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Gustav Hitting Cuba Now; Republican Convention in Jeopardy; Tough Line on Protesters Ahead of GOP Convention
Aired August 30, 2008 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's get started. Hi, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. Really a lot to talk about tonight. The 11:00 p.m. hurricane update from the National Hurricane Center due out any moment. We're going to turn that around and tell you what's going on. Need to tell you, though, that Gustav has turned into what we feared it might become -- a Category 4 storm.
Yes, and I said 4. And it's not even in the gulf yet. You're going to see some of the very first pics that we are getting live from Cuba. See in one of the boxes that we separated there for you. We also have tonight exclusive access to what has been a mess in New Orleans. People trying to figure out how to evacuate thousands and thousands of residents.
Oh, and the Republican convention is in jeopardy. It may be cut short because of the storm. We're going to have that for you as well. Here is the line of the night now. Quote, "you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now." Those are Ray Nagin's words, the mayor of New Orleans. We listened tonight, eyes wide open.
He was the Katrina mayor, he's going to be the Gustav mayor. And he is in classic form tonight. But first, the man who outranks him. Let's go to governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL, LOUISIANA: They made it very clear that this storm could be as bad as it gets. They made it very clear, and I want our people to hear this that we could see, depending on the path of this storm and its intensity, we could see tidal surges of as much as 15 to 20 feet. We could see flooding even worse than what we saw during Hurricane Katrina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That means a lot of things. That means a lot of people got to get out of the city. A lot of people are scared tonight. A lot of people are in a mode where they're not sure in which direction to go. You'll see what's going on with the confusion in just a bit. And also, people have been talking to us.
You know, we're going to be on twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn. We're also going to be on Facebook and we're also going to be talking to you tonight on MySpace. Already we've got comments coming in. You know, one of the big general themes that people are worried about tonight is because this storm is so big and because of the path it has taken, see that right there, the oil drum -- if you don't get the why or the severity of Gustav for oil, loop into this.
People are talking to each other back and forth tonight about how many of these rigs -- these oil rigs are out in the path of what Gustav might be going to. Three years is not a long time to remember the worst natural disaster in your city's history. And now here comes another one possibly worse. Well, today, Mayor Ray Nag in did the most desperate thing that a public figure can do. The people that he leads, he ordered them to flee, to leave immediately. Almost in a scary tone. Here's the news conference that he gave just a little bit earlier. I want you to see this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: I normally am very calm about these press conferences. And I'm normally trying to give assurance to our citizens. Take that hat off tonight. You need to be scared. You need to be concerned. And you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century. There is not another one that anybody can think about that is as powerful, and we really don't know how strong it's going to get. Because it's getting ready to get to us to the Gulf of Mexico where the waters are as warm as 90 degrees. So we're not sure how strong this storm is going to get.
So as a result of that, ladies and gentlemen, I am announcing today that we are ordering a mandatory evacuation of the city of New Orleans starting in the morning at 8:00 a.m. on the West Bank. We want our West Bank people to move out. We want you to move out quickly and not play around with this. We're going to give you four hours to evacuate on the West Bank. And this coincides with Jefferson Parish's order that they just did.
Then the East Bank, we are ordering the mandatory evacuation at noon. West bank, mandatory evacuation in New Orleans 8:00 a.m. East bank at noon. We want everybody in the city of New Orleans, we want 100 percent evacuation. No longer I talk about just this impacting the East -- the West Bank. This has the potential to impact every area of this metropolitan area, and we want people to take it very, very seriously.
If you are stubborn enough, if you are not taking this as seriously as we need you to take it, and if you decide to stay, you are on your own. There will be no services available for you. No emergency services. We have to make sure that we try and protect our police, fire and other officers and first responders. And we're not sure when they will be able to provide you with services. You will be on your own, no emergency services.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Probably no public official has had more heat on him because of a storm. And now you see the mayor, a public official who is now feeling the heat possibly coming and having to react to it, saying what he feels he needs to say. We're going to be checking in with the mayor's office throughout the course tonight. Let's check in with Jacqui Jeras right now.
Jacqui, I understand there's an 11:00 p.m. advisory usually put out by the National Hurricane Center. Have you gotten it? What's it got to say?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Really nothing different, Rick. And so, you know that level of confidence that we're going to be staring down a major hurricane, Category 3 or better on the north Gulf Coast on Monday is a reality. You know, we are just days away.
We had landfall twice already today. Rapid intensification this morning. We're talking a Category 4 storm now. It did weaken just a smidge. You know, ten miles an hour as it moved over Cuba now. So, our maximum winds are in 140, but it is really inconsequential. And this storm is continuing on the steady north-westerly track. So, hurricane watches have been issued from High Island Texas over the Alabama/Florida state line.
