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Governor Bobby Jindal Holds Press Conference; Interview With FEMA Administrator David Paulison; Republican Convention Changes
Aired September 02, 2008 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning once again, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris is off.
Stay informed all day right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.
Gustav puts stretches of the Gulf Coast under water, but New Orleans escapes the hurricane's main punch. The top man at FEMA live this hour.
Hanna and Ike gearing up in the Atlantic. And Josephine may not be far behind.
Plus, a grand old party after all? The Republican convention back on track today, Tuesday, September 2nd.
You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
As Gustav fades away, its damage coming into focus this morning. In New Orleans, the post-Katrina levee system held back the floodwaters. The city saw some flooding and some wind damage but mostly got a glancing blow from Gustav. Across the region, damage could run about $8 billion, at least seven deaths blamed on the storm in the United States. Officials are asking the two million evacuees though to not return to the Gulf Coast before tomorrow at the very earliest. And today we should learn more about the extent of damage to the nation's oil and gas industries. Investors for their part are optimistic. There are no great losses. Oil is trading at its lowest level in months. We are watching those numbers.
We are also waiting for a briefing coming our way from Michael Chertoff and Governor Bobby Jindal. That's going to happen live at any minute now. WE are watching that. It's going to come out of Baton Rouge. We'll have the very latest from them.
CNN crews are also fanned out across the greater Gulf Coast region to give you the complete view. CNN's Chris Lawrence is in New Orleans. In Lafayette, we have Ed Lavandera and meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is in the CNN weather center. Gustav now just a tropical depression but more storms unfortunately on the horizon. We want to start off by checking in with Reynolds Wolf in the weather center.
Hi there, Reynolds. Lots to talk about.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, you know, it always seems to be that way. But right now, the Atlantic has just been the assembly line of one storm after another. And the most recent one we've dealt with, the one that's dying is of course, Gustav, now lifting away farther to the north. Heavy storm now moving into the Mississippi and parts of Arkansas. Southward into New Orleans, the sun is beginning to pop out. We have a great shot for you there, it shows a little bit of sunlight coming through. Still, kind of a hazy day but it will get better as time passes and then the cleanup will begin as a lot of those waters begin to recede.
Let's go back right back to the weather map and show you what else is in store for parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. We've got flood watches and warnings that are in effect across the landscape. So, they are going to be pretty soggy especially in places like Jackson up towards Little Rock, and perhaps even in Memphis before all is said and done.
But as Heidi mentioned, we have a lot going on in the Atlantic. Next stop is Hanna. Hanna continues to brew just to the north of Haiti this time. It's been a weird path. Take a look at where the storm has been and where it's expected to go. I mean, take a look. It's been all over the place, veering to the south just near the Bahamas and points east of the Bahamas just to the northeast of Guantanamo. And then the latest forecast path from the National Hurricane Center rings the storm right near the Florida coast as we get into Friday with maximum sustained winds forecast to 105 and then making landfall somewhere near Georgia or perhaps into the Carolinas as we get into late Friday, maybe into Saturday.
A lot of this can change, the storm can speed up, slow down. There's a chance the storm could move farther to the north, maybe affecting the outer banks, North Carolina, could even affect the Florida coastline. There's a lot that's up in the air. There's also a lot more in the Atlantic. As we head deeper back into the Atlantic, here we go, farther off to the east, we've got Ike.
Ike is the next one up, winds at 50, gusting to 65. Now, earlier it was moving to the west but only doing so at around three miles an hour. Well, now it's picked up speed, last update has it at 15. And this storm is also expected to not only pick up steam but also pick up a lot of strength going from a Category 1 storm beginning into Thursday, Friday, then Saturday and Sunday, increasing more in power with winds in excess of 100 miles per hour on Friday, Saturday. Take a look at it -- rather, Saturday, Sunday, going to 100, then 105, north of the Dominican Republic in Haiti.
Guess what, that's not it. We got another one coming up. The next one is tropical depression 10, this may become Josephine. The next one in line and you'll notice as we go into Thursday and into Friday, then Saturday and Sunday, that's going to be the transition time when the power begins to build up a little more with winds going to 75 on Saturday, by Sunday 80 miles per hour by early Sunday afternoon.
That's a lot to talk about.
COLLINS: I know. WOLF: It's a busy time. You know, this is when you have to be vigilant along the eastern seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico, have this hurricane preparedness kits ready and of course, those weather radios.
COLLINS: Yes. And you know what, better safe than sorry. That's for sure.
WOLF: Absolutely.
COLLINS: Keep your eye on the weather. All right. We sure do appreciate it, Reynolds. We'll check back later on.
In New Orleans, the levees held. Some water seeped through here and there and there was a little overtopping, but this morning there's a sense this city got lucky. Our Chris Lawrence is in New Orleans now with the very latest this morning.
