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American Morning

Hurricane Rita's Impact on Gulf Coast

Aired September 27, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
I'm Miles O'Brien.

For weeks now, the city's residents have watched the images on TV. Now they're coming home to see for themselves the real aftermath of floods and chaos. An emotional scene in New Orleans and we're live there for a difficult homecoming.

In Washington, getting to the bottom of mistakes made by FEMA. The former head of the agency, Mike Brown, faces tough questions on Katrina relief as he testifies before members of Congress this morning.

And the tremendous destruction from hurricane Rita in western Louisiana. Shocked residents cleaning up there on this AMERICAN MORNING.

And good morning.

It's good to have you with us.

Soledad is in New Orleans.

We'll get to her in just a moment.

But we begin with a damage assessment from hurricane Rita.

The death toll from the storm now stands at 10, nine in Texas, one in Mississippi. You'll remember, of course, another 23 died, elderly folks, in a bus fire near Dallas in the midst of that chaotic evacuation.

General Honore, who surveyed the damage, describes the small towns of Cameron and Creole as destroyed. He says the only thing still standing is the courthouse, which was built on higher ground.

The Department of Energy reporting nearly 1.3 million customers without electricity in four states because of damage caused by both hurricanes.

Let's check the headlines now.

Carol Costello in with that -- good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles.

Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, President Bush is heading to the Gulf Coast right now. The president expected to leave Andrews in just a short time. He's expected to get an update on relief efforts from officials in Beaumont, Texas. He'll also survey the damage done to the oil refineries in the area. The president also scheduled to travel to one of the areas with the worst flooding in Louisiana. And we hear he's boarding Marine One right now. That's his helicopter.

Al Qaeda's number two in Iraq has been killed. U.S. officials confirming that information to CNN now. The man known as Abu Azzam was shot during a raid in Baghdad. The U.S. military says the development leaves a void in the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq.

The former FEMA director, Michael Brown, in the hot seat over his response to hurricane Katrina. Brown told a House select committee Monday that he wished he had pushed more forcefully to get federal troops into New Orleans sooner. He also admitted that he is still on FEMA's payroll. He is being paid as a consultant. Brown is set to testify today before a special House panel.

Anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan was arrested outside of the White House. Sheehan and several others were arrested after they sat down on a sidewalk despite warnings from police. The group had been taking part in an anti-war protest. Sheehan is scheduled to appear in court on November 16.

And Donald Trump is getting a new apprentice. There's word "The Donald" and his third wife are expecting their first child. The "New York Post" reports the baby is due this spring. It will be kid number five for Trump, who will be going on 60, Chad, when the baby is born.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, but his hair looks a lot better. Don't it? I think he got a little trim on the side there.

COSTELLO: You think that looks better?

MYERS: Well, it's all relative.

COSTELLO: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Don't you think his hair is a lot younger than he is, just out of curiosity?

MYERS: I don't know. I'm not sure. There are (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

M. O'BRIEN: All right, wait a minute.

We've got the president up. We shouldn't be talking about that.

There's the president on his way to Texas and Louisiana today, yet another tour of areas that are stricken by hurricanes. He'll be tracking that one for you, as well. Chad, we'll get back to you in a bit.

The president announced yesterday that he wants the military to play a greater role in disasters like Katrina. It's a topic that is likely to come up today, when former FEMA Director Mike Brown testifies before Congress. I don't think likely is the word. For sure it's going to come up.

Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon -- Barbara, what is the military's initial response to the president's proposal?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Miles, nobody has actually seen a real proposal yet. And that is one of the issues. Nobody can really say what is on the table here.

But President Bush, even yesterday, spoke about his view that it might be only the U.S. military that has the muscle and manpower to really deal with a massive natural disaster.

Let's listen again for a minute to what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want there to be a robust discussion about the best way for the federal government in certain extreme circumstances to be able to rally assets for the good of the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: That's the issue, in extreme circumstances. What is the trigger for the U.S. military to take the lead role?

