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American Morning
Hurricane Gustav Hits Louisiana; FEMA Model Shows Possible Damage Estimates; Critically-Ill Patients Staying Put in Louisiana
Aired September 01, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning just crossing the top of the hour, 6:00 Eastern time, 5:00 there in New Orleans as the rain continues to come down. Hurricane Gustav lurking just offshore with its bull's eye right there square on Grand Isle, which is where our Ali Velshi is, and we'll be talking to him in just a minute as it's still a very, very dangerous hurricane.
Good morning. Welcome back to CNN continuing coverage of Gustav about to come onshore. John Roberts, I'm in Saint Paul, Minnesota, this morning, home of the Republican National Convention which has been dramatically scaled back as a result of this storm. Good morning, Kiran.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely and rightfully so. This is a big one. This is something that is prompting the largest evacuation in our nation's history. Some two million people getting out of that region from Texas west, all the way east to Mississippi and Alabama. They are not taking any chances with this storm, and we are tracking the breaking news as this Category three gets set to slam into the Louisiana coast.
Winds right now at 115 miles per hour. Gusts at 140 miles per hour. And right now, the storm is centered just off of Louisiana's coast. A bit of good news, though. It is not expected to strengthen before landfall.
New Orleans though is on what they call the dirty eastern edge of the storm. This is where folks will get the brunt of the winds and the rains, along with the storm surge of up to 14 feet. It really is going to be a huge challenge to the city's rebuilt levees.
Sustained tropical force winds are whipping New Orleans, itself, already. They have tornado watches in effect from Louisiana all the way east to parts of Florida. And we have a team of correspondents across the storm zone and we're going to start with Ali Velshi who is really right in the thick of it.
The eye wall now just 45 miles away from his location and there you see it. It's Grand Isle, Louisiana -- a small, small little chunk of land, if you will, surrounded by water. And that's where Ali joins us live this morning.
Ali, what does it feel like now?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, it's really whipping up here. Grand Isle is a small sliver of land but it's an important one. It's got some of the most important offshore oil installations just off of here.
I want to give you a sense of where I am. The Barataria Bay is to my left. That's north toward New Orleans. The Gulf of Mexico is to my right, equal distances less than half a mile on either side.
Now, we have just had reports of damage now on the island. Roofs have come off structures. We know that already. We can't see them but we're here with the fire captain who's gone out on his ATV.
The island is not flooded yet, but he does say the levees on the gulf side are holding but water is coming in from the back now. The Barataria Bay water is now above the island level and is starting to flood from the back, so we do have problems beginning on this island which also means we can't get off of this island because the roads out of here are below sea level.
About 1,500 people live here normally. They have mostly all evacuated to higher ground because they knew this was coming and that this was going to be a big one. You just mentioned 45 miles away for that eye wall of the storm. Now that means that the speed it's going at we're probably looking at that eye wall starting to touch us in a little under three hours.
We've been getting these kinds of winds for several hours. Nine minutes ago we lost power. We're running off of generators right now. It's starting to whip up. We're in a fortified house here that is supposed to be able to withstand these. We're outside right now but if things get really bad, we should be able to withstand it from here. From where I am in Grand Isle, we're sticking it out -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. And I think you said earlier you're at an elevation of about 14 feet at that home that you're in but you have the capability to get up to 30 feet if need be. Do you think that's going to be put to the test this morning?
VELSHI: That's right. That's right. I'm on the second level. I'm just going to -- I'm tucked in here. This is the third deck now. So we've got a ground level, which will flood we're quite certain. Then we've got the second level.
We have a third level we can get to. We're pretty sure we're expecting a storm surge that could go up to 15 feet, maybe more. We're going to be safe from the storm surge. We seem to be in a pretty strong structure, so I think we're safe. And I just told everybody else is around here too. We don't have a lot of people on this island, thankfully.
ROBERTS: Hurricane Gustav's eye is expected to make landfall just a few hours from now. Joining us now with the very latest on the forecast track on what could happen is Bill Read. He's the director of the National Hurricane Center. And, Bill, you're following this minute by minute. What's the latest on the track, the intensity, where it looks like this is going to hit the hardest?
BILL READ, DIRECTOR, NATL. HURRICANE CENTER: OK. Your report there at Grand Isle is pretty much in ground zero for the next few hours. We have the storm about 40 miles offshore of the center. Hurricane force winds are moving onshore as we speak.
