Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Hurricane Rita Strikes, Moves Inland
Aired September 24, 2005 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Port Arthur, the early rains took one car out of commission well before the hurricane hit shore. We made it through and found a local church that had it just about right.
The eye wall hit about 2:40 a.m. local time tossing metal with ease and dumping several inches of rain then headed north. The best news here is that for all the destruction early fears that Rita might overwhelm the city's levee and cause major flooding like New Orleans after Katrina did not come to pass.
Still, the few, like Harold Hackett (ph), who rode it out say they are likely to evacuate next time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every tree that you can imagine is down. It's a horrible scene. The wind come through and it busted every window I had in my house out. I mean it was horrible. I'm sorry that I rode it out.
KING: John King CNN, Port Arthur, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: We welcome those of you joining us at the top of the hour. I'm Aaron Brown in New York. Anderson Cooper is in Abbeyville, Louisiana.
Anderson, we have this sort of broad sense of the region but there are a lot of specific things that we don't seem to know and probably won't for another day.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: That's certainly true, Aaron, especially now at this hour with darkness having come to this region. You know what hampered it today getting information and for authorities getting information on damage and any casualties that may have resulted, heavy winds, continuing heavy rains. This storm still kind of lingering although we have some new information about that.
We'll go back to Aaron in just a moment but first let's get you an update on what is happening right now at this hour, the latest information that we have. Rita is now just a tropical depression, Chad Myers telling us that just a short time ago. It has been downgraded. It is moving northeast across Louisiana, expected to drop ten inches or more as it continues eastward.
So far authorities are reporting no deaths related to the storm, which came ashore as a category three hurricane. They also caution they have not been able to get in some of the hardest hit areas.
In Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, right here where we are, as many as 1,000 people are believed to have been trapped by floodwaters. The governor of Louisiana says 250 people were rescued today. Those operations are going to continue all through the night and tomorrow morning as well. Now the searches will continue.
Across a good stretch of the gulf coast there are power lines, trees and buildings down, extensive flooding, impassable roads, more than a million people without power as a result of the one-two punch of Rita and Katrina.
I want to show you what it was like for one person. We got some video. A man came up to us on the side of the road, a young man just a short time ago and said he had some video. He had just been evacuated from his home in a town called Esther which is south of where we are here in Abbeyville.
This is the scene he took, his own video camera. He woke up this morning 5:00 a.m. He thought -- he lives with his dad. He thought they had survived the storm no problem, wakes up at 5:00 a.m. to have a cigarette and all of a sudden this water just starts moving and growing and growing and, as you see, it just starts to slosh through the windows of his home.
They finally have to go up into the attic. They got a shotgun. They shot a hole into the attic roof. The young man swam across highway -- the Highway 82, got a neighbor's boat. They tried to get to safety on the boat.
Finally, a Coast Guard helicopter had to come and pluck them out of the water and bring them to safety. Both the man and his father are safe tonight. They are sleeping here in Abbeyville.
Just one piece of video of the scene, really the first time we have seen the effect of the storm on one person's house. We're going to tell you more about their story tomorrow.
Also tonight, I want to show you about some of the other rescues that have occurred. As we said the numbers we are not clear on. There could be as many as 1,000 people. The governor of the state has said there were 250 people evacuated today.
These are people who in Cajun country, south of here, some of whom refused to evacuate all together but some of them went back to their homes today thinking the worst was over but we've had heavy rains coming up, heavy winds coming up from the south moving a lot of water and floodwaters have just continued to rise, as you saw that young man's house, catching a lot of people by surprise. A lot of people who had evacuated came back today and found themselves trapped. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, good deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten people located.
COOPER (voice-over): One at a time, U.S. Coast Guard helicopters bringing rooftop castaways to safety in Vermilion Parish, in Calcasieu Parish, in Cameron Parish. No word on who they are or what their stories are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the area to be evacuated I'd say there's about 1,000 people.
COOPER: We only know they chose to stay after being told to evacuate. Most did flee at the urging of the governor and the president. This is what they faced.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in like eight foot of water.
COOPER: More than 250 people now on higher and drier ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was a shelter for the New Orleans evacuees, the Pinnacle (ph) Building.