What military officials are saying is they certainly do see lessons learned from these hurricanes. There is a feeling that there needs to be better coordination with civilian authorities, with FEMA, with the Coast Guard on issues like search and rescue.

But a lead role, that's a real issue for the military because it might lead to the circumstance of the U.S. military, federal troops being in a law enforcement role on the streets of the United States. That is something the military is very uncomfortable with, the notion of possibly leading to that nightmare scenario of Army troops, for example, shooting looters, possibly shooting innocent civilians caught in the crosshairs.

Right now, of course, that is prohibited by federal law that has been in place since basically the Civil War era. That is something that the states consider their responsibility. So if it got to that step of looking at those federal laws again, that's the one thing the U.S. military is not anxious to take on -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it raises all kinds of interesting political cross currents because we saw Tom DeLay just yesterday, on the right, saying he doesn't want the federal government to take this role because of the bureaucratic issues. There's a states' rights issue here. And, interestingly, these are the same people who are very pro- military. So it puts them in an interesting conundrum there, doesn't it?

STARR: Well, it does, indeed. And what we now know is that when President Bush was looking at the notion of possibly federalizing troops for hurricane Katrina, in fact, at least two senior U.S. military officers -- and one can only suspect there were more than two -- told the president not to do it, that it wasn't necessary, that the military could go in, assist, provide supplies, relief, humanitarian assistance, that it didn't require this extraordinary step of federalizing the troops.

It is absolutely expected to be a key issue that Mike Brown is going to be asked about today on Capitol Hill. He reportedly now says he thinks maybe there should have been a discussion about federalizing troops, but it is just something that the military does not want to do. They do not -- to be very blunt, Miles -- the U.S. military does not want to take their guns, their weapons onto American city streets.

M. O'BRIEN: A point well taken there, that's for sure.

Whatever they decide to do, though, in the future, it's got to happen faster than it did. So one way or another, they're going to have to figure something out.

Barbara Starr, thank you very much.

STARR: Sure.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad is in New Orleans this morning, along Magazine Street, where, well, that's not business as usual by any stretch. And there are some retailers and business owners are getting out of town and some are determined to rebuild, really, against all odds -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. You know, I mean as we talked about a little bit earlier, Miles, do you put the stores in first or do you try to bring the customers in first? You kind of need one and you need the other at the same time.

You can see on Magazine Street, which is a street that runs about six miles with shops of clothing and antiques and furniture and art, basically the scene is like this. In some cases -- this is among the worst of what we've seen, where clearly they lost a window, whether it was from looting or from the hurricane overall. But inside, not so bad. Not a lot of water damage. And the scene is similar in a lot of these stores.

People have come back, the business owners, to really see just how bad it is.

The same story over in St. Bernard Parish, where yesterday people came back, as well. And it's one of the first times that they took a close look at the force of the storm.

We went to an area right on the levee to see just how bad it got. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: The sheriff of St. Bernard Parish calls this ground zero and here's why. See back there? That's the levee. Now, that levee is intact. It's -- it never breached. In fact, what happened was there was an overflow of water.

Imagine how hard and how fast that water had to come over that levee, at what speed, in order to take out the houses here.

Look at this house. You wouldn't know it was a house. There's nothing left of it. It has been utterly shredded.

Take a look at this one over here. Massive, just chunks out of this home. This is a new development. It is probably the most up to code of any of the other structures here in the parish. You're talking about homes that are 3,500 to 4,000 square feet, homes that cost in the range of $400,000. And just shredded by the force of the wind and the water.

And then you take a look down this street and you see the same story repeated house after house after house after house after house. Keep in mind, this same picture repeated for the length of the canal. And, again, a canal that was not breached. It wasn't flooded slowly.