Hi there to you, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Yes, you talked about a lot of close calls, nobody probably more so than some of the folks who live right in this neighborhood. These are the last-ditch sand bagging effort that really helped save this neighborhood. You're looking at the floodwall right here, on top of it, the water was just pouring over this yesterday, completely overtopping, and they were worried that it might even come through here and right into this neighborhood.
You can see the homes right in there, the amount of water that could have just poured right in here. During Katrina, they got about 10 feet of water and damaged the levee. But here it is, thousands of sandbags that they used. Sometimes sandbagging all the way up until the back edge of the hurricane was passing through. But they were able to shore it up at the last minute.
Now, the thing with this levee, this particular levee, is that it's not part of the federal system so the parish president and the local people here have been trying to get some federal money to get it shored up. They say it won't survive a bigger storm than what we saw with Gustav, but, on the other hand, the federal government only has so much money and there are a lot of places around the gulf that it needs to spend that money. So I think as the storm passes, you know, now you'll start to see maybe the next phase are these financial battles, what gets fixed next, what gets fixed first. Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, it always ends up being priorities, that's for sure. Chris Lawrence, we sure do appreciate that coming out of New Orleans this morning.
I want to head down to Lafayette, Louisiana. CNN's Ed Lavandera is there and he joins us with the latest from Lafayette. I know it's a very tough morning there.
Ed, good morning. ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, we're at the site of the saddest story to emerge from Hurricane Gustav here in the city of Lafayette. This is the home where a 27-year-old Keith Duhan (ph) was asleep yesterday when the storm was roaring through and this massive tree in his backyard essentially collapsed on the house and crushing it. I know it's hard as we stand here, hard to even make out that this was once a house. You can see the tree limbs that have been cut away, sawed off by the firefighters that came in here yesterday and that's the only way they could get access to inside the house to recover Mr. Duhan.
So they had to essentially cut everything away here but this is the only death reported -- the site of the only death reported here in Lafayette. There was an elderly couple in Baton Rouge, just east of where we are that also were killed in a similar fashion. So this is the location of the saddest stories to emerge from this hurricane. But for the most part, as we talk this morning with emergency officials across the region south of Lafayette, areas that were hard hit and had the memories and scars of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita and the flooding damage that all of those storms brought, many people evacuated these areas, but emergency officials in these regions telling us this morning that they feel very lucky that for the most part there's not widespread damage.
We drove yesterday from Abbeville to New Iberia down to Morgan City. We did not see much structural damage outside of a few flimsy type structures that you would imagine would get blown away in a Category 2/Category 3 hurricane. We saw a lot of, you know, downed trees, splintered trees, that sort of thing, but not as many downed power lines as you would have expected to see.
So, for the most part, many officials across these communities echoing the thoughts that we feel very lucky to have emerged pretty relatively unscathed, considering the eye and the center part of this storm roared through this region just southwest of New Orleans yesterday afternoon. Heidi.
COLLINS: I bet they do. All right. CNN's Ed Lavandera, appreciate that from Lafayette, Louisiana this morning.
Thank you, Ed.
President Bush just finishing a briefing on the aftermath of Gustav with a focus on energy needs. Now, the President using the opportunity to renew his call for more offshore drilling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, I know the Congress has been on recess for a while, but this issue hasn't gone away. This storm should not cause members of Congress to say, well we don't need to address our energy independence. It ought to cause the Congress to step up their needs to address our dependence on foreign oil. One way to do so is to give us a chance to explore in environment friendly ways on the outer continental shelf. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The President says federal officials are coordinating with state and local officials along the Gulf Coast for post storm assistance.
Other places checking in with damage now, coastal Mississippi, hundreds of homes have been flooded in an area still trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses are also without power.
And taking a big hit, the fishing industry along the Gulf Coast. Many commercial fishermen are finding their boats destroyed and their livelihoods now in peril.
Let's recap the losses across the region, at least seven deaths are blamed on the storm across the Gulf Coast, nearly 800,000 homes and businesses are without power. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says half of his citizens have no electricity. He and other officials are asking the two million evacuees to wait until tomorrow at least before returning home.
Gustav, FEMA's biggest test in New Orleans since Katrina. I'll talk live with the agency's director coming up this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: As promised, we are about to get under way. There you have the Governor Bobby Jindal. He is standing alongside Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff. We want to go ahead and listen in to their assessment now, coming out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL, LOUISIANA: ... it was doing so this morning, moving at 10 miles per hour. We are still being impacted by the eastern periphery of this storm that still is causing the National Hurricane Center to put coastal flood warnings in place. They've still issued flood watches. The depression covers most of Louisiana.
Winds have decreased down to 15 to 25 miles per hour. They say that the water is now falling but falling slowly. Plaquemines, St. Tammany Parishes probably have the storm surge that is now falling. They're probably the last two parishes to see this tidal surge continue to fall. As of this morning, as of this morning, the tidal surge still rising. Those are the last two parishes where they expect the surge to continue to fall. St. Tammany especially will see that water come down very slowly.