When they issue this, and they did this at 5:00 Eastern Time today, that means hurricane conditions are possible in 36 hours. So do the math on that. We're talking Monday afternoon. Here is your forecast track. Here is your cone of uncertainty. So, we're really looking at Louisiana, Mississippi on West Worth for our greatest probability, and there you see that intensity forecast.
And here's what's really scary about all of this, Rick. This little area of red that you see here on the map, this is what we call the gulf loop current. And this storm is forecast to move over that. And that is very likely that we could see rapid intensification and get this thing up to a Category 5. And if that doesn't start out enough for you, let me show you the tracks here from Katrina and from Rita, and then let's put on Gustav. There's your hot spot. They all moved over the gulf loop current and all intensified to Cat 5.
Rick?
SANCHEZ: You know, Jacqui, growing up in South Florida, we've always got a pretty good feel for hurricanes just because I can tell what's going on with the buzz. You could see the anticipation in the voice of people who are experts, who talk about it and public officials. It seems like that is going on with this storm. Is this something that does, in fact, engender this reaction, deservedly so?
JERAS: Oh, absolutely. You know, we've been very worried about this storm for days if not a week already, Rick. And you know, it is one of those helpless feelings that all you can do is get out of the way. You see it. You know it's going to happen, you know that it's coming and there's really nothing you can do to stop it.
SANCHEZ: So this thing is looking like the real thing?
JERAS: This is the real thing, Rick.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thank so much, Jacqui. We'll keep going through you throughout the show. We'll be checking back with you to find out how this thing is changing. And hopefully there will be a wobble that takes it in some of the direction and not toward any part of the United States. Fingers crossed.
All right. That's the scene. This is a gigantic killer storm that is now heading for the Gulf Coast. That's the facts, folks. And the people who live there are heading for higher ground. They're trying to go by bus, they're going by plane, by little red wagon if they have to, and they're not doing it without somebody trying to come in and help them.
CNN's Don Lemon is in New Orleans. He's going to give us a specific look of what he saw today when he saw people in what was a bit of a mess trying to get on buses and get out of dodge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You got six lanes exactly the same thing as an airport. You basically set up an airport security system right here in the post office?
COL. "BULLET" YOUNG, U.S. ARMY: That's correct. And the intent is that we screen all passengers before they board the airplane. And so it is running just like an airport. Obviously with the number of lanes and the additional TSA personnel, Federal Air Marshal personnel, we're able to put through-put a larger number of people.
LEMON: Are you packed to go out of town if you have to get on an airplane?
DEE BLAINE, EVACUEE: I'm not getting on an airplane. We were brought here under the false pretenses. We went to the center under the impression that bus transportation would be provided for us to go to a shelter within the State of Louisiana. When we get there, no one would tell us where we were going.
LEMON: Do you all know where you are all going?
UNIDENTIFIED PASSENGERS: No, we don't know where we're going at.
LEMON: You don't know where you're going.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we don't know where we're going.
LEMON: Any other planes taking off at the airports?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. The planes that I have positioned over here are the ones that we're using. We've got the frontier aircraft, we've loaded it. That was going out now.
LEMON: That's going out now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is being loaded.
LEMON: You're going to load this one with 168 passengers. All right, the weird part is that I grew up here and this is my cousin that I see in line getting on the airplane. Are you going to be all right?
UNIDENTIFIED EVACUEE: We're fine.
LEMON: What do you think of all this? You're having to go to Arkansas now.
UNIDENTIFIED EVACUEE: Well, you know, it's a thing. I mean, it's a part of life, you know. So, I might as well just take it and just go with it.
MICHAEL DOREDANT, EVACUEE: Being here last time, I was here last time, I'm not going to be here this time, you know. But, you know, it's so much more organized. Everything has been laid out. I mean, everybody has been here, (INAUDIBLE). Huge difference.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And Don Lemon joining us now.
Don, as I watched that, you know, several questions. I guess, first of all, let me just re-ask the questions that you were asking out there. Where are they going? Where are these people going?
LEMON: Well, some people are going to Knoxville, they're going to Nashville, they're going to Ft. Smith, Arkansas and some of them aren't sure exactly where they're going. And even Memphis, Tennessee, they've been taking off. I think about nine planes so far, Rick, have taken off from here. And so far they've process, they said about 2800, maybe 3,000 people. We just had a bus load come through.
And then a couple of minutes, two more buses are going to come through with about 300 people. And, you know, they'll continue to do this 24 hours a day until tomorrow about noon. And as soon as all those people get on at noon, then the staff here load up and they're going to head to Texas.
SANCHEZ: OK. So they're putting people on buses. Some of those people are going to an airport and then they're putting them on planes. Next question --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: No, no, no. They're not going to the airport. They're not going to the airport. They are here at the airport. This is right behind the airport in a postal facility that they've been working on since Katrina just in case there were had to be evacuations like this. So the people that came here on buses were all loaded on to airplanes and taken to those points that I mentioned.