The sheriff believes that something like 10 feet, 11 feet of water came in here in three minutes.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: So, clearly, when you compare the scene at St. Bernard Parish and the scene here at Monica's Grocery or any of the other stores on Magazine Street, the people here have done incredibly well. But, of course, there's a lot that has to be done before, in fact, these stores can come up and actually be running and open and available to their customers.

There are certificates of occupancy. The fire department has to actually approve all of the electricity being turned on. So there's a lot of work to do.

And the people here, some of them who we've spoken to, who've sort of come together in impromptu little town meetings, have said they're not getting a lot of information from the government. And if they don't get some information soon, they're going to take matters into their own hands and just start opening for business -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, now, Soledad, most of theses stores are gift stores, art, antiquities, that kind of thing. It seems...

S. O'BRIEN: Everything.

M. O'BRIEN: It seems like these kinds of stores should be a little bit lower on the list in the near term in New Orleans. I would think, you know, a restaurant would be more in need, basic supplies, hardware stores, that kind of thing. Do these people really think they can open up a business any time soon?

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, I think what they would like is to open the restaurants that are on this street and to open some of the stores that provide services on this street. It's not just touristy stores. There's offices and things like that.

So I think there's a sense that if you can bring electricity to a restaurant, well, bring it to everybody. If you're going to bring potable water to a restaurant, well, bring it to everybody. If you can open up a small chunk of the city and get a little commerce going for the people who are now coming back, maybe that's a step in the right direction.

M. O'BRIEN: Of course -- and they really don't know when the power is going to come back on, do they?

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, no. That is the short answer.

M. O'BRIEN: No.

S. O'BRIEN: The long answer is we've heard that if, in fact, the power is not on by Wednesday, the shop owner we spoke to a little bit earlier says, you know, I'm going to bring in my generator and just start doing it myself, and my business is opening on Wednesday, whether the city puts power on or I have to do it myself.

M. O'BRIEN: Wow!

All right, Soledad, thank you very much.

A lot of resourceful people there doing whatever they can to get their businesses going, in some cases.

Back with you in just a little bit.

Let's shift gears here and go to Utah.

Seven students and a teacher were killed in a rollover accident on a Utah highway, another three injured, all of them from Utah State University. The university van was returning from a field trip yesterday when it flipped over. It happened near Tremonton, Utah, about 18 miles west of the campus in Logan.

Andrea Fujii of affiliate station KSTU is live on the Utah State University campus in Logan.

Obviously, the campus shocked and grieving this morning -- Andrea.

ANDREA FUJII, KSTU CORRESPONDENT: Definitely grieving this morning. It's actually Agriculture Week here at University State -- or Utah State University. They were heading to a field trip to study agriculture when a tire blew out on their van. Eight of the 11 passengers are dead, seven students and one teacher, all of them in their 20s, police say, except for the teacher, who was a bit older.

Police say the tire actually blew out on that van, which caused the driver to lose control. The van flipped over an embankment and rolled over four times. The top of the van almost completely collapsed.

Utah State students and faculty, of course, say they are in shock right now.

There are three survivors in area hospitals right now in critical condition. The school is planning to have a memorial of some kind, probably a candlelight vigil, some time here tonight, right outside the student center on the south side of campus. And police actually say that van passed its safety inspection recently. So for the tire blowing out, speed may have had something to do with it -- Miles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. BRIAN NELSON, UTAH HIGHWAY PATROL: It appeared that they, when they went sideways and went off the road and started rolling, his comment to us was it looked like bodies were just being catapulted out of the vehicle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FUJII: So a really grizzly scene out on Highway I-84. Witnesses and students and faculty who actually saw that say that it's such a grizzly scene, it'll be hard to erase it from their minds -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: I bet.

Andrea Fujii of Salt Lake City affiliate, KSTU.

Thank you very much.

Still to come on the program, thousands of people left homeless by Katrina and Rita.

We'll take a closer look at what the government is doing to find them some housing.