They're expecting four to six inches of rain in southeast Louisiana today, concentrated west of I-55. There's still the possibility of tornadoes by the greatest danger in south Louisiana continues to be the heavy rains. The secondary danger is tornado. The tertiary, the more distant danger, would be this residual storm surge. They are going to be issuing some flood watches along certain river areas. The reality though is for south Louisiana, heavy rains are the greatest challenge.
We do have reports, unconfirmed reports, of significant damage in northern Louisiana. As many of you know who have been watching the storm, the storm is expected to head more west. Instead, it went up through Louisiana. And so literally now you got a storm that's caused widespread damage through a wide geographic part of our state.
I want to share several updates with you today, including health care updates as well as utility and power updates. One of the things I'm going to start with health care on purpose. One of the things I want to stress, I know a lot of people have been watching the storm are all relieved that it appears the levees, the floodwalls have maintained their integrity, the federally maintained levees and flood walls have maintained in southeast Louisiana.
And as many of you have seen, we do not have reports of widespread flooding in southeast Louisiana. We do not have the breeches. We had some overtopping yesterday at the Industrial Canal. But one of the things I want to emphasize is that this is still a very, very serious storm that has caused major damage in our state. And I'm going to start by talking about health care in particular.
We still have a number of pressing, urgent issues when it comes to health care. I described the evacuation as the kind of the pre- game, the pre-season, if you will. And I warned people that even after days of evacuations and preparatory efforts they shouldn't be exhausted because this was a marathon. We're not quite yet at halftime. To use a sporting analogy, people need to understand there's a lot, lot more work ahead of us. A lot of damage has been caused by the storm.
The evacuation of patients that took place even before the storm made landfall was the largest medical evacuation in our nation's history. Over 1,000 patients were moved out of harm's way through a combination of ambulances, airlifts, buses, moved people out of hospitals, out of nursing homes. I can't stress enough how important that was to move people out of harm's way. We still have critical needs right now when it comes to our health care infrastructure.
We had a total of 72 hospitals that we have been in contact with overnight, 72 hospitals in the impacted areas. We were able to make contact with 52 of those hospitals in regions two, three, four, five, and nine. The other 20 hospitals of the other 20 hospitals, we were not able to contact, six of those were specialty hospitals, 14 were community hospitals. We are fairly confident they either entirely evacuated or mostly evacuated. Those were smaller hospitals. We are now in the process of putting air support in the air so we can put eyes on these hospitals. We're also working with the Louisiana Hospital Association to make contact with these hospitals to determine whether they continue to have patients, whether they continue to have needs.
Of the 52 hospitals that we were able to make contact with in regions two, three, four, five, and nine, 12 of those hospitals have patients without HVAC, without air conditioning. In other words, they may have generators that are not supplying their air condition. They have generators for the critical care equipment. The remaining hospitals either have power or were shut down before the storm or they have generators that are supplying their HVACs. But going back to those 12 hospitals, this is of particular concern because there are many critical care patients who will need additional care and either need to be evacuated or need to get additional generating capacity and power to these hospitals.
Even as late as last night we evacuated a hospital here in west Baton Rouge. We evacuated River West, 15 patients last night were moved to a federal center. Of those, this morning eight patients were moving today to Tulane where they can get the care they need. And when you look at some of the other evacuations, we evacuated 19 patients, from Savoy Medical in Mamou, including one newborn who were safely evacuated. We evacuated 13 patients from Mamou Extended Care, and ALTEC Hospital. We evacuated overnight and into this morning 44 patients from Vilplat (ph). We are evacuating 27 patients from the various, the two general hospital locations here in Baton Rouge. That includes Mid-city and the Bluebonnet locations. There were original 18 NICU patients that they anticipated having to evacuate because of the lack of HVAC. They were able to stay in place once they were able to get power back up.
We have 60 ICU patients at Our Lady of the Lake that we may need to evacuate depending on the power situation, how quickly Entergy is going to get power restored there. If you look at the needs we've identified, we've got 12 hospitals we've identified that may need to evacuate over the next 72 hours depending on how quickly we can get them power. What we're doing now is we're literally supplying additional fuel to generators where hospitals have generators in place. We're working with the corps, they're sending out assessment teams to see if hospitals without generators need generators.
One estimate of what the challenge we're facing, and these numbers, let me emphasize, these numbers will change significantly. But over the next 72 hours, we could be looking at having to evacuate 814 hospital patients. Now, remember, we evacuated over 1,000 patients before the storms and that was using flights every 30 minutes. So this is a very, very important and big challenge. We can certainly do it using the ambulances that we have here, using the buses, using the air support we would get not only from the National Guard but outside the state.
