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Cat. 4 Gustav Moves into Gulf; Who Is Sarah Palin?

Aired August 30, 2008 - 16:59   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: I am strongly, strongly encouraging everyone in the city to evacuate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's set the scene for you. You can see some of the pictures. This is what's going on, 5:00 on the East Coast. Category 4, that's right, Category 4. Will it go all the way to a 5? That's what we're following. We're working around the clock to stay one step ahead of Gustav for you.

The stage is set for Republicans to nominate their pick for president. A live view of St. Paul, there it is as the best political team is getting hunkered right down for convention week to bring all of the facts, all of the details, and all the buzz.

Speaking of political buzz today, it's all about Governor Sarah Palin, the woman that John McCain has chosen to complete his ticket. She is going to join him live at the campaign event. It will be their first official campaign event other than the actual naming, and that will take place, oh, about one hour from now.

Hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. Gustav is coming. It's now a Category 4 and seems to be growing. CNN is ready. This hour we're going to have a live report from Washington where the feds say they are ready as well. Unlike they say they were during Katrina. See the picture down there on the right? That's the scene down there with people getting ready to head out of town.

Kate Bolduan is going to bring us that scene and tell us what's going on with FEMA and all the emergency workers. We're going to start though in New Orleans where the evacuations are actually under way in earnest. Live for us now in an anxious and emptying city, we should mention, is CNN's Susan Roesgen.

Susan, set the scene for us there, would you?

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, this is also a fragile and tattered city. People are very concerned, but this is the way an evacuation is supposed to work. I'm here at the Greyhound bus station and the Amtrak train station, they're both together here.

And the very poorest of the citizens of this city, the people who have no cars, no way to get out, an estimated 30,000 people were encouraged to come here today. City buses would go and pick them up from 17 different places around the city, bring them here, and then they were going to get on and some have already gotten on.

The first city of New Orleans Amtrak train to leave this city, heading for safety in Memphis and also on city buses heading to different locations in the northern part of the state, well away from the effects of Hurricane Gustav.

However, there was a problem, Rick. There was a computer glitch. So in the registration process the city wanted to get the names, addresses, phone numbers of people before they got on the buses or got on the trains because in Katrina many people were disappearing.

They were off the rolls and their family members didn't know whether they were in the city or were dead or couldn't be found here or had actually made it to shelters elsewhere.

Well, in trying to line up all those people, trying to get all those signatures, all those phone numbers, that left hundreds of people standing outside in 90-degree heat. Some of them took it in stride and said they were just glad to get a free ride out of town, but others were frustrated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's horrible! Very horrible! I've got a pregnant sister with two kids with a grandma out here who don't need to be behind this line. What they should have done first is take the pregnant people and the elderly people first, then worry about making a line. But now all this confusion?

ARNIE FIELKOW, PRES., NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL: We have a lot of people to evacuate and the earlier that we get them here, the better it will be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROESGEN: That was the city council president here in New Orleans, Rick, Councilman Arnie Fielkow. He was here. He admitted that, yes, there was a computer breakdown and so what the city decided to do later today was to stop the registration, just get everybody on those buses, get them on the trains, get them out of here.

And then wherever they go, whichever shelters they go to or when they wind up in Memphis on the city of New Orleans train, then the city will take down their names and phone numbers and addresses so their family members can find them.

Rick, we are expecting a mandatory evacuation of the city tomorrow. We're expecting that. We won't know until 7:00 local time, 8:00 East Coast time when we hear Mayor Nagin make an announcement as to whether or not he thinks the entire city should be evacuated. Today it was just the people who needed help getting out and couldn't get out on their own, and the elderly and the disabled -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: You know, I remember covering a storm that was coming into Texas about two years ago. And one of the biggest problems was everybody headed for the highways at the very same time. And then you had a worse situation with everybody stuck on the highways.

Is there any way they can figure out a way to do this, Susan, so that they somehow stagger it perhaps so that everybody doesn't hit the road at the same time, then you've got people, then you have got gridlock?

ROESGEN: Yes, that's the plan. What they learned in Katrina is that they would start with the coastal parishes. You know, parishes are like counties in other states. Start with the low-lying coastal parishes. New Orleans is quite a bit inland from the actual Gulf.

So they'll start with those first parishes, yesterday, early this morning. And then New Orleanians would get on the road possibly as early as tomorrow. What they're also doing, Rick, is what they is contraflow, which is, they take that main east-west highway, Highway 10, Interstate 10.