And later, we'll talk to the attorney taking on those insurance companies in Katrina's aftermath. And the issue is will they cover for floods? Could his lawsuit bankrupt the industry, perhaps? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The number of people left homeless by hurricanes Rita and Katrina is staggering. According to Red Cross and state officials, more than 62,000 hurricane evacuees are still living in shelters. Of those, more than 46,000 are in shelters in Louisiana. More than 16,000 others are in shelters in 19 other states and the District of Columbia.

So, what steps are being taken to provide housing for these evacuees?

Alphonso Jackson is the secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

He joins us now from our Washington bureau.

Mr. Jackson, good to have you with us.

ALPHONSO JACKSON, SECRETARY, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT: Miles, thank you very much for allowing me to come this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: You have a $2 billion program that you've announced that would pay for three months' rent, essentially, for these people.

Who will be eligible for that? How soon will that kick in?

JACKSON: The people that are eligible are the public housing residents, the Section 8 voucher residents, and those people who were displaced before hurricane Katrina.

And let me say this to you, it's not for three months. What we are saying specifically is that every three months we will reevaluate those persons to see if they're still in need of aid. The program is up to 18 months.

So we're going to go up to 18 months with most of the residents, if they need it. We hope that most of them will not need it that long.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, now, given the fact that there are still some folks in Florida that are still out of their homes, you know, in some cases, two years after hurricanes, do you think 18 months is enough? Will you look at extending it, if need be, given the size and scope of this particular catastrophe?

JACKSON: I think yes because we will do everything to make sure that the people that were displaced have a smooth transition. And that's very important. The president has told us to be very sensitive. And I think that if we can reevaluate every three months with the counseling that's going to go along with the housing program, yes, I think it's very, very much enough.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, the president has talked about this urban homesteading concept, creating places for people to build homes. That's not necessarily the kind of thing that's going to help the least fortunate who were affected by Katrina and Rita, as well.

What's going to be done -- when you start looking at rebuilding New Orleans, for example -- what's going to be done to ensure that poor folks have a place to stay there in that city, as well?

JACKSON: We will work with the mayor. The president has said specifically we will not impose our will on New Orleans. The mayor will probably create a group, and we will be part of the group, that will design the new New Orleans. But, also, let me say this to you. The low income people that are in New Orleans will have a place to come back to. The mayor has to make that decision and we're willing to work with him. I think it's very important to understand that if we do this right, New Orleans will be a much better place for people to live.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, if the free market were to just do it all and developers came in, I mean developers, by the nature of their business, aren't going to build low income housing. And historically that has been the federal government's role to step in, in this case.

JACKSON: That's correct.

M. O'BRIEN: I mean you say the mayor is supposed to do it, but the federal government has a big role to play in all this.

What's going to be done? How many units will be set aside? How will all this shake out so that when the new New Orleans is rebuilt, there are places for folks of low income to live?

JACKSON: I think that's a very fair question. To date, before the flood and before the hurricane, we had 8,100 public housing units in New Orleans and we had 8,500 Section 8 vouchers. We believe that the mayor -- and I can tell you, I've had great conversations with him -- would like to rebuild all 8,100 units.

Now, how we configurate those units might be a lot different today than it was yesterday. But I believe that with the insurance that's in each one of those units, they will be rebuilt and we will work with the mayor to rebuild them.

But, also, we will work with the mayor to rebuild other neighborhoods that are not public housing residents.

M. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you, one final thought here.

A lot of these folks at the lower end of the economic scale with fewer roots and reasons to go back to New Orleans may ultimately be disproportionately the ones to stay away from the city ultimately.

Do you have the sense that most of these people will just move on?

JACKSON: Well, sociologically, we know that if a person is removed from their hometown more than eight months, basically many of them will not go back. But the president -- and President Bush has emphasized this -- our goal is to help the governor, help the mayor resettle Louisiana and New Orleans. And we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that's done.