And again, that is a number that I would absolutely expect to change as circumstances on the ground change. In addition to hospitals - let me mention one other hospital incident. We had a generator failure in Thibodaux. There were 53 patients there in that hospital literally overnight, Louisiana State Police, despite the weather, were able to escort a technician from Alabama at high speed. They got him to the hospital. They were able to fix the generator. Those patients were safely in place. The problem has been resolved.
And so I want to emphasize there are absolutely critical health care needs that continue to remain in place, that we continue to have to address. It's not just hospitals. We have seven nursing homes, we sent seven generators last to seven nursing homes. Again, we're addressing this issue to make sure that nursing homes as well as hospitals have the power they need, not only for critical care but for those patients that need it for HVAC support as well.
Now, the good news is Lake Charles Lafayette Hospitals are reporting they do have power. We are sending fuel to those hospitals running on generators. Fro example, Slidell Memorial was down to the last 12 hours of fuel. We were able to replenish them. Most hospitals, most hospitals have three to four days of fuel in their generators. But we're certainly in contact with each and every hospital, nursing home that evacuate in place - that, I'm sorry sheltered in place but did not fully evacuate to assess their needs.
In addition to health care, I want to give you an update in terms of power outage. We know this is a significant issue. I'm going to give you some rough numbers by region. And again, these numbers will change. I want to emphasize we don't have the most recent numbers from northeast, northwest Louisiana. Obviously, they can't do assessment since the damage is still ongoing in some of those areas. Region one, the greater New Orleans area, reports 300,000 people without power as of last night. Region two, here in Baton Rouge area, reports 156,000 people without power.
When I say people, I should say households. These are metered units so these aren't necessarily people. This means the house doesn't have power. Region three, the River Parishes region, 112,000 households without power. Region four, the Lafayette area, 72,000 people without power. Region five, Lake Charles, good news there, 642 people without power. So largely the majority of people there do have their power. Region six, Central Louisiana, the Rapides Parish area, 18,578 people without power. Region nine, the North Shore, 89,000 people without power.
Now, that was as of last night. Now, we know the number of people without power has increased this morning. This morning we don't have it broken down by region, but this morning we're reporting 1.4 million households in Louisiana without power. So obviously a huge challenge as we're trying to get critical services back up. We're trying to get hospitals, fire, sewer, water back up, first responders back up first.
The good news is PFC is reporting that it's mainly a transmission challenge. That means it will be quicker to restore. For example, they were able to fix one switch and one switch were able to restore power to 30,000 people. Obviously we have a lot of transmission lines down so there are going to be significant transmission line issues. But there are also significant transmission issues, I'm sorry, significant power lines but there are also significant transmission issues and those are quicker to resolve.
In Baton Rouge, we have distribution challenges. Southwest Louisiana, other than Houma, is mainly transmission challenges. So again, hopefully they are able to address that more quickly. They lost their main feed here in Baton Rouge to the hospitals. They're working to reroute that. They're going to complete their air surveillance by this afternoon so they should have a better idea of what it's going to take to get power back to the entire state. They got people in the field right now. They literally have 11,000 people, 11,000 people working on this. Texas is releasing some of their folks to help us in our efforts. The East coast is not able to send as many, as they normally would, because of their threat of their own storm. We have 11,000 people working on utilities. This is the second point. After the emphasis on health care, this is the second point I want to emphasize is this is a major challenge for the resumption of normal day-to-day activities in the state of Louisiana. It impacts health care. It impacts literally everything we do in our state. And this is a challenge that's not going away overnight. I want to emphasize again to people out there that, yes, it's good news we didn't have the levee breaches or the major flooding, but we have huge challenges caused by Hurricane Gustav.
I know there have been a lot of questions about re-entry into the different parishes. I want to address those. And then I want to give you some local parish assessments. When it comes to re-entry, we're obviously going to defer to local leadership. We're going to work with the local parishes as they determine when it's safe, when it's appropriate for people to come back. We certainly encourage that to be done in a coordinate way. We've been in talks, for example, with people in southeast Louisiana, the leadership in Jefferson Parish, New Orleans, St. Tammany, St. Bernard, Plaquemines and those parishes, and my understanding is they will be announcing and I will allow them to make this announcement. They will be announcing a tiered return of their residents as the mayor said yesterday, it will be a matter of days, not weeks.
The mayor of New Orleans announced that yesterday. And certainly we're going to support their decisions to allow people to come back. We do think it's important that people be allowed to come back as soon as it's safe to do so they can resume their normal lives. And we want to do that. I do have a couple of words of caution.
First of all, I do recommend that and we are working with local communities to make sure they coordinate their plans to make sure that people are coming back in a consistent way. We also recommend a staged return. I think that's a smart way for these communities to welcome people back. In other words, those that may need assistance, especially those who are on dialysis or any regular medical care, I would strongly recommend it if you're in a place where you're getting access to medical care today, that you may want to wait until you're guaranteed a resumption of normal services.