And they make all of the lanes outgoing. They cut off the normal flow that would be back into the city and they make all the lanes heading out. And that really does help a lot of the evacuation.

But also, Rick, so many people here have told me here, friends that I have here in New Orleans said, we're not waiting, we're getting out. I had friends who left last night, who left this morning. And they're not waiting. They're getting out because -- actually it's a good thing, because they want to get out, get on the road, and get away from a possible gridlock on the highway tomorrow.

SANCHEZ: Yes, you've got two kinds of problems, you've got the people who want to leave before they're told to leave and then those who won't leave until it's way too late and then suddenly they can't get out. We'll be watching both of them.

Of course, hey, look, this is a very difficult thing to handle. I'm sure officials there along with the help of the feds are doing the best they can. We've got Susan Roesgen on it as well as we do several other correspondents. And as the situation changes and as new information becomes available, you can count on us here at CNN to bring it to you firsthand.

By the way, those of you who are there in New Orleans, if you're on MySpace, if you're on Facebook or if you're on Twitter, we're on it, too. I'm going to be connecting to you. I've already been having conversations with some of you who are there in NOLA. Let me know what the mood is, what's going on, what information you think we should be getting out to perhaps better help the situation there.

And, of course, we're here to improve the situation as far as the community goes because this is a very important situation for the folks there in New Orleans. The death toll from Gustav already is high, we should add. At least 78 dead on the island of Hispaniola and on Jamaica.

Hispaniola, by the way, is a combination of two countries, it's Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with a line split down the middle through a mountain range. Right now the storm is hitting western Cuba. Let's get you over to the CNN Hurricane Center, meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is standing by to catch us up on what's going on.

Did this thing just change in category, Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, it didn't. It's still a Category 4, Rick. It changed from earlier today. We were at a 3, but it was the 2:00 advisory or just before that it got upgraded to a Category 4 storm. But our 5:00 Eastern time advisory just came in, and the winds are up a little bit, but not enough to make it a 5. It has to be over 155 miles per hour, sustained wind, for it to be considered that granddaddy of all storms.

So it continues to intensify here with Gustav, and it continues to move on a northwesterly track. The center of rotation now, the eye of the storm, has pulled off the Island of Youth so it's in that little sliver of water right here and it's getting ready to put the northern eyewall now over the southern coast of Cuba.

So a very critical situation going on for western Cuba over the next couple of hours. And this radar picture here showing you very clearly how close that eyewall is, just about reaching it. And to put it into perspective for you, that's where Havana is.

We also have some new information coming in from the Florida Keys area. Tornado watch has been issued. We've had a couple of warnings, but no confirmed touchdowns or damage. Wind gusts on order of 40 to 50 miles per hour can be expected.

All right. Also, fresh from the top of the hour is watches have been issued. Hurricane watches for the northern Gulf Coast from about High Point, Texas, all the way over to the Florida/Alabama state line. And if you don't know Texas very well, High Point is right about here, just east of the Galveston area.

We think the storm will not weaken as it moves over Cuba. In fact, intensification likely especially as it heads into the Gulf. But we think some weakening will be possible before it makes landfall because the water is just not quite as favorable up here. That's really the best news that I can tell you, Rick. And it doesn't look good.

SANCHEZ: It does look right now though -- I mean, looking at this thing like it's not really making a beeline for New Orleans. If anything, it seems to be going a little westerly. And I know you guys always say, look at the cone, don't look at the line.

JERAS: Right.

SANCHEZ: But are we to take from that, you know, any sense of relief at this point, especially for the folks watching us down there in New Orleans?

JERAS: No. Actually, it's almost worse. In one sense, Rick, is that they're going to be on what we call the bad side of the storm. If it hits just west of New Orleans, that's where you get the greatest storm surge. That's where you get the strongest of winds, and really, the worst conditions and the greatest threat of tornadoes.

So you know, a better case would be for the folks in New Orleans, if it would hit somewhere over here. But you can see that cone starting to shave out. We're still probably maybe 48 hours away from landfall potentially. And the margin of error for the track is somewhere around 125 miles, that's on either side of that line.

So we still have some room here to see this thing go in a different direction.

SANCHEZ: Yes, right. It could end up east of New Orleans, it could be a Galveston storm.