We had a report within the last hour of 91-mile-an-hour sustained gusts to 117 miles an hour at an observing point in Southwest Pass. That's at an elevation of almost 80 feet so a pretty reliable reading there. Storm surge, we're still looking at eight to 12, maybe an isolated spot higher than that as it comes ashore.
ROBERTS: Hey, Bill, we want to put up a graphic here that was in the "New Orleans Times-Picayune" today about areas of lingering concern regarding the levee system there, Lake Pontchartrain to the north, and the Mississippi River curving around to the east and down to the south there. When we talk about the storm surge that might be blowing here and the amount of rain, what are the concerns that you all at the National Hurricane Center have about what could happen to New Orleans this time around?
READ: Well, I'm not the expert on the levees. If they fail, that's a problem that I can't really address. The areas of concern for us from the meteorological and ocean graphic side today is the communities along the West Bank. This is coming in at a different angle and farther to the west, and that's where the storm surge is.
And there's a lot of unprotected areas, as your reporter pointed out, as water is coming around areas that aren't protected by levees. So there's concerns mainly for those areas. If the levees are in good shape, the surge we're forecasting further north towards New Orleans should be OK.
ROBERTS: And what about those bayou towns like Morgan City and Houma, and those other towns south of Lafayette like Jena (ph), Franklin. What might they be in for?
READ: Well, they're going to certainly get the hurricane force winds. If the storm stays on this track, the surge, the highest surge values are going to be off to their east and they'll have some flooding but not as severe. But it wouldn't take too much of a little westerly jog here at landfall to bring other communities into play for the higher surges.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: All right. Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane --
READ: It would be a wise decision to evacuate there.
ROBERTS: All right. Great, thanks. Bill Read, the director of the National Hurricane Center there in Miami watching all of this for us.
Bill, thanks very much and we'll get back to you this morning -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. John, thanks. We're going to get a look now at New Orleans. CNN's Anderson Cooper is live for us in the French quarter where state officials have ordered a mandatory evacuation. Anderson, what's it looking like for you?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The mandatory evacuation, let's talk about that a little bit. Remember back with Hurricane Katrina, they estimated about 100,000 residents in New Orleans did not have access to vehicles, were not able to get out on their own. And, of course, back during Hurricane Katrina, they didn't provide buses or bus drivers to get people out.
It is a different story this time, Kiran, as you've been reporting. They estimate that there are only about 10,000 people, a little less than 10,000 people in the city of New Orleans, perhaps 90,000 to 100,000 people in all of southeastern Louisiana. So 90 to 95 percent of the populations have already fled. They don't have an exact number, though, of how many people remain in southeastern Louisiana and how many people remain here in New Orleans.
You know, here in the French quarter, it is virtually empty but when you pass by peoples' homes everything is boarded up. You can sometimes hear a radio or television inside. So there are some people riding out this storm. It's just hard to get an accurate sense of exactly how many of them there are.
The French quarter traditionally has not flooded. That's why you'll see a lot of reporters staging their coverage from here. It's also close to safe areas, hotels that we can run into in the event that this storm really picks up.
But the real problem is not going to be likely here in the French quarter, perhaps not even in the Lower Ninth Ward, which is where that got so devastated the last time. It is out toward the left side of New Orleans, the West Bank, where some of those levees simply have not been tested. And that is where this story and where our eyes are going to be as this storm comes down and we are able to really get out and go on patrol and start to take a look around. That is when we'll really be able to tell the full impact of this storm.
But we haven't even begun to really feel the brunt of this storm. As you can tell, it's raining but it's not even a particularly driving or horrid rain. It's not that sideways rain which we anticipate seeing at some point, and the wind is very mild at this point. So, at this point, we really have not seen the strength of this storm and that is something we and everyone in this region is waiting for -- Kiran.
CHETRY: That's right. Still a lot of uncertainty today, as you said. The coverage and the impact of this storm is still yet to come. Thanks so much, Anderson.
And we're going to take a quick break. When we come back here on AMERICAN MORNING covering Hurricane Gustav, nearly three years to the day of Hurricane Katrina's devastating blow on New Orleans and the gulf coast. And now, this monster of a storm churning toward the same area.
We have a live coverage and we'll continue all morning. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 13 minutes after the hour and the flashing lights of a police car roaming the streets there of New Orleans as the rain continues to come down. The real concern there is what might happen south and west of the city, what's called the West Bank area.
Hurricane Gustav is now lashing the Louisiana coast. The eye wall now is sitting about 50 miles offshore. A Category three hurricane with 115-mile-an-hour winds, gusts up to 140. Forecasters expect Gustav to slam ashore in just a few hours' time and that'll be just west of New Orleans. Actually Grand Isle pretty much in the bull's eye and that's where our Ali Velshi is.