SANCHEZ: All right. Who is picking up the tab for this?
LEMON: The federal government is picking up the tab. Katrina recovery money -- taxpayers are picking up the tab for this. So, that's it. You know, they want to get those people out. They had so much criticism about last time, about not getting people out. This time they wanted to be prepared. And they've gotten the folks out. So far the mayor said they've gotten about 10,000 people out. They need to get 20,000 more people out of New Orleans.
I want to tell you real quick, because this is the human side of this -- there's the human side of this, Rick. People were told not to bring their pets. One woman didn't listen, right? She left her birds here. She was sent on the airplane. We saw her crying as she got on the airplanes. She had to leave her birds. And the TSA and FEMA said that they're going to watch these birds and try to have them for her once she gets back here in New Orleans. We believe she may have gone to Atlanta.
SANCHEZ: So much for the birds. Let me ask you, why was this such a mess earlier today?
LEMON: Why was it such a mess?
SANCHEZ: Yes. Why were people so confused and people felt like they were on the wrong bus or they were having them fill out forms? Why did it take so long to get it rolling?
LEMON: Well, it wasn't really a mess. I mean, you can't really say that this time, Rick. You can absolutely say that Katrina was a mess, but this wasn't really a mess.
People got on the bus and they knew that they were going to the airport. This one woman who we talked to said she thought that she was going to a shelter in Louisiana. And out of the hundreds of people that we saw here, she was really the only woman who thought that she was going to a shelter here. Most people knew that they were going to get on a plane. They just didn't know where they were going to go. And most of them, frankly, were OK with it.
SANCHEZ: All right, Don, thanks so much for that report. You know, good stuff. And what's good about that report is we got a sense to see real people reacting to this situation and getting a sense almost to even vent in some cases.
All right, on the phone now, on the road getting out of New Orleans is Zach Rosenberg. He's the director of the St. Bernard Project. He's been driving for hours, we understand. This is what we're going to be doing throughout this newscast, talking to people who we understand are going through this situation. Some literally on the phone as they try and get out.
Zach, are you there?
ZACH ROSENBERG, EVACUATING NEW ORLEANS: I'm here, Rick. How are you?
SANCHEZ: Are you driving right now?
ROSENBERG: I am driving right now.
SANCHEZ: Which interstate are you on and which way are you headed?
ROSENBERG: I'm on the 10 to Florida.
SANCHEZ: So you're traveling east. How is the traffic?
ROSENBERG: Right now it's pretty good. It was brutal earlier. We left at 2:00. And I think we made it probably 220 miles in, I don't know, 8 hours.
SANCHEZ: So at first it was very difficult. That's where the backlog was, all the people trying to head out at once?
ROSENBERG: Yes, getting to the Slidell Bridge, the Twin Span. It took probably three hours, but it's worth it. You know, folks have to go.
SANCHEZ: Why did you decide to leave, Zach?
ROSENBERG: I decided -- I got a call from the federal coordinator who is a colleague and said, Zach, you got to go. I was going to try to stick around. But it seemed more important to get out so that we can come back real quick.
SANCHEZ: Who is in the car with you?
ROSENBERG: No one. Liz, my girlfriend is straight ahead with her two kiddies in the other car. I am solo.
SANCHEZ: What's the mood in the city? I understand that some gas stations have already run out of gas. And people are getting a little frustrated in some situations. What did you see?
ROSENBERG: I saw Louisiana residents keeping it cool, you know.
SANCHEZ: All right.
ROSENBERG: These are solid folks. Good work ethic. They're keeping it cool. Sorry, it's hard. You know, they were let down with Katrina because the levees were poorly made. It's been three years. The levees haven't been successfully rebuilt. They're all tragedy.
SANCHEZ: Zach Rosenberg, thanks, man. You're one of many people we're going to be talking to tonight as they start to head out of the city. We're also going to be talking to folks here on Facebook and MySpace who are talking to me on the computer as well.
And we're going to be talking to some folks who are twittering with us as well, getting information from them. Many of them, hundreds of them, in fact, have been talking to me tonight from New Orleans. So Gustav hitting Cuba right now. We've got pictures and we have not only that but the very latest reaction coming in from around the United States. Those are some of the very first pictures from Cuba.
This is going to be an exclusive report from Cuba that we're going to share with you in just a little bit. And look comments coming in now from folks on twitter.com. We'll leave you with that pic. We'll be back in just two minutes. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: I had no idea how much this social connecting thing was going to catch on, but look over there in front of me. We put this big board in front of us here. It's a plasma TV. See this number right here -- that's how many people are watching right now on their computer, watching this newscast and talking to us as we talk to you about the news, all right?