And so when I talk about staged return, those that are dependent on those services, I think it makes sense to wait until you're guaranteed there's resumption of normal services. I would ask people to pay attention to downed power lines. I'd ask people to pay attention to the potential lack of fuel. I'm going to talk about the lack of power at our gas stations. I would ask people certainly to pay attention to road closures and certainly to make sure that they've got the supplies they need when they come home. They may return, find damage in their homes. They may return and find out that there's not power.
So be prepared and make sure that you're following the counsel, advice of your local leadership. But we are going to defer to local leadership on re-entry. And I do expect that you're going to see some announcements very soon today about those re-entry decisions. In terms of some of the things the state can do to help people that have used state assistance to evacuate, DSS is working with the Red Cross on opening shelters closer to home so folks that may have evacuated farther from home can move closer to home. So if their homes are destroyed, that they're not several miles away from their homes, their communities. They can move closer to home to begin rebuilding.
We've identified five groups of people that moved with assistance, those -- the fist group are those that moved out of New Orleans on the Amtrak system, secondly, those who move out of Jefferson and New Orleans parishes by flight, by air flight, both Amtrak and our air partners are ready to bring people back on 24-hour notice from the local city and parish leaders as soon as they determine that it's safe and they're ready for these individuals to come back.
Within groups three and four are those that went three are those in-state shelters that went on state-provided buses. Group four are those that went to out of state shelters on state-provided buses. We've got 540 - you may remember that I told you that the state had pre-arranged contracts with 700 coaches. And when they didn't all arrive, we ended up using school buses to assist in evacuation. Well, maybe it's better late than never. 540 of those coaches have arrived. We do have 540 of those coaches that are pre-staged so they can help in the return of our people. For example, we have them both near in-state shelters as well as out of state shelters. We have 160 of those buses in Alabama ready to bring our people back.
Again, as soon as local government leaders determine that it's safe and they're ready to do so. The fifth group are those critical needs patients, those with medical needs. And again, my recommendation is to folks that are on need of dialysis, regular medical care, ensure that the services are there before -- make sure that you're guaranteed your providers are back in place before you make your way back. Some more information on people that are thinking about coming back, troop C is working with local officials in Houma. I know they've requested some help in blocking access to certain areas where they don't feel like it's safe for people to return.
The Alexandria area, there are 110 locations with partial road closures. In the Lafayette location, there are 105 locations with road closures. You can find these locations on lsp.org, that's Louisiana State Police's Web site. If you want to go for a list of these road closures. The Louisiana State Police is currently escorting 18-wheelers from Houston with generators to troop C, in the Houma area. They're also escorting fuel trucks to go to our convenience stations. They've deployed 60 additional Louisiana state police to Houma, to help them with security and other issues.
We have activated ESF-13. What that means is last night, I requested from the federal government and they have approved the request, additional federal law enforcement agents, 400 federal law enforcement agents are on their way. They'll be coming to Louisiana. They've approved the request to help us maintain security in many of these areas that have been hit very, very hard. In terms of some of the local parish assessments -- and these are just anecdotal reports we're getting now from the first reports on the ground -- in Lafourche Parish, the majority of the windows at the St. Anne Hospital were blown out. The hospital was evacuated. In Terrebonne Parish, at the St. Francis School, the roof was taken off the gym. In Lafourche Parish, in Raceland, the EOC's roof came off as well.
We're going to be later today, as soon as we're done with this briefing, I'll be accompanying Secretary Chertoff, General Landrenau. We'll be taking -- the colonel, Colonel Edmundson, we'll be going on a National Guard helicopter. We'll be going to Houma, to Thibodaux, to Morgan City, to New Orleans, to not only assess the damage to land, to meet with the EOC officials to see what additional goods and services we can be providing.
Some updates on search and rescue.
They have set up a forward-leaning base at Nichols (ph). I'm pleased to report that it appears like the evacuation has worked. There were not a substantial number of search and rescue missions.
They were called last night, for example, to go out into the river, but it turned to be a self-rescue. They're not getting requests from the coastal zones. They're going to be redeploying their agents to support local law enforcement, local search and rescue.
We do anticipate there will be some local needs, but the good news is people heeded the evacuation calls. We did not have people trapped when the tidal surges came in. We're not getting a large number of calls for search and rescue.
The next item I want to focus on is the pre-deployment of commodities. We know many of our people are in desperate need of tarps, food and water, especially with power down. Six pods have been established in New Iberia, Jeanerette, Thibodaux, Houma, Morgan City and Franklin.
As of 10:00 a.m. this morning, there will be an 18-wheeler of water, an 18-wheeler of food, an 18-wheeler of ice, an 18-wheeler of ice, an 18-wheeler of tarps at these locations. These are locations local EOC officials have pre-identified. These are areas that can handle large volumes of traffic. For example, old Wal-Mart parking lots.