As far as New Orleans goes, flooding could be worse than it was following Hurricane Katrina particularly in that area again called the West Bank. The storm has already brought oil production in the gulf to near standstill. Big concerns about flooding in New Orleans on that West Bank as we said.
CNN's Sean Callebs is live in Harahan, Louisiana, this morning. That's about eight miles west of the downtown area of New Orleans and just north of that area of the West Bank.
Sean, what's it looking like there? And what are -- how much of a concern is there that these levees could be overtopped in that area?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think the concern is very great because that is an area in Jefferson Parish that did not flood back in 2005. That area of the West Bank and where we are right now in Harahan were really spared, two of the communities that were really spared back in 2005.
We have some information coming from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. There is a canal that runs in the West Bank, the Harvey Canal. We're told that the flood gates there have been closed. Now, that is not unexpected but it certainly is significant because down where Ali is, we heard him talking about the Barataria Bay. Now what authorities are concerned about is the storm pushing up from that area and pushing water from that bay up into the bayous and then swamping areas of the West Bank causing significant flooding in there.
So what we've seen is really the first step, perhaps the only significant step that authorities can take to try and stave off any kind of flooding.
Also, there's a lot of construction on flood walls down in that area. Some of them are amazing. They're concrete. They're very high. However, there are huge gaps there, John, as well. There are earthen levees that simply haven't been tested and they have not been reinforced significantly. That is some of the work that the corps is still waiting to do and it could take sometime.
There are stretches that are extremely long that are very, very vulnerable. So they heard people talk about flooding. That, right now, is the major concern -- the major concern of flooding here in the New Orleans area.
Right now, we're just getting some relatively pleasant breezes. I wouldn't call them very strong. It has been raining like this for the past hour. But certainly, we've watched Ali down in that little spit of land and the eye move toward that area. So it is going to happen. Bad weather is going to move up into this area, and it's a good thing the evacuation orders were heeded. So many people are out of this city - John.
ROBERTS: Sean Callebs for us in Harahan, which looks like it could get a glancing blow from this hurricane as opposed to the near direct hit three years ago. But even a glancing blow from a Category three hurricane is a pretty serious thing.
The government has put together a daunting estimate of potential destruction from Hurricane Gustav. Here's a look at what computer models are showing us in an "AM EXTRA."
Almost five million people and 1.7 million buildings are said to be in the path of the storm. Of those, more than 200,000 could be damaged and 75,000 destroyed. More than 100,000 households might be displaced and 33,000 people are expected to turn to public shelters.
The models show that the financial damages could total almost $33 billion. That would make Gustav the second costliest storm after Hurricane Katrina -- Kiran.
CHETRY: You know, we talked about so many people heeding those warnings and evacuating, some 1.9 million or more along the Louisiana coast alone. Well, there are some 10,000 people that are still defying this mandatory evacuation order in the New Orleans area. We're going to be talking to members of Louisiana Army's National Guard about who is patrolling the streets and how they are going to try to be able to help people who decided to stay.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We've got some new video coming in to us right now. There is a look at some of the waves being lashed about the coastline there because of Hurricane Gustav. A little bit of good news, though, which is that forecasters are saying that they believe Gustav is no longer expected to gain strength before it slams into the Louisiana coast. Certainly, top sustained winds near 115 miles per hour. Nothing to sneeze at, but at least they are able to say that they believe it's not going to gain any more, staying at a Category three level. Still a very daunting storm to say the least.
And Hurricane Gustav is making its way, churning now to the gulf, expected to slam ashore just near New Orleans in just a few hours. The Category three storm again packing sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, and their gusts as well that could happen from time to time at about 140 miles per hour.
Of course, a major concern for New Orleans as we heard from Sean Callebs and many other reporters is still flooding. Three years to the week after Hurricane Katrina. And many, many efforts to make the levee system stronger, flooding still a major concern and hurricane forecasters say it could be worse than it was after Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
Now, close to two million people evacuated ahead of this storm. It's the largest exodus in Louisiana's history. Lt. Col. Thomas Friloux is with the Louisiana National Guard. He joins us live from New Orleans.
So you're on a rooftop there in the French quarter. We can see you're certainly getting the rain and the wind. Can you tell us where you guys are stationed and what your priority is as you prepare for this storm to hit?
LT. COL. THOMAS FRILOUX, LOUISIANA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: Yes, good morning. We're stationed at the -- inside the city in the Memorial (ph) Convention Center and that is a hunker down location while we ride out the storm.
