way across the Louisiana bayous where swampland is one of the main enemies and the battle to save some of the most -- some of that area's most famous residents.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:44 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

A Spanish judge is expected to issue a verdict today in the trial of 24 al Qaeda suspects. Three of them are charged with helping to plan the September 11 attacks.

International weapons inspectors plan to announce today that the Irish Republican Army is fully disarmed. Disarming the outlawed IRA has been a longtime goal of Northern Ireland's peace process.

In money news, gas prices fell more than 20 cents a gallon over the past two weeks. That's according to the Lundberg Survey. The average price for a gallon of self-serve regular, $2.81.

In culture, the Dave Matthews Band is going back on tour. It's set to begin two days after Thanksgiving. After a three-week run, the band will head back to the studio.

And in sports, the New England Patriots beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a rematch of last year's AFC championship game. The Pats used a last-second field goal to beat the Steelers 23-20.

I watched that game. It was a fabulous game -- Chad.

MYERS: I feel asleep with two minutes to go.

COSTELLO: No!

MYERS: I missed it. That's typical, too, it's like I can't stay up any longer.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thanks, Chad.

Brings us to our e-mail segment, actually. Doesn't have anything to do -- well, I guess it does have something to do with the weather,...

MYERS: And I have some.

COSTELLO: ... because it certainly has affected oil prices and gas prices. So we're asking this question, what should President Bush say about the U.S. energy plan? He's going to do a speech at 10:55 Eastern after he's briefed about the energy situation in the country.

MYERS: And we got one from John (ph) in Columbus, Ohio. He says, about the truth. Tell us that the little guy is not going to do so well. And the kindly oil companies are going to just make profit hand over fist off our misery.

Nope, sorry, that's just daydreaming.

Mary (ph) says President Bush should announce energy price controls for everyone.

Well that doesn't seem a little bit more like communism.

And anyway, President Bush, according to Jerome (ph), should at least inform those down here who complain about the energy costs not to keep their air conditioners at meat locker temperatures.

And I think maybe that's it, maybe we all just need to make a little sacrifice, I mean maybe we just need to stop using this much energy. I know my air conditioner at home set on 75. I suppose I could live at 79 or 80, you know.

COSTELLO: Yes, well I don't think we have any choice, we're going to have to conserve because we can't afford it anymore.

MYERS: Absolutely, maybe some new windows. I really would like to see some energy conservation. I know he wants to do this stuff for hybrid cars, 3,400 bucks. But how about giving me a little bit of a break on my taxes if I do put $2,000 worth of insulation in my attic, you know?

COSTELLO: Actually, there are tax breaks available for certain things that you do in your home...

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... to make it more energy efficient. So that's in -- you know back in July, Congress passed this bill, it's now law, of an energy plan. And there are tax breaks included for homeowners.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: So I will send you the details. MYERS: But they're very convoluted. To try to figure it out is to try to figure out if you own --if you owe the alternative minimum tax, too. It's that difficult to figure out.

COSTELLO: Well it's worth the time to figure it out because it could save you some money.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: We'll get back to you, Chad, thanks.

In the swamplands of the Louisiana bayous, crews are working to rescue people stranded by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. Abbeville is one place where those rescue efforts are under way.

So let's check in with Jason Harmon. He's the Public Information Officer for the Abbeville Fire Department.

Good morning -- Jason.

JASON HARMON, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, ABBEVILLE FIRE DEPT.: Good morning. How are you doing this morning?

COSTELLO: I'm fine. I hope you're doing well.

HARMON: We're doing good. We're doing good.

COSTELLO: I'm glad to hear that. Tell me where things stand now as far as the water is concerned?

HARMON: Looks like the water is starting to recede from the reports that I'm hearing. A lot of the areas that were impassable, as far as roads are concerned, are starting to open up. And we're being able to effect some emergency operation in some areas that we have not been able to get to as of yet.

COSTELLO: How high was the water and how high is it now?

HARMON: Well here in the city we are working, the water got to, in some low-lying areas, as high as three to four feet. Now to communities further south than us, there's been reports of 10 to 12 foot -- 12 feet of water in some businesses and homes.

COSTELLO: Are there rescues still going on and how many people have been rescued so far?

HARMON: So far, with the estimates, the people that have been rescued, we're looking at about 150 to 200 people who have been rescued. Now we say rescued. Those are people who have been picked up by helicopter or by boat. And, but we've had quite a few people who have been able to evacuate themselves on their own.