Pardon me, right there, 2,418, plus about another 1,000 that are on that MySpace and Facebook. And let's go to the comments, here we go. Maybe, this person says right here, "it is heading straight for Acadiana." All right. The next one says "watching Rick Sanchez on CNN, love the way he uses twitter." These are the last ones to come in just in the last couple of moments.
"Rick, you didn't ask where the evacuees are staying once they reach their destination cities." Well, we can partly answer that question because we've been learning over the last couple of hours that many of the hotels are already booked. In fact, one of our colleagues just reached out to us tonight just before I went on the air, and he told me in Memphis, Tennessee, all the hotels are booked because of evacuees from the storm that are heading that far north. Many of them have already left. So it is going to obviously be a problem as well.
Here is some advice. If you know somebody who is leaving the region and you've got a room that they can use, invite them over. This may be the best time for people to be helping other people. As we've been reporting all evening, Gustav is now an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm.
Right now, it's slamming western Cuba, packing 140-mile-per-hour winds. Let's go right to Morgan Neill. He is in Havana, which has been getting hit.
As a matter of fact, as I understand it, parts of the eastern edge of Cuba are getting hit right now. Isn't that right, Morgan?
MORGAN NEILL, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF AND CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Rick. Out in the west of the island, Gustav continues to make its impact felt. The eye has now made its way off of the north of the island from what we're hearing. But just as it did when it came into Cuba, it's making itself felt on the way out, bringing storm surge on the opposite side of the storm.
Now, it's going to be days before we know the extent of the damage done by Gustav, but I can tell you from what we ourselves saw today on the island that this storm has brought a lot of damage. Now, we started off on the southern coast in a little town called La Coloma. And it's a great example of how Cubans really prepare for these storms.
We went down there. We didn't see anybody in their homes. We didn't see anybody in the street except for police officers and civil defense officials. That's because everybody had been evacuated the day before. Now, once the storm started coming north, we have to get out of there because of the risk of storm surge. The hurricane picked up some speed. And we actually had to take shelter ourselves.
Now, once we left, the hurricane had passed, we started moving from Pinar Del Rio eastward here to Havana. And we were going down that highway. And I can tell you what we saw was just a lot of destruction. Trees uprooted across the highway. Power cables down, electric cables down. Metal poles that hung street lamps strewn across. And one little town almost entirely flattened, Rick.
SANCHEZ: That's just a taste of what some of the folks in the United States -- in the coastal area may experience if this storm continues on its track, remains as either a Category 4 or 5 Hurricane.
Again, that's why we're basing so much of this newscast on this storm and what it might be doing and what people are doing to prepare for it. Morgan Neill, we thank you from Havana.
Coming up, a tough line on protesters ahead of the GOP convention. Police cracked down in a series of raids. But there's two sides to this story and we're going to tell them both.
And we've got our eyes on Gustav as we've been telling you. We're going to talk to a resident of the Lower Ninth Ward as well. We set them up earlier today. They're going to tell us what they're doing to try and see if they can deal with this storm with the fear still in them from Katrina. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back to the world headquarters of CNN. I'm Rick Sanchez talking to thousands of you, obviously, on TV and on the Internet as well. Welcome to one and all. Tonight, we are hearing that John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, are going to be going to Mississippi tomorrow to check in on hurricane preps.
Today, they spoke before a crowd of about 15,000 supporters in Pennsylvania. Palin is the first woman ever to be chosen as a Republican vice presidential candidate. McCain today said she will, quote, "shake up Washington."
Meanwhile, Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden also hit the campaign trail in Ohio. Obama is also checking in on hurricane preps for Gustav. But instead of going to Mississippi unlike McCain, he's been doing it over the phone. Senator Obama also spoke with the head of FEMA and local officials along the Gulf Coast throughout the course of the day.
So, here's the question tonight. What happens to the GOP convention if Gustav hits an American city full force in the middle of the convention? It's supposed to get started Monday night. 45,000 people have bought plane tickets and booked expensive hotel rooms for the big event in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Our own Ed Henry is there now.
You know, this is really a bit of a political quagmire for them. Have they decided yet what they're going to do to deal with this? What are you hearing, Ed?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Very delicate decision, you're absolutely right, Rick. And no decisions have been made but there are a lot of very important conversations going on right now trying to deal with this.
First of all, they're turning to the serious business of the hurricane, scrambling their schedules tomorrow, the president and John McCain, as you mentioned, President Bush obviously had a political disaster after Hurricane Katrina. He doesn't want another repeat of that situation where he infamously said -- Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job, the FEMA director, Michael Brown at the time.
So tomorrow, we've just learned, the president is going to be going to FEMA headquarters in Washington. He's going to be giving briefings. He's going to then make a statement as well to reporters trying to show the government this time is on top of things. As you mentioned, John McCain as well going to Mississippi tomorrow with his new running mate.