JERAS: Potentially.

SANCHEZ: And by the way, that part of Cuba where it's going, being from Cuba, I know that's not a particularly mountainous part, the topography is not very high. So that's part of the reason, as you mentioned a little while ago, that this thing is probably not going to slow down or lose intensity, right?

JERAS: Pretty flat and pretty narrow, Rick. So it's not going to do a whole lot to knock down a Category 4 storm.

SANCHEZ: Yes. That used to be called the Isle of Pines. And then the Castro revolution came in...

JERAS: And changed it to the Isle of Youth.

SANCHEZ: ... they changed the name to the Isle of Youth.

JERAS: I did not know that, because you know, somebody from CNN was just saying, I thought it was the Isle of Pines. I'm like, no, it's the Isle of Youth.

SANCHEZ: Exactly.

JERAS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Isla la Pinos. All right. Thanks so much, Jacqui. I'm filled with information for you, much of it useless.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says he's likely going to order a mandatory evacuation. It's beginning at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. Again, mandatory evacuation, that's from Mayor Nagin, 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. By Sunday, the state is going to switch interstates, opening all lanes to outbound traffic. I-10 to Baton Rouge, or Baton Rouge, as many say over there; I-55 north to Jackson, Mississippi, I-59 north to Hattiesburg.

It's worth noting that Mayor Nagin is encouraging people to drive north since the storm seems likely to jog in a westerly direction, as Jacqui and I were just talking about during that conversation. Now let's talk about Texas. We understand that people there are evacuating as well. They're going to be evacuating their homes. That's causing a problem, though. See that? It's already starting to back up traffic. These are pictures that we've just been getting in, traffic in the Houston area.

This is a scene on I-10. Now this is yesterday. We thank KHOU for getting those pictures out to us. Some of the back-up was due to construction and a jackknifed tractor trailer. But some folks in the Houston/Beaumont area are heeding voluntary evacuation orders as well. Some were getting out as early as yesterday with some of the traffic problems as well. Because of the jackknifed tractor trailer, it became even worse.

As you can see, though, a lot of folks are getting ready to head out dodge. Some counties along the Texas coast have ordered mandatory evacuations. That's for people with special needs.

And there's also a staging area for buses to be used in a mandatory evacuation based in Beaumont, Texas. Texas emergency officials say the voluntary evacuation is in place for the general population, but it could become mandatory for everybody as early as tomorrow morning.

So who is she exactly? John McCain picks his running mate and pretty much fakes out the political experts completely, including ours. So what do we know about Governor Sarah Palin?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We do welcome you back to the world headquarters of CNN. I'm Rick Sanchez. A lot of stuff going on, as you might imagine. People are really anxious about this hurricane that seems to be coming up the Gulf Coast.

Also, people are anxious about what's going on with the Republican Convention. I have got two comments from people who have been joining us just a little while. You know, we're going on to Facebook, and MySpace, and also we're going to be talking to you on twitter.com, twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn if you want to join us.

As we go on the air, we're already getting lots comments. This is from Mark Mayhew (ph). He is saying: "I'm going to be Tweeting Gustav from New Orleans until the lights go out." So he's with us and obviously he's watching our news and talking to us on the air.

And then we've got this one coming in from Djarling Has (ph). She says: "Who cares? She's a gimmick," referring obviously to vice presidential pick Palin. "The republicans want us to praise them for something the Dems did in 1984." Interesting how all of the comments are coming in. These are two hot topics, folks.

Speaking of the Republican Convention, the Republican Party, it's getting ready to kick off its national convention as aforementioned, 45,000 people are expected to be at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. That's what it looks like. Beautiful building. Preparations under way already.

Monday night President Bush is going to take the stage for his final convention speech as head of the GOP. Thursday, Senator John McCain gives his address and accepts the party's presidential nomination.

But, but, Hurricane Gustav could be like the old wrench thrown into the system here. CNN's Dana Bash is joining us now. She has been following this, the McCain/Palin rally, it is outside of Washington, Pennsylvania, not to be confused with the other Washington.

Dana, what's going on? What's the buzz with this new politician which no one had really been talking about up until about yesterday?

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously there is a lot of buzz and that's primarily because she is the new politician nobody was talking about yesterday. And that obviously was big part of the reason why the McCain campaign decided to pick her.