But the president has also said that we're not going to force people to go back. And I think that's very important. And I go back to what you just said -- the free market will work it out.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's hope so.

Alphonso Jackson, who is the secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Thanks for being with us this morning.

JACKSON: Thank you so much.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's get back to the Soledad in New Orleans.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks.

You know, you're talking about housing and urban development, and really, for many people, there are no houses to come back to, no development at all, really, to speak of. That was the case in St. Bernard Parish.

Coming up, we'll show you the emotional homecoming for people who thought they were prepared to see the very worst. It turns out they were not.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

We're back after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Whether the damage is terrible, as it is in lots of New Orleans, or not so bad, as it is on Magazine Street right here, people just want to come back. They want to see it for themselves just how bad it is.

The same story, of course, over in St. Bernard Parish, where we spent the day yesterday, where people, even though they felt they were prepared to see the very worst clearly they were not.

St. Bernard Parish sits east of the City of New Orleans and really was the site of much flooding.

Here's our story.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Sometimes getting in means breaking in. Rachel Kessling was eager to see the damage for herself, even though her husband, a police lieutenant, warned her how bad it was.

(on camera): So he told you, didn't he, what to expect?

RACHEL KESSLING, ST. BERNARD PARISH RESIDENT: Yes. He prepared me. We believe (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

S. O'BRIEN: What did he say?

KESSLING: It was just all gone and not to come back. But I had to come back for peace of mind.

S. O'BRIEN: Why, why peace of mind?

KESSLING: Just to see it for myself, just to know, just to know, just to really, really accept it.

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): By mid-afternoon, cars were lined up leaving the parish, packed with whatever people could grab. They're muddy and dirty and tired and in spite of seeing it on TV for a month now, they are utterly shocked.

CAROL CAMPO, ST. BERNARD PARISH RESIDENT: It's 10,000 times worse than what we thought. It's just horrible.

S. O'BRIEN (on camera): Is there any relief in coming back?

CAMPO: I don't want to see this place again. This is horrible. I have never seen such devastation.

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): It's been a tough emotional journey. Some are angry, most are just devastated.

(on camera): How are you doing? That's OK. That's OK. It's all right. It's all right.

CAMPO: Forty-three years gone. We've been married 43 years and everything we've worked for, our daughter's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) their hopes. I have four sisters and they lost their homes. And all of our friends, our neighbors. This parish is gone.

MR. CAMPO: It'll never be the same.

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): But as we toured miles and miles of St. Bernard Parish with Sheriff Jack Stevens, it's clear there's really nothing to come back to. Every home has at least some damage -- collapsed or washed out, leaning precariously or just obliterated. Boats hang in midair, cars are perched in trees. The water is receding, and wherever it's dry or mostly dry, people have returned. On homes near the petroleum plant, the water line is an oil line. A leak of about a quarter million gallons of oil have made homes uninhabitable and leached into the ground below, as well.

Rachel Kessling hopes to save shirts that were hanging in her laundry room.

(on camera): God, this mud is just -- it's not to be believed.

KESSLING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) down in the house, too.

S. O'BRIEN: Is it this -- is this mud this thick in the house?

KESSLING: Yes. Or thicker.

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): It's just as thick in the house. But Rachel takes comfort in the little things she manages to pull free.

(on camera): It's a total loss? KESSLING: My idea bonnet. Plus, there's your little knickknacks here and there, like my senior mug I had on (UNINTELLIGIBLE), silly sentimental things.

S. O'BRIEN: Are you going to take it?

KESSLING: Yes, I do. I'll go for it. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(AUDIO GAP)

(END VIDEO TAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: All right, for those of you who can't read lips, we will get back with Soledad and fix that microphone.

Still to come, the lawyer who took on big tobacco takes on big insurance companies now. He wants to make sure they pay for the damage done by Katrina. But has his battle become too personal? We'll ask him, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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