Local EOC officials have determined these sites. They will be publicized by the local EOCs. We'll get that information out as well. As of 10:00 a.m. this morning, those have been set up.
We're establishing additional pods in Baton Rouge and Alexandria as well to distribute these goods. In addition, we've got 60 National Guard troops at each pod not only to help with traffic and security, but to help people load these goods if they do need assistance loading these goods. Port Barre will be our distribution point. We'll replenish these pods and set up additional pods out of Port Barre as we get requests from local officials.
We talked to Bill Simon last night, the chief operating officer for Wal-Mart USA. They've identified 17 stores in southeast and southwest Louisiana that they're going to be targeting to reopen. They are sending 26 generators as soon as they can get those generators to those stores. They anticipate having those stores open today.
I say that as only one example. We know there are going to be several people at home that may need food, may need water, may need supplies. We'll certainly update that list as we learn of additional suppliers and retail outlets that continue to open up.
We will be obviously having to deploy resources to north and central Louisiana as well. And when it comes to debris removal, the National Guard is moving an engineering battalion from Lake Charles to central Louisiana, given the fact there's a greater need for their services up there.
It is most of a full battalion. They're actually sending 500 soldiers as we speak from Lake Charles to central Louisiana to aid in debris removal.
In total, there are 1,800 engineering soldiers -- there is a brigade, an entire brigade -- 1,800 engineering soldiers working on clearing roads. Again, based on requests they're getting from local parishes. They are freed up from their search and rescue. And security tasks, we're back-billing those tasks, so 1,800 of those soldiers are right now working on debris removal.
We've contracted for additional 75 front-end loaders from private contractors to increase the National Guard's capacity. In addition to that, we know from the sheriffs, local parishes are using inmates to clear debris. We also know that the National Guard is responding directly to local parishes and utility companies.
On top of that, the Department of Transportation has 500 individuals in 92 crews with 36 front-loaders, 36 backhoes, several hundred chainsaws. They're clearing interstates and bridges.
We've got, in addition to that, 200 to 300 DOTD contractors that have also been deployed to be deployed. DOTD has sent out 13 teams of 32 people each doing bridge inspections. I'm pleased to announce that I-12 is open, I-10 is open, most of I-59 and I-55 are open.
The twin span was closed last night. It has been reopened, it is safe. It's been inspected. It is reopened as we speak.
And I can also report that Highway 90 from Morgan City to Lafayette is open. I-49 from Lafayette to Alexandria is open. DOTD is moving their debris teams like the National Guard from Lake Charles to Morgan City, Houma, to Lafayette, to Alexandria. We do anticipate there will be more damage in central and north Louisiana, and we haven't been able to get hilo (ph) assets over those areas to report back. And as soon as the storm winds pass and as soon as we're able to do that, we'll be sending additional teams up there.
A couple of -- just -- a couple of things that have happened since last night. Last night, I can requested Category A assistance from FEMA. That approval was requested last night, approved by Chief Paulison.
What that does is adds debris removal to the Corps of Engineers, to the federal response. So they'll be -- they're sending out their assessment teams to help us with that.
We also have asked for a major declaration. That request is being processed. What that would mean is that would trigger the individual assistance, and then after that, assessments for public assistance to help our people, to help our local governments get back on their feet. And there's obviously a local and state match on that.
They've got teams that are ready to go and register folks in hotels and shelters tomorrow, FEMA does. So they can be pre-signed up in case individual assistance is approved, which we think is likely to happen. And so they're ready tomorrow to begin signing up people in hotels and shelters.
I mentioned fuel earlier. You heard me say yesterday about the shortage of fuel in south Louisiana. We have 41 trucks rolling out this morning, delivering fuel from Lake Charles, Pascagoula, Baton Rouge, and Jackson.
There is not -- we do believe there will be enough supply of fuel. The challenge is going to being having power at these fuel stations. Many of these stations do not have generators. Most of them probably do not have generators.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Boy, oh boy, an awful lot of information that we are hearing now from Governor Bobby Jindal. And obviously he is the governor of Louisiana, giving a massive update, if you will.
One of the things obviously that he mentioned directly off the top is that this really just is not over yet, obviously, for the state of Louisiana -- 1.4 million households without power still. A critical situation for a lot of patients that are in the hospitals there. He may, he says, think about evacuating something like 114 more patients out of the area due to concerns with generators running low and this massive power situation that we've been talking about.
So at this time, it seems like a good idea to bring in David Paulison. He's the FEMA administrator, to talk more about this all of this information.
And Director Paulison, I hope that you were able to listen to what the governor was saying, because to me it seemed like an awful lot of information. Some of it very good, some of it very successful. And yet, the main point he obviously was making is that this is not over of yet. DAVID PAULISON, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: The governor is right on target. This storm is not over yet. A lot of work to do.