COOPER: Last month, Vermilion Parish provided safe haven for Katrina victims. Today the shelters sought shelter. It may get worse before it gets better. Forecasters expect the waters to rise here through Sunday, slowing down the rescue mission's already stately pace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should be able to do it in two days. If the surge continues to rise and covers additional areas and we have to do it all by air, we're going to have some problems.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Just to give you a sense of the floodwaters that have been in this area all throughout the day, in Abbeyville, which is not as bad as further south here I should point out, we're at the Riverfront Restaurant. They've been kind enough to let us use the restaurant to broadcast from.
But take a look. You walk down just a couple of steps here and very quickly you just start entering water. The steps continue down. This area normally is all grass. This is a riverfront restaurant but the river is supposed to be over there. It has now, of course, gone over its banks.
It is all the way underneath this restaurant, all the way out there. You probably can't even -- I don't even think you can see that, Dave, but that's people hitched their boats up to that and then walk up the grass. They can now basically bring their boats right up here. Of course, there's no electricity here.
This restaurant is closed. They're hoping as soon as they get electricity back in this town, and they don't know when that's going to be, they hope to reopen and start serving food to people here and there will be a lot of happy customers -- back to you, Aaron.
BROWN: And sooner the better. We'll see when that happens. Local authorities all the way from Galveston to Lake Charles are telling residents who fled the storm to stay away, at least for now. In some areas downed trees and power lines are making it virtually impossible, as you can see, to navigate through the streets.
The waters of the Calcasieu River in Lake Charles, Louisiana continue to rise, which make the conditions even more dangerous and that's not all the emergency workers are facing with in the aftermath of Rita.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN (voice-over): All along the Texas and Louisiana coast tonight there is debris and damage and water. There is lots of water, lots of flooding in small and medium-sized towns.
R. DAVID PAULISON, ACTING DIRECTOR, FEMA: There is extensive flooding throughout both states, primarily in the southern part of the states. We have power lines down everywhere across roadways. There's a tremendous amount of debris in the streets.
BROWN: Overall, Rita was bad but it was not Katrina again. It was a big, nasty storm that when all was said and done could have been far worse.
MAYOR LYDA ANN THOMAS, GALVESTON, TEXAS: We're fortunate. We missed the big bullet but we've got lots of things to do in the city.
BROWN: As of now, authorities are reporting no deaths but they caution they've not been able to get to some of the hardest hit areas. According to FEMA, more than a million people in two states lost electricity.
Houston, the biggest city in the storm's projected path escaped major damage overnight. Power there was out to more than 600,000 people and ironically the biggest problem tonight facing officials is getting people back home, the reverse of just two nights ago.
STEVE MCCRAW, TEXAS HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR: The biggest problem, as I pointed out, is that if we have gridlock, we can't get the fuel back in and people are going to be stalled and they won't have access to fuel.
BROWN: In the Louisiana border town of Lake Charles, just east of the Texas border, the tidal surge pounded casino boats tied to the docks. Enormous oak trees were felled. Most streets were blocked by debris and a tornado did significant damage to the town's airport.
ALAN KRATVER, MANAGER, LAKE CHARLES AIRPORT: This thing was vibrating so and it's -- it's double, triple walled in a lot of areas, plus the roof is cement.
BROWN: As for New Orleans, those floodwaters in the 9th Ward section of the city will take another two, perhaps three weeks to drain but the mayor for one said that will not stop plans to repopulate the city. MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: It's my intentions, if everything goes well today and tomorrow, to reenergize the -- the reentry plan that we had in place starting as early as Monday and maybe as late as Tuesday.
BROWN: Back along the Texas coast, the refinery towns of Beaumont and Port Arthur were also badly hit. Officials at one refinery saying it will take two weeks to get it back online. The president, who learned the political lesson from Katrina, stayed visible all day winding up in Austin where Texas emergency operations are headquartered.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm really here to let the folks in Texas know that the federal government knows we have a responsibility to support you in the mission of -- of saving lives first and foremost and then helping rebuild their lives.
BROWN: And tonight the major concern is rain, which keeps on falling as Rita stalls, a big, wet and still dangerous tropical storm.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Rita is moving again and that's good news. It's not parked over the area just dumping rain on the area but will start to move north and east heading up towards Pennsylvania, dropping rain along the way.
Anderson, in a day where I suppose in some respects good news was hard to come by, it was a pretty dreary day where you are, that is some good news at least.
COOPER: It's very good news and it's particularly good news for rescue operations which are still going on at this hour. We've seen some helicopters going over with search lights.
But, tomorrow morning, around 7:00 a.m. local time they are anticipating really launching these operations by boat and again by air trying to find out exactly how many people are in need in these -- in these low-lying areas further south of Abbeyville, Louisiana in towns like Esther and other towns closer to the water.