They wanted to go and check in on storm preps in that state. The Republican governor there, Haley Barbour has already announced he's not coming here to St. Paul to the convention that he has to deal with the storm. Same for the Louisiana governor, the Texas governor. And so, the bottom line is everyone is scrambling their schedules over the weekend. What happens Monday?
Tonight, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said there are contingency plans that are being looked at. Potentially, the president not coming to Minnesota on Monday, maybe coming live via video remote instead, maybe addressing delegates that way. But that has not been decided yet.
Also Republican officials here on the ground saying there's the possibility of the schedule maybe being truncated, maybe they delay it by a day. But as you know that would be a logistical nightmare.
My colleague, Dana Bash reporting tonight as well, some Republican officials talking about turning this into some sort of a telethon, either some or all of the convention essentially trying to raise money for Red Cross and other organizations to help people who are in need. The bottom line is Republicans are very concerned that they'll have an image problem looking like they're partying when so many people are suffering.
Rick?
SANCHEZ: Yes. And it's exactly right. It's all the matter of picture. Pictures that Americans see is people in an American city either getting hit or trying to survive or, heaven forbid, another flood type situation like we saw with Katrina, and the screen is split. And on the other side, you see Republicans, through no fault of their own, whooping it up at a convention, it's a tough situation. It's a real tough call for them.
HENRY: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: Ed Henry, thanks so much for that report. Obviously, they've got a lot of decisions to make there. And things still are several days away as they look into it. We've been getting a lot of reaction on that, by the way, from people who have been talking to us.
But let's go back to Gustav. This isn't the only one ready to crash the GOP convention. No, not just the storm. Sounds like thousands of protesters have their sights on interrupting the convention in some way as well. Some of them, these protesters who are there in St. Paul, Minnesota, were arrested today when police raided the homes of several of these activists.
Now, police say they had to do what they had to do, but we're also hearing that there are two distinct sides to this story. So, we sent our own Joe Johns to go look into this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Given the craziness that big gatherings like this attract, the pre-convention raid on people suspected of planning civil disobedience is not what you would call a shocking police tactic. But things started looking more worrisome here after the local sheriff served search warrants at several locations looking for evidence of a conspiracy to riot and disrupt the convention.
And at a news conference, he showed off what was seized. Bricks and bodily waste allegedly to be thrown at police. Slingshots and things to launch objects David and goliath style. A shield made out of a metal barrel. The authorities also arrested a bunch of people they claim are anarchist.
SHERIFF BOB FLETCHER, RAMSEY COUNTY, MINNESOTA: Our investigation solely focuses on one group, the RNC Welcoming Committee. As you look over the tools of the trade of this anarchist group, you will see these are not civil protesters.
JOHNS (on camera): To hear the authorities tell it, they're expecting tens of thousands of protesters. But wait a minute; is this really what it looks like? It's not exactly black and white.
(voice-over): This is Monica Bicking's house. She was one of people taken away. Her father says there's nothing to the charges.
DAVE BICKING, FATHER OF PROTESTER: Nothing that would be a conspiracy to commit riot, but she's been very involved in organizing for the protests around the RNC Convention this week. So, yes, she's been -- you know, they know that she is one of the main organizers for that. So, yes, but that's very different than conspiracy to commit riot.
JOHNS: And what about all that stuff the authorities seized? One guy who got a visit from the sheriff says it's just junk they took from his place.
THOMAS GREILING, MINNEAPOLIS RESIDENT: There's nothing dangerous in the house. There's nothing illegal in the house.
JOHNS: And what about the bodily waste? A lawyer for these guys says it was taken from an apartment that, well, doesn't have a working toilet.
GENEVA FINN, PROTESTERS' ATTORNEY: In the garage in back of the house, there is a tenant that is unconnected with any of the activities that has been living up there for nine years. He apparently doesn't have a bathroom.
JOHNS: Finn also stresses that the protesters are not planning anything illegal or violent. Still, since there is no way of knowing what's true in advance of the convention, the authorities see a danger in underestimating the potential for disruption.
Despite all this, there would still be an attempt to blockade the convention.
FLETCHER: Yes. There's no question.
JOHNS: By other groups or by this group?
FLETCHER: By this group. Still by this group and by dozens of other affiliate anarchists groups that are here in town that these guys are working with. It will still be a long day on Monday.
JOHNS: For the record, Democrats in Denver also anticipated tens of thousands of demonstrators and they never materialized. But this is a different convention.
Joe Johns, CNN, St. Paul, Minnesota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Interesting story. Two sides indeed. And you bet we'll be continuing to look into that.
By the way, coming up, plans to get people out of NOLA suddenly get backed up. We'll tell you what caused the mess. And we've got people on the phone with us as they try and get out of the city. We're going to be talking to them.