Our post-storm activities will include patrolling the streets to prevent looting and also focus on helping the local officials with search and rescue operations.
CHETRY: As we understand it, many of the residents got out as we know, 1.9 million or more when all is said and done, but there were thousands who chose to remain behind. Do you have a sense of who decided that they were going to try to stay?
FRILOUX: No, we don't know. We don't know. But I can tell you this. This town is like a ghost town. When you drive around, all you see is the National Guard and the local law enforcement patrolling the streets ensuring that the place is secure for those that did evacuate.
CHETRY: You know, the city made clear that there was no shelter of last resort as I understand it. Even in the final hours of the evacuation, you guys were moving through the city with loud speakers in many languages telling people to get out. For those who did stay, what is the plan for anyone that needs help immediately after the storm?
FRILOUX: Well, the National Guard is going to go out and go to pre-designated areas and do reconnaissance and try to find if anybody needs assistance. And we have a very detailed plan to go ahead and bring those people to designated areas and evacuate them out of the city.
CHETRY: All right. Well, hopefully, we're hoping that won't be needed. We're hoping that this will pass by and a lot of the evacuation was precautionary but, again, it still remains to be seen as we haven't seen the worst of it pass through yet.
Lt. Col. Thomas Friloux with the Louisiana Army National Guard, good luck. You guys are going to need it for sure. Thanks for being with us.
ROBERTS: It's 23 minutes now after the hour. Breaking news this morning. We've got the latest details on when and where the eye of Hurricane Gustav is expected to hit. Looks like Grand Isle where our Ali Velshi is right in the center of the bull's eye.
Most of the city of New Orleans has been evacuated but leaving us too risk for some critically kids. A live report from Children's Hospital in New Orleans, coming up.
And we want you to be a part of our coverage this morning. If you're in the storm zone, send us your pictures and video. Just go to I-report.com, but remember, do not put yourself in danger to get that shot.
We'll be right back with more of our continuing coverage. Your hurricane center, CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Breaking news this morning. In a live look at New Orleans, at 5:26 local time, Hurricane Gustav closing in -- a dangerous Category three storm. Conditions getting worse by the hour.
The barrier island is already reeling from the hurricane-force winds. In fact, our own Ali Velshi is on Grand Isle at a small, little sliver of land there in the Gulf of Mexico right off of the Louisiana coast. He just sent a quick BlackBerry, we're now flooded in. Whether or not we'll be able to hear from him in the next hour or so is still up in the air because of the wind and the rain conditions. The sustained tropical force wind lashing New Orleans, itself, and Gustav thankfully not expected to strengthen before it comes ashore just west of the city.
That was a big concern as well. But it does leave New Orleans on the so-called dirty side of the storm based on where this path is. It means they'll get the heaviest rainfall, winds, and tornadoes even possible.
Now, hospitals in New Orleans have evacuated hundreds of patients. Some of the youngest and most critically ill, however, will have to stay behind with their parents. It's too risky to try to try to evacuate them.
CNN's Susan Roesgen is live at Children's Hospital in New Orleans with more on how the hospitals are planning to make sure these children, these critically ill kids stay safe.
Hi, Susan.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran. You know, while it is storming here outside, the young patients are safe inside.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRACY BAYLEY, PATIENT'S MOTHER: Can you smile?
ROESGEN (voice-over): Tracy Bayley can't bear to tell her son Cameron about the hurricane that's on the way. 4-year-old Cameron had heart surgery just 10 days ago.
BAYLEY: He knows that there's a little storm coming but as long as I'm here he's happy. He's calm.
ROESGEN: In 50 years, New Orleans Children's Hospital has locked its doors only once and that was when Hurricane Katrina forced them to. This time the hospital plans to stay open no matter what.
BRIAN LANDRY, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL NEW ORLEANS: It's one of those situations for us. If every time when a hurricane came to the community or the threat of one, we moved all our patients, I think we would find that some of our patients wouldn't survive.
ROESGEN: When the hospital staff knew a storm was coming, they were ready. The hospital has food and water and generators to keep the power going for three weeks. And a backup plan, just in case.
(on camera): Now, if worse comes to worst and the hospital has to evacuate, here's something it didn't have in Hurricane Katrina -- a helicopter landing pad.
(voice-over): But the doctors and nurses here who volunteered to stay have no intention of evacuating the patients or themselves. There are 80 young children here now, more than half in critical care.
CRYSTAL MAYEAUX, NURSE, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: You don't want to leave them. No, no. We're attached to a lot of the babies here, so it's important to us, too.