Ed Lavandera has been following the efforts today. People have been saved. The governor says about 250 people have been evacuated by chopper and by boat. Ed Lavandera takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN DALLAS BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Hurricane Rita's winds were still swirling through south Louisiana when rescue boats were launched into the rising floodwaters. It's unknown how many Vermilion Parish residents might be trapped in this marshy terrain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And all of that is flooded below this line right here. LAVANDERA: Residents who did manage to get out safely say floodwaters started swelling just before sunlight. In a matter of hours, water levels had jumped ten feet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just came over the roads, over the levees and into people's homes and they just had no place to go. They were trapped. It was still dark when it happened.
LAVANDERA: Search and rescue efforts were hampered by high winds and steady rain. Some boats capsized in the choppy waters sending some rescue workers into the floodwaters but no one was injured.
The urgency to find people is so intense that helicopter rescue missions will continue through the night and soldiers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division will also begin rescue missions on Sunday.
GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: We do know that there are still some people out there. We also know that some people left and they were safe and they came back at six o'clock this morning thinking they could get to their homes and check their property and then they got trapped in the floodwaters, so then we had to go rescue people who were originally safe.
LAVANDERA: And there is a haunting story emerging from these floodwaters. For three days, sheriff's deputies tried to convince a woman to evacuate from a town called Intercoastal City. She chose to stay in her trailer with her three young children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the deputy begged the woman to let the three children leave with them. She advised no. This morning she called. We attempted to rescue her. We couldn't get there by boat. The water was too rough.
The current was traveling too fast. The water was rising too fast. We couldn't get in. We finally got helicopters in. We sent the helicopters to look for her. We can't even find the trailer anymore.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: An unbelievable story there at the end. You know we don't know who this family is to be honest right now at this point and we know that come tomorrow this is going to be an intense part of the search for this family.
They tried over and over they say to try to communicate to this family to get out and, as you heard the sheriff mention, they said at least let us take your kids and that didn't happen.
COOPER: Yes, I mean it's one thing to decide to stay for yourself. To stay with your three kids is another thing entirely. We've heard conflicting reports about the floodwaters. I mean what have you heard because the owner of this restaurant said the floodwaters here are going down?
LAVANDERA: We were out closer to somewhere where the floodwaters were along some of the streets that were out there and some people out there were saying that they continue to see it going up as well. I get the sense with the winds perhaps, we've talked a lot about the winds coming from the south.
COOPER: Right.
LAVANDERA: That seems to ebb and flow and depending, you know, the only thing I can figure out at this point is that maybe depending on where you are...
COOPER: Right.
LAVANDERA: ...it might affect that.
COOPER: Right. Ed, great work as always today. Thanks very much.
LAVANDERA: Thanks.
COOPER: Chris Lawrence has been surveying the damage down in Lake Charles, which is due west of here. Let's take a look at what he's found.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We started driving east out of Baytown, Texas and almost immediately started seeing damage along Interstate 10. It looked like Hurricane Rita came right over the main east/west connection between Texas and Louisiana.
(on camera): We got off the highway here at Beaumont to knock on a few doors, see how the neighbors are doing but it seems as if most folks got out early, good thing too. When you take a look at some of the damage here, I mean it's hard to believe what it would be like to be inside when that thing comes down on top of your home.
In some areas we saw a lot of wind damage. In others, it was the flooding, like here with this trailer park in Vidor, Texas where the water is coming up just about knee high just about everywhere we walk.
(voice-over): That doesn't matter much when it comes to saving fuel and supplies for the next few days.
BRAD DOWNS, COMING HOME: When I got back, even though it look devastating, we're in real good shape from what I thought it might have been.
LAWRENCE (on camera): So, some folks were making their way in trying to get a first look at their property but we met other people who actually stuck it out during the storm.
CHRISTINA RUBERO, RODE OUT HURRICANE: My mother was being stubborn and wanted to stay and I sent my son off and stayed with her because I didn't want to leave her alone.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Christina Rubero took us through her apartment complex in Vidor.
RUBERO: We're walking on side wall. Well, the roof is right there. It just opened like a can of Spam. I was under a mattress saying we're going to die. We need to take shelter. We were trying to call the police station, no answer all night, no answer.
This is downstairs. Water just started streaming in from our apartment, just started flying off. Water started pouring in. There is at least ankle foot water. This is downstairs. Imagine what upstairs looks like.