And also on Facebook and MySpace and twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn, there you see some of the responses. "Response is in early stages," says Chuck Simmins. "Still two days from landfall for the storm. Too early to make judgments."
Then Brooklyn Dodger chimes in with "GOP should help NOLA relief efforts to offset Katrina memory. This way, they also keep Palin off the mike longer."
Always a comedian in the bunch. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: The evacuation orders go out, the National Guard has now moved in. New Orleans mayor has told everyone to leave in no uncertain terms. And apparently people are listening. Take a look at why. This is what Hurricane Gustav has been doing to Cuba so far.
Forecasters tonight say the storm is capable of almost complete destruction because of its winds and the rising waters. Category 4 right now expected to be a Cat 5 -- Category 5, by this time tomorrow. We're told New Orleans is going to start to feel the effects of the storm early Monday morning. Category 4 tonight, possibly Category 5 tomorrow. Let's go to Jacqui Jeras now.
Hey, Jacqui, talk to me, if you would. When this thing gets into the warmer waters of the Gulf of Mexico, what happens?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's going to be intensified, you know. And part of the key of this, Rick, too is not only is the water in this area here you're talking about, we call it the Gulf loop current. Not only is it warm, but it goes down several hundred feet. So the storm doesn't churn up any cold water. It's all warm, it's all fuel, it's all energy to make this thing go stronger. And that's what's happened throughout the day today.
We had just a smidge of weakening in the last few hours because it moved across land. But it's still a Category 4, still very powerful and very dangerous. And it's been very steady now on this northwesterly track, moving forward at about 15 miles per hour. So, if this all stays on track here, we're looking at landfall probably mid-afternoon, maybe even early afternoon on Monday.
Now, let's talk a little bit about these evacuations. When we're talking about a Category 4 storm. This can cause some major surge. And that's going to be one of the big issues. I want to take you over here and show you a graphic that I have that shows the contraflow plan. Now, this is going to be taking place tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Governor Nagin says everybody is out of the city.
So, here's New Orleans. If you live in this area westward, you are going to have to get out by taking either I-10 or getting on I-55. If you triangle this way and head westward, you can't do it. This is going to be blocked off. It wants to take you up here to 59. They're also going to do contraflow on 49 northward as well as 165 and 171.
If you can, evacuate northward, because if you go east and this storm takes east or west and this storm takes any kind of turn, you still could be in the path of Gustav. So, that's something you really want to think about.
I also have another impact graphic that we have exclusively here to CNN that kind of tell you about who is in the path of this storm. Check out some of these incredible numbers. We're talking about 3.8 million people, 1.3 million buildings, 137 hospitals, 442 fire stations and 460 police stations.
This is a major storm impacting millions of people. This really has just catastrophic potential. It is really scary, Rick, when you take a hook at the path of this storm and the energy and the strength that Gustav has.
SANCHEZ: Now, you think it's scary and you're looking at it from this vantage point of us here in the world headquarters of CNN. Imagine, if you're somebody who lives in the Lower Ninth Ward -- I mean, you've been to the Lower Ninth Ward, I've been to the Lower Ninth Ward many, many times before and after. And it's those after pictures that leave you absolutely stunned.
We have someone on the phone right now who's from the Lower Ninth Ward. This is Roxanne Johnson. She is joining us now. She's a resident.
Roxanne, I would imagine that you are on your way out of town right now, is that right?
VOICE OF ROXANNE JOHNSON, LOWER NINTH WARD RESIDENT: No, I'm not. Not yet.
SANCHEZ: When are you going to leave?
JOHNSON: I'm trying to leave tonight. I was trying to get a little rest before I leave. I had planned on leaving about 8:00 tonight to go to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
SANCHEZ: Why are you going to Baton Rouge?
JOHNSON: Well, that was my plan. But the storm, it made a -- I mean it changed. I have --
SANCHEZ: Well, here's the thing. I mean, Baton Rouge, I don't know, Roger, have we got a map? Let's help her out with this thing. I mean, I'm sure you know but Baton Rouge is west of New Orleans. It's a little north and a little west.
Jacqui, help us out. Draw a line on there if you can, if you're listening to us. So, Baton Rouge is west and north of New Orleans. The storm seems to be going toward New Orleans, maybe tracking a little west of New Orleans.
Roxanne, you could be going right into the throat of this thing.
JOHNSON: Well, that's what I was going to see. We had planned on going to Baton Rouge, but when I saw that the storm was changing, now I don't know where to go.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Well, you know that FEMA and the city and the state are taking people and helping them out by putting them on buses and in some cases even on planes and getting them out of Dodge. Have you looked into that?
JOHNSON: Well, I have a car. I have a rental car. I'm just trying to figure out where should I go.
SANCHEZ: Well, Jacqui, Jacqui, are you there? JERAS: Yes, I'm here.