Now here at -- in Washington, Pennsylvania, you can see behind me there is a big rally planned. The two of them are about to appear together for the second time in 45 minutes. And it definitely is a party atmosphere here. Country singer John Rich just finished up singing to warm up the crowd.

But as this is going on, Rick, and this party atmosphere is going on, inside the McCain campaign, inside Republican headquarters, they are trying to figure out what is going to happen at their convention.

And they are monitoring our coverage, they are monitoring Hurricane Gustav as much as anybody else. And what CNN has learned is that if it is as bad as it looks like it could be, the McCain campaign is considering, is considering doing something as radical as changing the Republican Convention into a kind of service event, if that is needed, a service event where it would be kind of a telethon, I'm told, by a McCain source where they would try to raise money for the Red Cross and other services that would help the hurricane.

Now that obviously is worst-case scenario, but it is something that I'm told the McCain campaign is considering. Aside from that, our John King is hearing from Republican sources in Minneapolis that there are a lot of meetings going on for other contingency plans if it's not quite as bad as that.

We know some of the governors who were slated for big speaking roles, like the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, he has said he's not going to come. Others as well. So they're changing things around.

You mentioned the fact that President Bush is supposed to have a big speaking role Monday night, his last speaking role. It is very unclear at this point whether or not he's going to go. So there are a lot of things that are up in the air right now.

We do know that Rick Davis, who is John McCain's campaign manager, is heading to Minneapolis now. He is going to trying to hunker down and have conversations with planning folks there as they monitor what's going on with Gustav.

And you know, they're going to try to figure out what to do in the next 24 to 48 hours as we see what happens with this hurricane.

SANCHEZ: So that's interesting information that you're sharing with us, Dana. I mean, we had a graphic on there that says -- you can see it there, "convention cut short," they're not really cutting it short. The worst-case scenario, what they'll do is change the emphasis from a convention to more of a community service event.

BASH: That is one possibility. I think it's important to note that because everything is so up in the air, because it is so unknown what is going to happen, that that is one possibility that I'm told that Senator McCain himself is taking seriously.

You remember what happened when Senator McCain, during the campaign, went down to Louisiana. He made it very clear that this will never of happen again. A big part of his message in this campaign is to say that one of the reasons why he thinks that the bush administration is wrong is because of what happened in Hurricane Katrina.

They don't want to do anything that will jeopardize the idea that he, you know, doesn't stick to that. And obviously service has been a big thing for him. In addition to that...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: You know what, Dana? It's not even that. I mean, I'll tell you what it is. It's an image. I mean, you don't want people in a dire situation in New Orleans or Houston or wherever this thing could happen, hopefully it won't, while you have an image on TV of Republicans whooping it up, jumping up and down, through no fault of their own, of course. It's just not the right image to have. Those two contrasting images wouldn't work for them, wouldn't be a good thing for them to have. So they're smart to be looking at alternatives at this point. Yes, yes.

BASH: Exactly. And that is almost precisely the words that one of Senator McCain's advisers used with me. He does not want to have a party atmosphere going on there. He absolutely refuses to do that if, in fact, it is as bad as it could be with Hurricane Gustav.

SANCHEZ: Got it. Dana, thanks so much. Thanks for that report. Thanks for updating on this situation. I know it is changing moment to moment. And still really nobody has answers except maybe God, because this is something that involves Mother Nature in this case.

McCain's campaign calls Palin a tough executive who's ready to be president. In two short years she has moved from a small-town mayor to become the first female governor of Alaska. And now she is making history as the first female running mate on a Republican presidential ticket. She's viewed as a political reformer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDAT:E I was just your average hockey mom in Alaska.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

PALIN: We were busy raising our kids. I was serving as the team mom and coaching some basketball on the side. I got involved in the PTA and then was elected to the city council, and then elected mayor of my hometown where my agenda was to stop wasteful spending and cut property taxes and put the people first.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

PALIN: I was then appointed ethics commissioner and chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. And when I found corruption there, I fought it hard and I held the offenders to account.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

PALIN: Along with fellow reformers in the great state of Alaska, as governor I stood up to the old politics as usual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: So how popular is Palin back home in Alaska? We're going to talk to two typical Alaskan residents, voters both of them. We're going to find out from them what they think of this governor that most of us hadn't heard about before.