It's been very successful so far, the evacuations, the sheltering, the response to the disaster. It's been well coordinated between the federal, the state, and the local government. But this is just phase two.
We've got a lot of work to do. We're now in the process of refueling those hospitals so hopefully we won't have to evacuate anyone. We've got the Corps of Engineers at one hospital where the generator died. They were there at 6:00 this morning to get that generator back up and running.
I guess the most important thing that we can focus on is, if you are in the area of damage, you know, please be careful. There are live power lines down, a lot of debris on the road, a lot of standing water. Traditionally, we get most of our injuries and fatalities after the storm. So we're asking people to please be careful if they're out and about.
COLLINS: Yes. And then he also spoke a little built about when it will be safe to come back.
Obviously, the nearly two million people who have evacuated want to know that, first and foremost. But we have been hearing over of and over again to just try to hang tight and to not come back yet because of these major power concerns, which obviously makes everything so complicated. So they're going to do this tiered return.
Talk to us a little bit about that.
PAULISON: Well, first of all, one of the things we're making sure we do is get information to people who have been evacuated and who are in shelters. What happened in Katrina is they did not have information.
So today, every person is getting a flyer with what we're going to do. And what we're going to do is exactly what the governor said.
When the local parish presidents or the local city managers or mayors decide that their area is safe to come back in, then we'll start putting people back in a very organized manner. What we're going to try to do is make sure that how you went out is how you're going to come back.
If you went out on a bus, you'll come back on a bus. If you went out on a train, you'll come back on a train. If you went out on an airplane, you'll come back on an airplane.
COLLINS: OK.
PAULISON: So, the ambulatory people can come back in first. But the people like the governor said that are a critical type of patient, we don't want to bring them back in until we're 100 percent sure that those hospitals, those nursing homes can be on full power. COLLINS: OK. You know, I had an interesting discussion with General Honore, who is sitting next to me here, talking a little bit about, yes, this was such a massive press conference and giving so much information. Obviously, he was speaking mostly to the people who have evacuated because they would have access, we hope, to power and to television, if you will, to get this information. But what about the folks who are still there, who are still inside the region and who don't have access to that? Is that what you're talking about with these flyers?
PAULISON: The flyers will go to the people that are actually in the shelters. We've given them some information when we're going to move them back in.
COLLINS: OK.
PAULISON: The people who are there should be getting information from either the portable radios hopefully they have. I know the governor has been very good about communicating with people.
We're opening pods very quickly. General Honore will tell you sitting there that this is one of the most important things we can do, make sure people have food, have water, have the things that they need to survive because they did not evacuate like they were told to do.
COLLINS: Yes. And something that I'm sure you're aware of that I found on the wires here that was said by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff I just want to get your comments on before we let you go. Saying that he really doesn't remember a time when FEMA has had to juggle so many major disasters all at the same time. And we're talking about these other storms that could be coming in, that you must be thinking about, you must be preparing for now -- major wildfires and flooding, still, I imagine, in the Midwest as well.
How do you handle it all?
PAULISON: Well, you're absolutely right. We've got fires in California. We've got Hurricane Hanna going up the East Coast. Ike is out there, should be a hurricane shortly, if it's not already. And then another one coming off the coast of Africa.
This is the peak of hurricane season, but what we have done with the tremendous support we've gotten out of Congress and with the president, we've doubled the size of the agency, we got a lot of resources that we did not have before, a lot of new types of equipment. We're already starting to plan with the East Coast states on how we're going to respond to Hanna if it does make landfall, which right now it looks like it will, to make sure we're on top of that.
So we're going to deal with it. Yes, it does stress people out. We're not getting a lot of sleep right now, but that's OK. We'll get through that, and that's why we're here. We're going to make sure that we perform as people expect FEMA to perform.
COLLINS: All right. We sure do appreciate your time. We know it is a very busy time for you and all the people who are helping out in the area.
Director David Paulison, FEMA director.
Thanks so much. We appreciate your time.
PAULISON: Thank you. And say hello to General Honore for me. He's done a great job for us.
COLLINS: I will do so. We'll have him coming up shortly here. Thanks once again.
So, who is stepping in to help those people affected by Hurricane Gustav? Find out at CNN.com's "Impact Your World" page. There you will find links to some organizations already offering assistance. Again, CNN.com/impact.
A revelation from the McCain campaign opening new debate over the choice for VP.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Senator John McCain on the campaign trail today. Monday he was in Ohio, helping put together relief supplies for hurricane victims. He heads back to Ohio today after a campaign stop in Philadelphia. McCain is focusing on key battleground states before going to the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.
A one-night hurricane delay, and now the Republicans are changing things up this morning, moving ahead with a full convention schedule.