SANCHEZ: Help her out. Tell her which direction she should be driving in from a meteorological standpoint.
JERAS: Well, the farther north you can go, the better off you're going to be. And one of the problems that I'm hearing from Baton Rouge is that there have been some sporting events scheduled in town and all the hotel rooms have been booked. So, you need to call ahead and get in touch with somebody at a hotel and make sure that you have a room or that you have a friend that you can stay with.
Now, Baton Rouge is going to be feeling the impacts of this storm but you're going to be far enough inland that the storm surge won't be an issue. You just need to be hunkered down in a safe location. I also know that there are shelters that have been set up across parts of Louisiana and other states adjacent to there.
SANCHEZ: But the key is drive north as much as you can. And if you have to choose an easterly or a westerly direction, our guess at this point is east would probably be a little better than west, right?
JERAS: Well, if you're going east, you're definitely going to be on what we call the dirty side of the storm, where you're going to have that on shore flow of the wind. So, you know, we could still have really bad conditions in Mississippi and even all the way over into the Florida Panhandle, believe it or not. So, you know, I want to say, if you're going westerly, you're going to have a better chance of seeing less of an impact from the storm.
SANCHEZ: All right. There you go, Jacqui Jeras. Roxanne, I hope we're able to help you out. God bless. Hope everything works out for you.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: All right. Coming up, John McCain is counting on her to deliver the goods. Was she the right choice? We talked to the left, we talked to the right, we talked to the center.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: This came in just moments ago. This is from Brian Stiff (ph). He writes to us after watching our newscast. "This New Orleans thing is crazy. Are the taxpayers going to have to pay to move all these people every time a storm comes along? We should return all our coastlines to Mother Nature."
Interesting point of view as he watches everything going on with all the people trying to hurry up out of New Orleans and some of the other coastal areas.
Welcome back to the world headquarters of CNN. I'm Rick Sanchez. The woman who calls herself the average hockey mom from Alaska gets an immersion in national affairs tomorrow. Governor Sarah Palin, newly minted vice presidential candidate, joining Senator John McCain tomorrow in Mississippi, checking up on hurricane preparations. Today in Pennsylvania, Governor Palin remembered the women who preceded her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think as well today of two other women who came before me in national elections. And I can't begin this great effort without honoring the achievements of Geraldine Ferraro back in 1984 and, of course, Senator Hillary Clinton who did show determination and grace in her presidential campaign.
It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest hardest glass ceiling in America. But thankfully, as it turns out, the women of America aren't finished yet, and the voters will shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Let's bring a panel in on this. Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, Republican strategist with the best last name in television -- Sanchez as in Leslie not Rick -- not related, interestingly enough, our own White House correspondent Ed Henry as well.
All right, guys. Let's start with this decision of John McCain's to go to Mississippi. You know there are some who may criticize this and say, you know what, those folks down there are busy enough with everything they have going on to suddenly have to deal with the delegation of reporters coming in with a candidate and Secret Service guys. Good move or bad move? Let's start with you, Leslie.
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think it's a great move. If anything, you think about it, you'd be criticized if you weren't paying attention. And as much as it may be more difficult in terms of kind of moving people around, these people are very self- sufficient. People need to be dedicating the resources, the time and the energy to make sure that New Orleans and that entire region has everything they need to evacuate.
SANCHEZ: But by him going there, what could he not do by picking up the phone and having them shoot -- a shot of him on the phone talking and making sure things are getting done? Doesn't he risk the possibility of people saying he's hot dogging by trying to go there and be seen.
L. SANCHEZ: You know, your critics are going to say that anyway. I think the bottom line, whatever allows this region to have the best resources in the most efficient manner is the solution. Regardless of the pomp and circumstance, whatever meets those objectives is what needs to be done.
SANCHEZ: Chris Kofinis, to you, same question.
CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You know, there's a time of partisanship and there's a time for no partisanship. I don't think it's time to question whether John McCain is going to go down there is the wrong thing to do. I mean, New Orleans has suffered enough. I think both candidates are very sensitive about the politics surrounding this. And I think, you know, the best thing to do for both candidates and both campaigns is to focus on what's best for the citizens, the residents of that area, who are unfortunately going to suffer again potentially another tragedy.
R. SANCHEZ: All right. So, you're in the middle on this. Let's go to my White House correspondent, Ed Henry, different question -- Palin. At first we thought her selection had more to do with trying to bring in those women who possibly were frustrated because Hillary Clinton wasn't chosen. The more we looked at it, it looked more like a choice to appease or attract the evangelical vote. What are you hearing on this score?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think you put your finger right on it. First of all, in terms of the Hillary Clinton outreach, I was in Ohio yesterday when John McCain made that selection. You couldn't quite hear it because the crowd was so loud on television, but in person, I can tell you that when Sarah Palin mentioned Hillary Clinton, there were some boos out there, there wasn't that much applause at first...