ROESGEN: Claire Trahan's (ph) son Jude was born prematurely with a heart problem. For the duration of the storm, parents are allowed to stay at the hospital with their children and that's a comfort to Claire and her husband.
MICHAEL TRAHAN, PATIENT'S FATHER: He's been through a lot of stuff, and this is just going to be another chapter in the book of his life, you know. So it does give us some strength and some comfort.
ROESGEN: A chapter with an uncertain ending.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: And in fact, Kiran, there are actually 900 people here at this hospital. That's the doctors, the nurses, the 80 young patients, some of their parents and also 260 New Orleans police officers, and about 100 New Orleans firefighters. They have all come here to seek shelter and it's a good place to be ready to go out again when the hurricane comes through -- Kiran.
CHETRY: They prepared for the worst or whether to ride this thing out. Hopefully everything will go well for them. Susan Roesgen, thank you.
ROBERTS: Just about 30 minutes past the hour now, and breaking news that we are covering this morning is Hurricane Gustav, a major Category three storm with a deadly record lurks just off the coast of Louisiana just a few miles now off of the coast. Winds estimated at 115 miles an hour. Some gusts up to 140 miles an hour. Our Ali Velshi on Grand Isle reported just a couple of minutes ago that a gust of 117 miles an hour had been recorded about 50 miles east of him according to local officials.
So that means that the storm sill very powerful. Louisiana's Barrier Islands, like Grand Isle, the bulls eye for this storm. The winds expected to get stronger, too, as what's left of the eye of the storm comes ashore. They're beginning to get stronger now. Rain and tropical storm winds reach out as much as 200 miles from the center of the storm and they are pounding New Orleans right now.
City officials bracing for a storm surge potentially up to 14 feet. Forecasters now warning that the storm may stall in the coming days, flooding Louisiana and Texas. We have got a team of correspondents across the storm zone. Our Ali Velshi down there on Grand Isle, Louisiana.
Do we have -- we established contact with Ali at this point? We hadn't just a few seconds ago.
Ali, you're there?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
ROBERTS: Tell us what it's like there as the winds start to come up and the water comes up as well.
VELSHI: Yes, the water's the problem. Reynolds Wolf just sent me an update that we've got sustained winds 50 miles east of here of over 90 miles an hour, but they're recording those gusts of up to 117. I'm on the deck. I'm on the second floor of this house.
This is a long, skinny barrier island. To my south about a quarter mile is the Gulf of Mexico. To my north about the same distance is Barataria Bay. This island has now begun flooding from Barataria Bay. With me here on the deck is the fire captain from this town. He's the man in charge of the town right now. It's mostly evacuated but he went out not even -- Pete (ph), how long ago were you out there looking at this and you were telling me the bay had just started flooding?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An hour ago.
VELSHI: All right. An hour ago, he said that it had just started. We now are surrounded by water, and it's coming in very quickly from the bay. The man who owns this house, Steven Blanchard, has his van parked on that side. Water is now above the bumper on the van. And it's moving in very, very quickly. This is what we expected to happen. This is what happened in Katrina.
The flooding came around from the other side. There's already damage to some facilities on the island. We know a couple of roofs are off. And we haven't got the worst of it yet. We're still about three hours probably, or close to three hours away from the eye wall hitting us but it's going to come this direction. The island is mostly evacuated so now the biggest concern is the property here, and of course the oil installations which are right offshore here, and a number of operations are headquartered here in this area for the Gulf of Mexico. But those operations, John, as you know, are shut down. So, at this point we're looking at property damage at least in this part of southern Louisiana, hopefully not any loss of life or injury.
ROBERTS: And as we saw during Hurricane Katrina, Ali, one of those big offshore oil rigs jammed up underneath that bridge in Mobile Bay, and that shows the power of the wind and the waves during these hurricanes. Ali Velshi on Grand Isle.
Ali, stay safe and we'll get back to you. Thanks.
Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. We want to head back to the French Quarter. Anderson Cooper is there. He's giving us a look first hand at the conditions in New Orleans this morning.
Hey, Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran. It's important to point out, you know, we are not going to be seeing scenes that we saw in Katrina of the Superdome or the convention center because there are no shelters of last resort as they call them here in the city of New Orleans.
The city officials made the decision years ago after the fiasco at the convention center and the Superdome to not have that same situation repeat itself. That's why they stressed evacuations so much.
I mean, Mayor Nagin kind of maybe said more about the storm than was accurate calling, you know -- the storm of the century, the mother of all storms. Certainly, got a lot of people's attention. The storm is not as strong as it once was, but it is still Category 3 and that can cause real damage.