LAWRENCE: As we drove further east, there was a church smashed in from the top down, debris hanging from an overpass and an overturned truck that flipped over on the side of the highway.
When we got to Lake Charles it just got worse, entire neighborhoods cut off by trees, power lines, a lot of them close to being completely flooded.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: There were so many neighborhoods that we wanted to investigate, so many homes we wanted to see how bad the damage really was but whether it was the trees or the power lines down or the flooding there was just no way to even get close to them -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes, Chris, it's one of those frustrating things. I think tomorrow maybe if this weather does let up a little bit, it's going to be a little bit easier for all of us and for reporters and also rescue personnel to kind of get a more accurate sense of really what is going on here. Thanks very much, Chris, for that.
You can actually hear a helicopter off in the distance going around, Aaron, right now. They are still trying to fly even though at night not all the choppers have equipment that allows them to see at night but they are trying to do what they can to try to get, you know, as much information as they can about who needs help because they simply don't have the numbers right now. They don't know how many families out there are in need -- Aaron.
BROWN: Is it still really windy, Anderson?
COOPER: You know not as bad as it was. It comes in sort of gusts but, you know, there's not any rain for the last couple of hours and that is a great relief and every now and then the winds will pick up. But it's actually, right now it's relatively calm.
BROWN: Thanks, we'll get back to you in a second.
Chad Myers is with us. He's our severe weather expert down in Atlanta. Winds dying down, rains dying down, all good things happening right now.
CHAD MYERS, CNN SEVERE WEATHER EXPERT: And the low is forecast to move now and that's the best news I can. Alexandria, Louisiana just had a wind gust of 32. That's the highest gust in the system so far that I can find.
Now there is rain on up into Little Rock, into Memphis. There are some showers and thunderstorms and even still a small tornado threat in the overnight hours but it gets better from here. Why?
Because look, look at this storm. It actually just turns at about Shreveport and takes a right-hand turn, an unexpected right-hand turn. The computers didn't talk about this but it is forecast to now move and not do that stop or back down or loop.
So, if it moves on up and gets caught up in a cold front that's coming through the mid plains that is actually going to cut down on the rainfall totals everywhere.
It's just going to spread the rain out. We're going to get rain in Pennsylvania rather than all of it over Texas. Lake Livingston Dam, 117 miles per hour, Port Arthur 116, Cameron at 112 and Beaumont, Texas 105, those are the highest gusts I could find.
It did rain a lot in some spots and even eight inches in Center, Texas; seven and a half almost in Baton Rouge. That could still cause some flooding as the water has to run from the rivers down into the Gulf of Mexico.
This is the latest and greatest forecast now for the next 48 hours. Everywhere that you see purpose, ten inches or more. That's not really a stretch because some of those spots already have eight so maybe a couple more in some spots but not much more in New Orleans, not much more into parts of Mississippi and Alabama and very little into Georgia, Tennessee and Arkansas.
Looking at this storm here, this is still Philippe. That's the storm here that affected Bermuda. That was the storm after Ophelia and then really very little out there in the Atlantic, a little area of disturbed weather here, another larger one just coming off Africa that may be a couple days off -- Aaron, back to you.
BROWN: For people in the region that's about the best picture we've got.
MYERS: Yes.
BROWN: Thank you very much. All of this a reminder that we know a lot about these weather systems but it remains still an imperfect science.
Much more ahead in the hour.
When we come back the latest in the situation in New Orleans. The levees still leaking, water coming back into the city, (INAUDIBLE) here than we imagined would be today.
Also to Orange, Texas where a combination of the storm and reports of looting have created problems and we'll check on that too.
From New York and Louisiana, from the state of Texas and beyond this is a special edition of NEWSNIGHT, State of Emergency.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back to Abbeyville, Louisiana.
We've been keeping, trying to keep a close eye these last several days and particularly these last 24 hours on the levees in New Orleans. We asked Mary Snow to take a look and update us on exactly what the situation is now. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Military choppers once again dropping huge sandbags to plug a breach in the Industrial Canal. They had just done the same thing to repair damage from Hurricane Katrina. Engineers had hoped to avoid doing it all over again.
Just days ago the lower 9th Ward had finally drained out and the damage could be seen by ground but Rita swallowed it up again sending water rushing over a damaged section of the Industrial Canal levee.
COL DUANA GAPINSKI, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: It's high. It's eight feet. It's up, you can see the roofs only on many houses on the north part of the 9th Ward.