COSTELLO: I know that there was an evacuation order in effect. When you talk to those people who were rescued, what did -- why did they tell you they didn't leave? HARMON: You know, Carol, that's been the magic question. I really am not getting a solid answer on that. And I think people did not expect this storm to be as bad as what was predicted.

COSTELLO: It's just kind of surprising for me to hear that, in light of what happened to New Orleans, in light of Katrina, you would think that there would be the fear of god in people and they would get out of there.

HARMON: Well, you know this area is -- this is a regular occurrence for a lot of these people. So for us to be able to say that you know they saw the Katrina aftermath and were going to respond in the same way, it's not even the same. We get at least one hurricane here a season.

COSTELLO: So how much longer will the rescue effort continue?

HARMON: Well, and the rescue effort is going to go on as long as it needs to go on, as long as there's people out there that need help. What I'm understanding is that a lot of the folks that we're reaching now have not needed to be rescued. There's still a lot of people who have decided just to stay in the locations that they are and they're just going to shelter in place and wait for the water to recede.

COSTELLO: Jason, I can't help but notice your voice, are you getting sick?

HARMON: Well, you know we've been working for 36, almost 48 hours straight here, and it gets a little tiring. But we're hanging in and we're doing the best we can.

COSTELLO: Well you're doing a great job.

Jason Harmon from the Abbeville Fire Department joining us live this morning. You can see Abbeville is right there along the Louisiana coast.

DAYBREAK will be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Search and rescue operations are expected to wrap up today in Vermilion Parish in Louisiana. About one-quarter of that Gulf Coast community is underwater. We just talked to the Abbeville Fire Department.

CNN's Anderson Cooper hitched a ride with rescuers as they looked for people trapped by the storm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Keith Dela Husa (ph) starts searching just after dawn. A 20-year veteran of Louisiana's Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Department, he's never seen anything like this.

KEITH DELA HUSA, LOUISIANA WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES ENFORCEMENT DEPT.: Bad. I just hope we can make it all the way.

COOPER: Dela Husa is trying to find a family of four stranded by the storm surge after Hurricane Rita. Several hundred people have already been rescued in Vermilion Parish, but navigating the floodwaters is tricky. This area is normally pastureland.

(on cooper): Over here there's a fence. You know it's one of the hard things, even if you have an address, it's hard getting to it through all these obstacles. We're going to try to go over this fence now.

(voice-over): The boat gets stuck, but not for long. You have to keep a watchful eye. There's plenty of debris and hidden fences under the water.

DELA HUSA: So many different property owners and you have got to go over fences. And it's really, really hard, you know, to get to them by boat.

COOPER: It takes Dela Husa an hour to find the home he's looking for.

DELA HUSA: There's the house.

COOPER: He's just in time, the water has nearly reached the front door. The family's two horses have little room left.

KEVIN HERBERT (ph), RESIDENT: We stayed here through the whole storm. I knew I was elevated, you know, on a pad. And obviously the swamp filled up. All of a sudden the surge just came right over the canal, and I mean everybody was just driving out. And we got blocked in and couldn't drive out with the vehicles because it got so deep.

COOPER: Kevin Herbert's brother, Chad (ph), tried to rescue them in his boat, but his propeller broke.

DIANE HERBERT (ph), RESIDENT: My lord!

COOPER: Their mom, Diane (ph), is ready to leave.

D. HERBERT: We're glad you all are taking us out.

COOPER: Diane Herbert is 63 and says she didn't evacuate because she didn't anticipate the floodwaters.

D. HERBERT: Yes, it rose really quick. Within a matter of 20 minutes, we were with no water in the shop at all and water up to the house, you know, 20, 30 minutes. I said, you know, then we got scared.

COOPER: Diane is worried the saltwater may harm this pastureland. It's already destroyed this family cemetery. The flowers on a tombstone still visible.

D. HERBERT: There's so much beauty in this land, you know, and the way we live out here. And to know that it will be years, if ever, that it comes back to that. That's hard.

COOPER: As soon as the waters recede, however, and the power is restored, Diane and her kids will move back to their land.

D. HERBERT: We all have homes to clean up and dry up, then you start back with your life. You know what else can you do? You just pick up the pieces, start again.

COOPER: For now they'll stay with relatives in Abbeville and Keith Dela Husa will go back on the water. There's still many more people waiting to be evacuated.

DELA HUSA: Yes, I love rescuing people, you know. I mean they need our help and that's what we're here for, you know, we always protect and serve.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That was CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting.

National Guard troops have been called in to help volunteers in those search and rescue missions in Vermilion Parish. We're going to talk to the National Guard in the next hour of DAYBREAK, which starts in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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