The danger isn't so much here in the French Quarter. The French Quarter is on higher ground, traditionally has not flooded during hurricanes in the past. Certainly didn't during Hurricane Katrina. The real danger is in the West Bank of New Orleans where those levees are simply untested and there are just big gaps.
We sent Drew Griffin out there yesterday. He showed us big gaps in the levee that go on for a great distance. So that's a real concern. People, just frankly, not sure if those levees hold. I mean, some of the storm surge they're talking about as much as 20 feet on coastal areas, that could have a major impact here in the City of New Orleans. We just going to have to wait and see on that. But for the folks who are here, and there may be as many as 10,000 of them, it is basically time to just stay indoors.
We're still seeing police patrolling in the French Quarter and that is a good sign because at the height of the storm, it's most likely that the police will just all go to one, to various bases, one of them is the convention center where they're just going to hunker down for the storm and wait out the worst of the hurricane force winds. That's when it starts to get really bad. But they're still on patrol right now. We're still seeing National Guard on patrol as well and things are pretty calm basically here in the French Quarter. As Ali said we're still some three or more hours away from the worst of the storm and we'll just have to see what comes, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. And Anderson, we'll be checking in with you throughout the morning. Thanks.
Also breaking this morning, Hurricane Gustav charging Louisiana's coast and putting New Orleans's rebuilt levees to the test. We're going to talk more about the preparations and what the backup plan is if some of these area's levees do not hold.
Also with Gustav hitting just three years after Katrina, how prepared are emergency officials? Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will be joining us live as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Breaking news now. There's a live look at 5:38 local time, the streets of New Orleans, shops boarded up, homes boarded up and most people out of the area with the exception of police and emergency vehicles as well as the reporters and crews that are bringing you these pictures today.
We also have breaking news and that's Hurricane Gustav closing in now for a direct hit on Louisiana according to the latest models and the latest information and track that we've gotten from the National Hurricane Center.
Winds are now sustained at 115 miles per hour gusting up to 140 miles per hour. This dangerous storm churning just offshore. Its bulls eye focused now on the Barrier Islands. The rains coming down in sustained tropical force winds already battering New Orleans. There are also tornado watches in effect for Louisiana as well as Mississippi, Alabama, and all the way east to parts of Florida.
Let's go to Rob Marciano. He is on the roof of a hotel in the French Quarter in New Orleans with more on what you're getting hit with now.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran. The frequency of the gusty winds certainly has picked up over the last couple of hours. As you mentioned, Gustav pretty much about 100 miles due to south of us and with hurricane force winds extending 70 miles out from the center. We should be getting a glancing blow before too long.
Power is still on so that's not too much of a problem. And from what we talked about, law enforcement officials so far so good on the ground. But what they are worried about for sure is what this storm is going to bring as far as storm surge.
Katrina bringing a surge and wind and damage to the east side of the city, demolishing a great portion of that, and this thing with a more westerly track. We could be looking at a significant storm surge coming up to the Mississippi delta and soon (INAUDIBLE) channels and canals there threatening some of the -- well, not so strong West Bank levees and canals. Specifically, the Harvey Canal. They're really worried about that.
So, this thing really has to try to scoot a little bit further to the west and get inland and weaken before officials here really feel better about the flooding situation which could very well get nasty. But the main threat right now, Kiran, in the next couple of hours will be the sustained winds which will pick up as they're doing now and the threat for damaging winds.
When you start getting winds over 50 miles an hour, that's certainly enough to take down trees, certainly enough to take down power lines and certainly enough to do some damage. And that threat will not go away likely until night fall tonight. So, it's sure to be a long day here in New Orleans.
Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: Absolutely. The inside of an hour is when, as you said, you're going to start to feel that glancing blow from these winds and we'll check back in with you. As of now, as Rob said, the power still on in the area -- John.
ROBERTS: Thanks very much, Kiran. It's coming up on 41 minutes after the hour. Our Reynolds Wolf keeping a close eye on Gustav at our hurricane headquarters in Atlanta.
And Reynolds, just take a look at the satellite imagery here as it's progressing toward the coast. Am I right in reading that it looks like it's weakening just a little bit?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, what you're seeing is you're seeing a lot of radar imagery that's showing you the top half of the storm. It's still fairly strong. It's still a major hurricane. It is going to be getting closer. Once it gets onshore, John, that's when it is going to slowly begin to weaken over the next several hours.