SANCHEZ: Also, Obama and Biden hope to build on the momentum from their party's convention this week. They're touring key battleground states. Today their bus made several stops in Ohio. A rally in Dublin starts in just an hour. Obama and Biden heading to Michigan tomorrow.

By the way, what does Barack Obama say about his rival's running mate choice? We're going to find out in his own words, that's coming up in just 30 minutes.

And then, at the top of the hour, CNN special, one you don't want to miss. "On the Trail." "AMERICA VOTES" follows the candidate as they make their case to you, the voter. Catch it tonight at 6:00 Eastern.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on Hurricane Gustav and on FEMA to see how it's going to handle this thing this time around. The agency got a bad rap after Hurricane Katrina three years ago. This time the feds say they are ready. We'll ask.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right. Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the world headquarters of CNN. Got a couple of folks talking to us already. This one says -- listening to the conversation we were having about the convention and Palin a minute ago, she says: "Palin takes any talk of experience off the table."

And here's one: "FYI, Gulfport, Mississippi, reporting here if you need anything. From, Jason (ph)." Thanks, Jase (ph). Let us know how things are going there. We'll be keeping tabs with you as well, as we will with everybody up and down coast there as they prepare for what could be a pretty serious hurricane. Let's hope not.

Three years ago, the Federal Emergency Management Agency took plenty of heat for its failures after Hurricane Katrina. Who could forget? Director David Paulison insisted that FEMA is a changed organization and will be ready for Gustav.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID PAULISON, DIRECTOR, FEMA: We've changed from a reactive to a proactive situation. So what you see now is that things that are on the ground now, you already see hundreds of buses, hundreds of ambulances, urban search and rescue team, supplies are already there.

Evacuation routes are laid out. The evacuation centers are already there, where they're going to be staying, supplies are in place there. We have trains on the ground, we have planes on the ground. All of those things that didn't happen until after Katrina hit are now happening before the storm comes in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The problem is those words may fall on deaf ears in New Orleans. Katrina survivors remember President Bush's "heckuva" pat for -- pat on the back for another FEMA director back in 2005, as in "heckuva job, Brownie." Remember? David Paulison made it clear that is a very different agency than it was back then.

CNN's Kate Bolduan is live for us. She's now in FEMA headquarters in Washington.

OK, they say it's a different agency. How is it a different agency, Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hey there, Rick. Well, they say it's a different agency because they say they're ready, they're not waiting for Gustav to hit before they act. It sounds simple, but they say this is a vast improvement from the federal response that the Gulf saw three years ago when Katrina hit.

Those images just burned into everyone's minds. We will not very soon forget the pictures that we saw coming out of the Gulf Coast three years ago. And Director David Paulison says that the people on the ground are going to see a difference, that you will see a difference on the ground before, during, and after Gustav takes landfall.

We spoke to him earlier today. He also was here at the briefing this afternoon. Here is a little bit from FEMA administrator David Paulison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULISON: We are providing a different type of response. If you talk to the people down there, you talk to the governors, talk to local and regional managers, they are truly seeing a different federal, state, and local response than they've seen in the past.

And this is the big culture change. There is no question about it. It is a big shift in how we respond to disasters. We are not going to be reactive anymore, we are going to be proactive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now so far, administrator Paulison says he's very pleased with the response and the preparation that they're seeing on the ground. They say really the improvement here -- the big improvement here is there is more coordination and communication earlier.

And they say is much more improved across the board from top to bottom, federal agencies speaking with local agencies and states communicating with each other. It sounds simple, Rick, but they say it an improvement and they are continuing to stress, as we've been talking about on air all day today, that while there are a lot of plans in place for when Gustav hits, and wherever it does hit, they say the key right now is evacuation.

No one should be trying to ride out the storm in any of the Gulf Coast areas. And they should all be trying to get out at this point.

SANCHEZ: All right. Kate Bolduan, thanks so much. Got that, proactive, not reactive. Jotting that down.

BOLDUAN: That's what they say.

SANCHEZ: Now let's check them to make sure they actually do that.

BOLDUAN: Right. We'll watch.

SANCHEZ: Thanks a lot.

They are taking no chances, workers are leaving oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Obviously not sticking around in that precarious perch. We're going to hope that Gustav doesn't affect the price of gas. Boy, that would the last thing we need, wouldn't it?