SNOW: This time no one was living in the lower 9th Ward because no one could live in this decimated area. But weeks of work to repair the levees was wiped out.
ERNEST MURRY, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: The first thing I thought of is there goes another six months of work.
SNOW: Exasperated?
MURRY: Just a little, yes.
SNOW: Actually, the Army Corps of Engineers put the setback closer to two to three weeks, which brings some relief to Ernie Murry. He's a native of New Orleans and has been working nonstop to shore up levees damaged in Hurricane Katrina and re-patching yet another hole.
(on camera): Another fallout from the damaged levee could be seen here near the Port of New Orleans where a temporary wall built to keep water out gave way when floodwaters came rushing through.
(voice-over): That water had enough force to not only break through the wall but push back a shipping container. One by one bulldozers are rebuilding the patch. Two other levees damaged by Katrina held up as the Army Corps of Engineers fight against a new enemy. Six weeks left in the hurricane season.
GAPINSKI: Time is our enemy in general but, you know, again we're determined to get this job done.
SNOW: Those fixing the levees point out their task right now is just to put temporary patches on the levees.
MURRY: At this point, I'm hoping that we don't get any more hurricanes and we get all these levees shored up and then a day off or maybe a week off.
SNOW: Until then it's repair work one load of sandbags at a time.
Mary Snow, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We're checking in with Colonel Duane Gapinski with the Army Corps of Engineers. Colonel, how flooded is the 9th Ward today?
GAPINSKI (by telephone): Well, in some places probably eight feet deep.
COOPER: And how long is that going to take to drain out?
GAPINSKI: Well, it's hard to say, you know. There's water still flowing in there. We should finish replacing sandbags on that expedient repair that was over top. So, once we stop the flow in we'll be able to assess how long it's going to take to get out but we're going to mass some portable pumps there and we're hoping less than a week, maybe even sooner.
COOPER: And then longer term, I mean what does it take to -- what do you replace those sandbags with ultimately? I mean I think we heard the mayor earlier today saying that he wants the Army Corps of Engineers to do a complete analysis of the levees. Does that need to be done?
GAPINSKI: Well, you know, we're going to do it in two stages. We're going to build up those expedient repairs to a higher level in the short term so we have protection during the rest of hurricane season. And then long term, we're going to fix those flood walls along the IHNC, excuse me, you know, the navigation -- I'm sorry, go ahead.
COOPER: Right. And in terms of fixing those flood walls, I mean we're talking what years?
GAPINSKI: No, actually we hope to have them back to the pre- Katrina level of protection by the first of June next year.
COOPER: All right, Colonel Gapinski, I appreciate you joining us. I know it's again a busy day for you. Thanks very much for being with us.
GAPINSKI: Thank you.
COOPER: We have a lot more ahead here from Abbeyville, Louisiana and from New York and from points all in between.
In a moment we're going to tell you about what is happening in Orange, Texas. There have been reports not only of looting but that just about every building in Orange had some form of damage. We'll find out ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Orange, Texas lies pretty much on the Louisiana/Texas line. One official there said he believes that every building in the county suffered at least some damage, trees knocked down, power lines knocked down, streets blocked by debris.
CNN's Dan Simon was there and he says it looks like nature was not the only destructive force in town.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at this, the air ducts.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It looked like a bomb blasted through this Blockbuster Video in the small refinery town of Orange, Texas, the alarm still going off as we took a peak inside. DVDs thrown from their shelves as the forceful winds shattered the windows and created a tornado-like effect throughout the store. There didn't appear to be any looting here but police say other businesses did fall victim.
DETECTIVE DANNY HODGES, ORANGE POLICE: To me it's one of the lowest things you could do.
SIMON: The front door of this Radio Shack appeared to be deliberately smashed. In fact, authorities believe this entire strip mall was targeted by thieves.
But nature certainly caused the brunt of the damage here. A drive through town showed business after business and home after home heavily damaged by Rita's winds.
LARRY THURSTON, ORANGE RESIDENT: It scared me, OK, a 20-inch oak tree coming through the roof of your house ain't no fun time. It scared me.
SIMON: Larry Thurston describes the unforgettable horror when a tree ripped through his trailer, a familiar sight throughout the small town.
But perhaps the most unusual thing we saw a stray llama which had apparently gotten loose from his owner's backyard. There were also plenty of lost and confused dogs.