Right now, we're not only talking about hurricanes, we're also talking about tornadoes. There is that threat farther to the north of New Orleans. You got New Orleans here. Take you into parts of southern Mississippi. You'll notice winds has been coming in and out of the north in some spots. Near Stennis Space Center not far from the I-10 corridor. Let's see. You got the Stephen Ambrose Parkway right about here, just to the north. A law enforcement spotted a tornado. The tornado warning in effect for that area.
Also, if you look a little bit further back away from Waveland, back towards Orange Grove, this is one of those outer bands we've been talking about from Gustav. As it's been closer to shore, occasionally, with these tropical systems you're going to see these storms or rather these bands sometimes spawn tornadoes. They tend to be weak. They don't last that long but they are rain wrapped and very difficult to see.
This tornado warning that we have now, just to the north of Grand Isle, this has popped up, this will expire around 6:15. That is for Jefferson, Lafourche and also St. Charles parishes at this point. A couple things to mention. Ali Velshi not far from Grand Isle. We do expect that the eye passing right over this area, there is an automated weather station right in this area that picked up a sustained wind of 91 miles per hour, also picked up a gust of 117 miles per hour.
Now, what they're going to experience at Ali's location is they're really going to deal with the winds really intensifying as they go counter-clockwise around the center of circulation, coming in mainly from the north at this point in time and northeast. But then, they're going to have a little bit of a break that could last for a while, maybe 45 minutes, maybe to an hour before the other half of the storm -- the back wall, back part of the eye is going to come through and the winds there could be significantly stronger.
Now as we pull away a little bit and we're going to wrap this up for you, too, you'll notice the eye roughly 25 miles from Ali's location, farther to the north in New Orleans, they're getting the brunt of the rainfall. Here is a look right near Lake Pontchartrain.
What you're seeing is part of the sea wall here. Notice some of the waves beginning to pop up. Rain coming down in torrents at this time. That's going to be the situation for much of southeast Louisiana through the morning hours. Let's send it right back to you in the studio.
ROBERTS: Reynolds, thanks very much. Just three years after Hurricane Katrina shattered the Gulf Coast and caught emergency responders off guard, are they ready for Gustav? Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff joins us live.
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CHETRY: And this is another live look from New Orleans this morning as we're coming up on the 6:00 hour in New Orleans. Almost 7:00, 15 until 7:00 here in New York today. And this monster named Gustav making its presence felt along the Louisiana coast. Hurricane force winds now being felt and the storm expected to come fully ashore in just a few hours. It's set to hit just west of New Orleans as a Category 3 hurricane. There's a look at the French Quarter now with 115-mile-an-hour winds gusting to 140 miles an hour.
There has been what's been called a historic evacuation ahead of this storm. Some two million people just in Louisiana alone, not to mention in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama leaving for higher ground and other locations of safety.
Forecasters expect a storm surge of 10 to 14 feet near New Orleans, certainly putting the levees to the test once again. They say flooding in the city could be worse than it was after Katrina three years ago. They're also warning the storm could stall. That would be the worst case scenario for flooding in Louisiana and southeast Texas, especially if that storm stalls for days, which is still a possibility -- John.
ROBERTS: Yes, it certainly is. And that would not be good for those low-lying areas where the water just tends to sit there. Here in St. Paul, Minnesota, politics taking a back seat to Hurricane Gustav today. It's going to be business unusual on day one of the Republican National Convention.
The McCain campaign says it will refrain from any political rhetoric conducting only essential business such as calling the convention to order and adopting the party platform. You see, if they don't conduct that business they can't get a nominee, and if they can't get a nominee, they can't get those funds for the election campaign. John McCain saying that this is no time for party politics.
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SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must redirect our efforts from the really celebratory event of the nomination of the president and vice president of our party to acting as all Americans.
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ROBERTS: McCain says it's likely the party's convention will turn into, quote, "call to the nation for action." And we don't yet know, Kiran, what's going to happen with Tuesday. They want to wait and see what the aftermath of the storm looks like before they make any decision about that.
CHETRY: All right, John, thanks. You know, just three years after Katrina shattered the Gulf Coast and caught emergency responders off guard, they say it's a different story this time with Gustav. Are they ready? Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is going to be joining us live to talk more about the preparations for Gustav, next.
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ROBERTS: Rain and wind starting to pick up there in the French Quarter of New Orleans as Hurricane Gustav gets ever closer to the coastline of Louisiana. New Orleans about 40 miles away from where the storm track looks like it's going to go. Unclear at this point where the greatest danger lies. Whether or not we'll see potential flooding coming in from Lake Pontchartrain or if that storm surge coming up the Mississippi River and coming in from the Bayous, will test the levees on what's called the West Bank, which is the southern side of the Mississippi River. Levees which were not tested to any great degree during Hurricane Katrina. That at this point is the greatest worry.