We'll have that for you. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Just got a comment in from the folks at the Home Depot in New Orleans. They're saying that the mood in New Orleans is much better than it was three years ago, better prepared, they say. Steady prep activities citywide for the past several days now, reading that one right there. So folks at Home Depot are saying things look pretty good up there right now. Obviously we've got our fingers crossed for them.

By the way, the Republican Party is getting ready to kick off its national convention in just a couple of days. We, when we come back, will have a preview.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCEHZ: Lessons learned. Some of the folks on the gulf coast, many people aren't waiting for the storm to crawl ashore. They're hitting the road, if you haven't heard, and they're doing it in large numbers. These pictures are from Texas and from Louisiana, both places, residents being asked by public officials to get out of dodge. Traffic is snarling on the highway in Houston, as you might expect. In New Orleans, residents are lining up to take buses out of town. Mayor Ray Nagin could issue a mandatory evacuation order early this evening.

Let's go back to Jacqui Jeras.

What have we learned? Has it changed in any way or...

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEORGOLOGIST: It's just getting stronger. Continuing to ramp up. One note on evacuation, Rick. We talk about preparing for these storms, what you do to your house and what supplies you need in your home. But, remember, when you're evacuating, you need supplies as well. You want to have water and non-perishable foods in your car because you may get stuck, might be stuck in traffic for quite some time. Be sure you bring that along with you, batteries, flashlights as well and blankets.

Here's what's going on with the storm, 150 miles per hour. Can you imagine that this is an incredibly strong storm, just shy of a category 5. Got to be over 155 to get up to a 5. Very clearly see the eye right there. The eye wall itself is just about bearing down on the coast of Cuba now. Watches have been issued now for the north gulf coast from High Island, Texas, all the way to the Alabama-Florida border. Then tropical storm watches extended eastward to the river.

Here you can see the radar picture. Here's that eye wall we were talking about, just bearing down right now on Cuba's southern coast.

I guess Mayor Ray Nagin from New Orleans is now holding a live presser. We'll listen in.

RAY NAGIN, MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: ... who was assigned to deal with pets. He did not show up and fulfill his contract. We've made an adjustment. We've used a state vehicle as well as the fire department has stepped in and we are still moving forward as it relates to pet evacuations.

The union passenger terminal is the key point for where all of our citizens who need assistance are coming. We're procession at a rapid rate. We have 22 buses that have already left, for about 11 to 1200 people. We have loaded up a train that is headed out to Memphis Tennessee. There were 1500 individuals that were on that train that has left or will be leaving shortly. Things seem to be progressing well. We're still picking people up at the 17 site. We asked all of our citizens to be patient as all buses are going back and forth between those pickup sites and the union passenger terminal. We are enhancing the number of portals there at the union passenger terminal and we are bringing supply of water out to the 17 pickup points to make sure that people stay fairly comfortable.

We did have another challenge. The system crashed as it relates to the registration process so we have suspended that. The governor ordered the suspension of processing of citizens on the front end so they will be processed on the back end once they get to the shelters where they're going to show up. We've had a flood of registrations as it relates to our 311 system. Continues to be stressed. We went from 13,000 registered people yesterday to now we're at 20,000 and counting.

There's no longer a need for citizens to register on the 311. If you go to the 17 pickup zones, we will continue to service you. The only people who really need to continue to register on 311, is anyone with medical needs. Anyone who has medical needs still needs to register at the 311 so we know where you are and we can come pick you up. Anyone else, you do not need to continue to register as we will continue to pick you up.

As it relates to the storm, most of you know the storm did jog to the west a little bit but not significant enough for us to alter any of our plans. We are still in the cone of probability and still most likely will experience significant storm surge and rain. So there is no major change to our plans at this point.

I am strongly, strongly encouraging everyone in the city to evacuate. Start the process now. Go north if you can because the storm may continue to turn a little bit west. So if you can go north, that would be good.

My message today is to tourists in addition. It's time for you to leave the city. All tourists, I'm asking you to start the process of evacuating from our city. Do not wait. Start the evacuation process.

If the storm continues on its current path and once it gets into the Gulf of Mexico we will know exactly where it's going or we'll have a better sense, this storm is starting to be a little tricky. Yesterday it turned yesterday it turned into a category 3, which nobody predicted. That should tell you something about a hurricane. If it continues on its current math, we will start the mandatory evacuation process first thing in the morning, 8:00 a.m., and we will most likely make that call this afternoon at our 7:00 or 7:30...

UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: You are listening to Mayor Nagin.