SANCHEZ: Really?
HENRY: ...because a lot of the Republicans are not that excited about outreach to Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton is not their cup of tea. And you heard that in the clip you heard a moment ago today in Pennsylvania. We understand from our reporters on the ground, there was the same kind of thing. So, I'm not sure there were very many Hillary Clinton supporters who are going to come to the Republican ticket. Instead, I think you're right, this is in the end may be more about outreach to conservatives.
I just heard a quick anecdote just a short while ago from a Republican here, who said he was at a luncheon in St. Paul getting ready for the convention yesterday and after this news came in, Dr. Dobson, James Dobson, who has previously said, "look, I'm not going to vote for John McCain, I don't like John McCain very much, I don't think he's conservative enough." Yesterday when he heard about Sarah Palin, he said at this private luncheon, "sign me up, I'm on board." I think a lot of conservatives like her. It's about rallying the base.
SANCHEZ: So, it looks at this point -- go ahead, Leslie and Chris, as well, is this the decision that they needed to make to get people who aren't crazy about John McCain to suddenly become crazy about John McCain? And maybe I should ask the question this way, as I think this through as I'm asking the question -- how many of those people that they're going for, the evangelical vote or the strong Christian vote, how many of those weren't going to vote for McCain anyway?
L. SANCHEZ: Right. You know, Rick, I've got to say this. I think some people are reading this incorrectly. This is multiple -- this has so many layers to it that the more you think about this decision, the more brilliant it becomes for a lot of reason. One, it moved this from a generational election about age to an election about really class. It is going to the middle class. I have been on the phone with a lot of women's groups including the League of Women Voters in Ohio, women in public policy, half a million women on businesses. This is like a shot of adrenaline that gets women excited about the campaign. Republican or Democrat. It was liberal Republican. It was moderate Democrat. Now, they're looking at it seriously.
SANCHEZ: Leslie, pardon me for interrupting. We're down to 15 seconds. I want to just let Chris, in fairness, to take us out.
KOFINIS: Well, I mean, I think the way to look at it, there's kind of three different goals. One is to rally the base. I think that's been pretty successful.
I think the other one was to, you know, reach out to Hillary Clinton supporters. I don't think that's going to be successful. They're not the same type of voters. And if you see the report, I don't think there's a lot of Hillary Clinton supporters at Republican events.
And the last one is to try to change the dynamics of the race. That one, I think, is still an untold question. The reality is, I mean, both McCain and Palin are the same kind of candidate in the sense of the policy they're going to pursue. That is going to be the difficult sell with voters whether they're women or not.
SANCHEZ: All right. My thanks to all three of you. Job well done. Good conversation.
Coming up, if you or I see a wildfire, what do we do? We certainly try and go in the other direction unless there's somebody getting hurt. And then we try and help in any way we can. Firefighters have to rush right in. One of them wears a helmet cam recently as he battles the flames. And we've got the footage. We're going to let you see it as it happens for yourself. Amazing stuff.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez. Let me just be real flat honest with you here. This next video that I'm going to show you I haven't seen yet because I've been too busy making phone calls, checking on what's going on with the hurricane and everything political to actually have a chance to look at it.
My producers have been raving about it all day. They say this is must-see video. So, let's get into it now. This is a firefighter fighting a wildfire. He's got a camera strapped inside his helmet. I'm going to shut up and let you listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (OFF-MIKE)
(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: As you can see, that's him coming into the situation. He's tackling the flames. That's the first time we've seen a firefighter in that situation actually from his own perspective. It's the old first-person video or cinema vitae as we were taught once when I was learning about my profession rather than practicing my profession. Good stuff. You guys are right. That is kind of revealing.
Also, we're going to stay on top of all the stories going on, your feedback both from Facebook and MySpace, and we'll be talking to you on twitter and, of course, on TV. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Just to clear this up because we've got a lot of questions about it. The contraflow, that's where they close all lanes going into New Orleans but open everything going out so you can only get out. That starts at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow. We got that word from the governor's office, Bobby Jindal's office in Louisiana. Again, 4:00 a.m. tomorrow.
Let's go to some of your comments now if we possibly can. Let's go to the big plasma. There you see Noah Cohen says "glad to see McCain headed to the gulf. Need to two things. Firsthand, bring to attention to issue. He thinks it's a good move, when we were talking about this just a little while ago.
Let's go down here to Spkml. He says, "I thought we were looking at equality so black, woman or old guy is irrelevant to ability for qualifications." And then we've got somebody criticizing Leslie Sanchez for not answering my question. And this is the one I like the best. He says, you know what? "I'm just going to watch "Scarface" tonight."
Good night, everybody. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll bring you the very latest on the storm and everything going on politically as well. I'm Rick Sanchez, tomorrow.