Let's check on the track of the storm. How far offshore it is right now and what we can expect over the next few hours. Reynolds Wolf at the hurricane headquarters in Atlanta with the very latest on that.
What's the latest from hurricane hunters and the forecast from the National Hurricane Center there, Reynolds?
WOLF: Well, the latest that we have, John, is that you have at least the center or very close to the eye now actually about 20, I think about 25 miles or so, not far from Ali Velshi's location. Here's Grand Isle, you'll see Golden Meadow. What's interesting with this storm system, what's so typical with these tropical systems, John, is you have, again, these bands that come onshore, these feeder bands.
So, you'll have a bit of an area of very heavy rainfall, just pounding surf obviously along the coast. The same time those -- just devastating winds. Then a little break in the action, you're going to have another pocket that'll pop up.
Grand Isle and this location about to get some very heavy rainfall. Places like Golden Meadow getting a bit of a break. Back up in Thebito, you have just some scattered showers at this time. Wind is spinning counter-clockwise around the center of circulation. So you have some areas where winds around 60 miles per hour due north. Up father to the north, let's see, Baton Rouge, you've got winds of 39 miles an hour. And then, if you look over at some locations you have about 70.
But at one remote weather station not far from Ali's location, you have one gust topping 117 miles per hour, sustained winds at 91 miles an hour. Now, as the storm continues to come onshore, the wind is going to be an issue. Tornadoes are also going to be a problem.
And just due south of New Orleans, we currently have a tornado warning that will be in effect until 6:15 local time. Certainly a big danger for many people because with many of these that come onshore, John, many of these tornadoes, they happen to be rain wrapped. Not really easy to see. Very hard to see visually. We're also seeing some of these back over to parts in southern Alabama. Just the expands of these feeder bands spawning up the rain, the wind, and of course, these tornadoes.
Let's send it back to you at the convention center.
ROBERTS: Reynolds, thanks very much. And we'll continue to check back in with you. Michael Chertoff is the secretary of Homeland Security. After what happened in 2005, he wanted to go down and personally oversee the efforts there in terms of preparation, making sure people get out of the way and the potential recovery efforts. He joins us now this morning.
Mr. Secretary, it's good to see you. What are the latest reports that you have as this hurricane comes ashore of the problems that you might be facing in the next few hours?
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Well, I think as your meteorologist pointed out, it's going to be partly a wind issue, partly a storm surge issue and partly a rain issue. The current prediction is the storm is going to come ashore, the center is going to be basically in the home of Louisiana, which is somewhere to the west of New Orleans.
But we can anticipate New Orleans will get hurricane force winds. There will be a storm surge. And there will be a lot of rain. People should remember that wholly apart from the levees, rain actually presents a major flooding problem for New Orleans.
ROBERTS: Mr. Secretary, during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, as Katrina came up sort of the east side of the city, those winds wrapped all of that water around and pushed it into Lake Pontchartrain and then pushed it down to the 17th Street Canal, the industrial canal put all that pressure on those levees there. In terms of the wind direction, which area of metropolitan New Orleans is most at risk?
CHERTOFF: Well, I think, again, as your meteorologist observed, John, it looks like we're potentially facing some risk in the West Bank which was not really tested by Katrina. Of course, we also have to be concerned about the lake. The Army Corps of Engineers has built a major barrier at the 17th Street Canal which I actually was able to inspect a couple of days ago. And that should be essentially a barrier to any kind of surge coming up the canal and creating the structural problem that we had last time.
ROBERTS: Mr. Secretary, there are still lingering concerns not only in the West Bank but in some of the other canals on the north side of the city as well. Why three years after Katrina, is that system not completely in shape to handle a hurricane?
CHERTOFF: Well, I think what the Army Corps laid out was a plan that would culminate in 2011 with a finished hundred-year flood plan. They started with those areas that were the most urgent. They strengthened the weak spots that had been the most impacted, and it's basically dealing with the most urgent problems first. But I think everybody's always understood that there's risk particularly until 2011, and that's why this evacuation has really been a critical issue.
ROBERTS: Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security. I know you've got a very busy day. Thanks for taking the time with us. And hopefully, we'll talk to you later on in the day. This is your hurricane headquarters, CNN, as we're tracking Gustav coming ashore this Monday morning.
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