CNN's Jessica Yellin is live now from St. Paul to tell us more about this.
So they said they're resuming normal activities, but they still had to sort of switch things up just a bit.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Heidi. They rejiggered the program, and today, instead of the planned schedule, we're not going to hear, for example, from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani or Mike Huckabee. Instead, we're going to see primetime speakers including Senator Fred Thompson and also Senator Joseph Lieberman.
Lieberman, you know, was a one-dime Democrat who's been very close to John McCain. There was a lot of speculation a while ago whether he'd actually make an appearance here. He will be speaking tonight, sort of a testing to who John McCain is as a person and a legislator. And Lieberman appeared on CNN's air this morning talking about what it's like to be at a Republican convention.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: I feel very good to be here. Obviously, crossing party lines to support John McCain because, to state it simply, country matters more than party. And I just feel so strongly that John McCain is the best candidate for president for our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: And that is one of the messages you've heard people reiterate here, that country matters more than party. That's what they'll be talking about, because in the wake of Hurricane Gustav, the party has had to change their focus from partisan attacks on Obama and promoting McCain's message to this focus on service. So they're a little bit off message.
They're going to have President Bush appearing via satellite tonight. And one of the things that the McCain campaign is hoping to do in the coming days, tomorrow and Thursday, especially, is focus more on that party message, on the campaign theme, and why Americans should get behind John McCain, as opposed to Barack Obama. An unusual convention to be sure -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, boy, that's for sure. The whole thing has been unusual from the get-go, don't you think?
Quickly, just want to find out if, in fact, you've been able to hear, Jessica -- we know that former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is not going to speak as planned tonight, but we did hear that he does plan to speak at some point during the week. Any idea yet?
YELLIN: That's right. He will be speaking. I don't have the time when. Tomorrow night the highlight is going to be "Sarah Palin: VP Candidate." John McCain's night is Thursday. So it will be one of those two nights. I don't have the exact time.
COLLINS: OK. All right, Jessica. We know you're staying on top of all of it for us. Thanks so much.
CNN's Jessica Yellin, live from St. Paul, Minnesota.
Be sure to tune in today at noon Eastern for our special expanded coverage of the Republican National Convention. Soledad O'Brien will be at the CNN Election Center in New York with all the latest news and analysis, today, noon Eastern.
Sarah Palin is scheduled to speak at the Republican convention tomorrow night, as we said. Today, new questions about her personal life.
The McCain campaign confirms that McCain's 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant. That's her holding her brother at a campaign event last week. Republicans have rallied behind their VP choice, but it has sparked some debate over Palin's support of abstinence-only programs and opposition to sex education in schools. The McCain campaign says it knew about the pregnancy before choosing Palin.
Pausing his public schedule, Barack Obama's campaign affected by Gustav. Obama headed back home to Chicago last night after a rally in Milwaukee. His schedule up in the air for the rest of the week as he monitors the immediate aftermath of the storm. Obama says he doesn't want to go to the Gulf Coast now because his presence would be a distraction.
Gustav stirs up the Gulf, but oil settles down. Crude prices are falling -- plunging, actually.
(BUSINESS REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey there, guys. It's just one storm after the other, isn't it here?
Today's "Energy Fix," something you can't control, Mother Nature. What we're seeing, as Susan said before the break, oil prices down about $7 right now, right under $109 a barrel. Way off what we saw last Friday.
Really, oil production came to a halt as a result of Hurricane Gustav. Major rigs in the Gulf of Mexico evacuated. But what we're hearing today from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is that preliminary reports indicate about 20 percent of that oil could be up and running by the weekend.
Then along with the fact that, keep in mind, about 75 percent of U.S. oil is produced outside of the Gulf. That has oil prices down as well -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Hey, Poppy, Gustav, is that the only reason for the big drop?
HARLOW: It's one of the big reasons. You also have to factor in the state of our economy.
It's still weak, and the economies in Europe and Japan, they're weakening. That's expected to keep our demand for oil down. Another factor, the strengthening U.S. dollar.
When the dollar is stronger, that means that oil is cheaper. If you look at those numbers, a big change from what we saw the price of the euro and the price of oil just in the middle of July. That's weighing in here, too -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. What about gas prices? I mean, you know, the second that we hear anything about oil, obviously we want to hear that gas prices are down, too. Just a little bit, anyway, right?
HARLOW: Just a little bit. That's what all Americans care about.
So far, so good for gas. We're down again today, $3.68 a gallon. But we're waiting to hear really the full extent of the damage to these Gulf Coast refineries where that oil is turned into gas.
Of course, any significant damage means your gas prices would go right back up. But right now people just trying to recover from that storm, and your gas prices are staying lower than they were a day ago -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow.
We appreciate it very much. Thank you.
HARLOW: Sure.
COLLINS: Good morning once again, everybody. You're with CNN. I'm Heidi Collins.