SANCHEZ: There you go. Really a couple of things the mayor said that are important that we hadn't heard before. Again, stressing that he wants the tourists out of town. Get out. Get out now. And then as far as the residents are concerned, you heard in an earlier report that they were getting the residents out of New Orleans on buses but there was a big backlog because they were trying to process them before they get on the bus. The mayor said moments ago -- and this is probably the biggest news out of this, especially for the people living there in New Orleans. If you're watching this now, you will no longer be processed on the front end. You are now going to be processed on the back end. Which means just get on the bus, get out of town. When you get to wherever you get, that's when they'll take your information and they'll process you.

So obviously they're changing the process as we go because it wasn't working, as you saw in the report that was filed by Susan Roesgen just a little while ago.

The third thing, which is kind of curious, the mayor mentioned this is a category 3 storm and that's surprising a lot of people. Actually, the mayor is wrong. This is a category 4 storm, which should surprise people, but more than a category 3. He made a reference to what it was yesterday. I don't know if the mayor has been caught up on the information, but at this point, it is a category 4 storm. That makes it -- I'm from Florida -- a very dangerous storm, not one to be messed with. So we're going to continue to give you updates. If we get any information coming out of New Orleans, we'll bring you that as well.

Meanwhile, a lot of the towns that are on the gulf coast, all the way up to the canaries and the coal mine during the hurricane, they're the first to see the dark clouds drifting ashore and the first to watch the waves rising higher and higher as we go. We're talking about places like Grand Isle, Louisiana, that was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina.

CNN's Ali Velshi is there, joining us by phone to bring us up to date.

There's a couple of industries there, I remember right after Katrina we took a couple of boats and what we saw were a couple of industries affected. One is the fishing and shrimping industry, boats just totally demolished, brought several miles ashore -- inland, I should say. And the other one was some of the oil rigs that are right up along the coast of Louisiana. Do you expect both of these are going to be affected? If so, if it's already happening, how so?

JOSH LEVS, CNN NEWS ANLYST: You're absolutely right. Shrimping and oil are the big industries here. I'm in Grand Isle, a town about 1500 people normally during the summer months it gets up to 16,000 or 20,000 because it's such a great fishing location. It is like a ghost town now. It has been largely evacuated along with a lot of southern Louisiana.

By the way, Rick, I want to tell you for all those people evacuating, all those live pictures of those people on I-10, we just heard from Shell that as of mid-morning, about 10 percent of the Shell branded gas stations in new Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, that whole area are out of gas. They are trying very hard, as are the other oil companies, to keep gas going to those stations. If you're planning to evacuate, get your gas where can and get it early. Plan for that because the stations are starting to run out of gas.

Around here, I went out just about a half hour ago with the fire chief and we were -- he was telling everybody it's mandatory evacuation. Most people don't need much prompting. They saw Katrina and this is a barrier island, this is what is going to get hit. They're very, very concerned about that.

One the people not leaving just yet is a gentleman named Dean Blanchard. He runs the operation of all those shrimp boats. They come in and dump the shrimp with him. They sell them the shrimp and he processes it. He distributes it. I'm now overlooking Dean's shrimp operation and it is shut down, it's empty. The boats I saw yesterday are gone. They've gone to higher ground. They are trying to protect themselves.

Here's what Dean had to tell me about this storm coming up.

DEAN BLANCHARD, SHRIMPING INDUSTRY: I deal with most hurricanes, you know, it's just so nerve wracking when you're wondering what happened to your stuff. So if it's going to go, I want to -- then I'm going to know where I'm at anyway.

LEVS: That's Dean. He stayed here through Katrina. While 50 or 60 houses in the neighborhood were all destroyed, his stood standing.

Let me tell you, this new information we're getting from Jacqui, the new information you just talked about, Rick, that this thing has strengthened already to a category 4, well, Dean and the mayor and the fire chief and the police chief, they're all in a meeting down the road right now discussing what happens, what they do if this thing does get stronger. They told me, look, there were a few of them, a handful of them were planning on riding this out, but they're thinking about this. Their families have been evacuated. If this intensifies, don't want to be around them to watch it.

We're staying with them but evaluating on an hourly basis how bad this could get for the folks in southern Louisiana -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: A great report. Ali Velshi, as usual, getting us both a personal report from some of the folks there and the effect it's going to have on industry, namely the shrimping and oil rigs along the region. Then he mentioned that one point, extremely interesting. Did you catch that? 10 percent according to shell officials of the Shell gas stations around New Orleans are out of gas. They've got none.

We'll be right back.

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SANCHEZ: We should tell you that we've just received word that the old Straight Talk Express is going to be arriving at the convention in St. Paul in just a little bit. As soon as it does, we'll take you there and let you get a shot of that as it happens. We've been talking a lot about this hurricane that could possibly, could possibly, hit New Orleans. A lot of people there are very afraid.

We've got a report I want you to watch about a person who decided to move to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Think about that. She wanted to help people.

(CNN HEROES)

SANCHEZ: To see how Liz McCartney changed her life to rebuild St. Bernard Parrish or get involved with any of our heroes causes, go to CNN.com/heroes. The most outstanding heroes are going to be an all-star tribute on thanksgiving night here on CNN.

As we mentioned a little while ago, we're expecting at any moment, the Straight Talk Express will arrive in St. Paul with her and him. The dynamic duo for the Republican Party arrives in St. Paul in just a moment and we'll have that for you live.

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SANCHEZ: Let's start off with a picture. This is not New Orleans. This is the convention. This is in St. Paul, Minnesota. As we're looking at this -- hold on, hold on. I'm being told now we are in Washington, Pennsylvania. That's right, Washington, Pennsylvania, where we understand that McCain and Palin will soon be going through.

Is this where the Straight Talk Express is going to be showing up? Thank you.

OK. Let me clarify my own clarification. Sarah Palin and John McCain are going to be showing up in Washington, Pennsylvania, heading -- or bound, I should say, to St. Paul for the big convention.

We're told the former governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge, was there a few moments ago. Tom Ridge was one of the major secretary announcements for the president of the United States. He was the head of Homeland security, the first-ever head of Homeland Security. And we don't see him there now. We're told he was there just moments ago. We'll keep an eye on that shot as well as we do all the other stories that are taking place right now all over the country.

Let's go back to the Palin story. A little known governor from a sparsely populated state, but now she's on the world stage as Senator John McCain's running mate. It happened within 24 hours with most people not even knowing it was going to happen, just about nobody, except a little bit insiders. First-term governor from Alaska is going to be traveling across the U.S. in the weeks ahead trying to convince voters she's qualified to be the vice president.

But what do people in her home state think? Joining me now by phone, two Alaskan voters who own a bed and breakfast in the town of Kenai, Jackie and John Steckel.

Did I get that right? JACKIE STECHEL, ALASKA RESIDENT: Kenai.

JOHN STECHEL, ALASKA RESIDENT: Yes.

SANCHEZ: All right, I got it. A lot of us are hearing about her and Googling her to find out whatever we can about her. What do you guys know about her that you either like or don't like?

JACQUIE STECKEL: John, you want to go first?

JOHN STECKEL: No, you can go first.

JACQUIE STECKEL: I really like who she is, not just because she appeals to women voters, but she's a woman of character and determination. She's high energy, a great communicator.

SANCHEZ: She knew -- you talked about a woman of character. She knew that her child would be born with Down syndrome and she chose to have the child anyway. What did that decision mean to you?

JACQUIE STECHEL: Wow.

JOHN STECHEL: She's pro life and doesn't want to opt out with an easy excuse.

SANCHEZ: It's easy to say you're pro life. It's another one to have it actually directly affect you where you have to make a decision as a result of it, isn't it?

JACQUIE STECHEL: I think it points to the fact that she puts her money where her mouth is.

SANCEZ: Is that something that you think -- because everybody's looking at this as -- the first thing everybody said as soon as her name came out was, well, obviously John McCain is trying to get women to vote for her, trying to steal the Hillary Clinton thunder. Then when people looked at it closer, they say, no, this is beyond that. This is a way of getting the evangelical vote which many say would abandon John McCain to come back and jump on his bandwagon. Do you think that's correct?

JACQUIE STECHEL: I think that she's an ideal for Alaskans, as well as possibly for America because of the qualities I just stated. She's been a great governor so far. One of our probably main concerns is that...

SANCHEZ: Jacquie, you guys like her?

JACQUIE STECHEL: We like her. We don't want to lose her.

SANCHEZ: Say it loud, say it proud. Thanks for being on with us. Take care.

We'll be right back. Stay with us.

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