Orange Fire Captain Joe Mires offered this bleak assessment of his community.
CAPTAIN JOE MIRES, ORANGE FIRE DEPARTMENT: I would say every structure in this -- in this county has some form of damage or another. It's going to take us a while to rebuild and it's not going to seem the same without all of our trees. It's going to be a different place. (END VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON: Aaron, as you know, in situations like this sometimes the smaller communities, the lesser known communities can be overlooked. And I got to tell you the folks there at Orange were so grateful to have us there. Some might find that surprising but they're grateful that the media is acknowledging that they too have been affected -- Aaron.
BROWN: By and large the storm may hit small and medium-sized towns. Just I don't want to put too fine a point on the looting question. As best we can tell are we talking about maybe one group of people who hit one strip mall in town as opposed to a kind of -- and I don't want people conjuring up New Orleans if that's not what was going on.
SIMON: I think we're talking about a small group of people. You saw that one little strip mall that was hit. They did make a couple of arrests. They had people on the lookout.
As a matter of fact, when we kind of peaked in to that Radio Shack, we saw a police officer quickly pull up. He thought we were looters. Then, of course, he saw the CNN logos and everything was OK.
BROWN: Well I was thinking, I was hoping that's not considered worse than looters. Thank you, Dan Simon, down in Orange, Texas tonight.
As we said, by and large this was a storm that hit small towns, medium-sized towns. The exception, I suppose here is Houston, Texas, which is the fourth largest city in the country. Despite pleas from the government to stay away from Houston tonight, some people are trying to get back home. The mayor would like people to come back in stages over the next several days. That's causing some cramped conditions on the roads leading back into the city.
CNN's Bob Franken took a look today at how the government hoped things would play out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The storm brought down power lines causing a few fires here in Houston and outages that have left several hundred thousand homes and businesses without electricity.
But there are none of the problems with shelters that came up in New Orleans because Houston officials told those who stayed behind to hunker down where they were.
MAYOR BILL WHITE, HOUSTON, TEXAS: And they did so and that was as safe for people than if people had been mobbing outside of shelters.
FRANKEN: The governor and his aides have initiated a phased return plan for all those who left starting on Sunday asking everyone itching to get back to wait until then. They want to make sure that their communities are safe.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: We also need time to restock fuel supplies along the return routes and to restock goods in stores. We also want to avoid any traffic gridlock.
FRANKEN: They're hoping to avoid the gridlock that hampered the evacuation. So, schools in the Houston area will stay closed for a couple of days and officials are asking businesses to delay reopening. But with all the problems officials argue the evacuation was largely responsible for the near absence of casualties.
DAVID PAULISON, ACTING DIRECTOR, FEMA: I know that the evacuations were difficult. I know there were some rough edges around them but we got quite a few people out of harm's way.
FRANKEN: Those who have been waiting to fly out of Houston will get their chance when the region's two airports reopen Sunday. Meanwhile, emergency officials in the area are keeping a watchful eye for delay and flooding.
(on camera): While the skies have been clearing, Houston's leaders do not believe that their city is in the clear, at least not yet.
Bob Franken, CNN, Houston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: One of the things that we have found wherever we have gone and especially in the last couple of days and especially today here is people's kindness in a lot of these towns.
We're in Abbeyville, Louisiana and most of our crew have not eaten a hot meal I should say in several days and a lot of people here have a lot of food that is going to go bad and so they've been cooking up food here at the Riverfront Restaurant. Brian and I'm sorry?
JENNY: Jenny.
COOPER: And Jenny were kind -- they don't want to be on TV because they said they're a little dirty right now but were kind enough to cook up what food they have in this restaurant and I got to tell you I can honestly tell you this is probably the best food I've had in quite some time in memory, some amazing potatoes and some crab au gratin, I mean just -- it's the kindness of people that we have seen over and over.
And if there is any, I don't want to say there's any good that has come out of any of these storms because there's not but if there's anything that sort of helps us all get to sleep at night, it's remembering the kindness that people are showing one another and reaching out to strangers and helping in whatever way they can.
I also want to show you a little bit before I devour this potato that I was given, a video that we were just given a short time ago by a man who was walking down the street who was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter.
It really shows you, this is a video camera he was rolling on when the water started to rush into his house. This is after the storm. The eye had passed. He thought he was through the worst of the storm. He and his dad went to sleep.
He woke up in the morning to have a cigarette at 5:00 a.m. and suddenly this water started pouring in. He grabbed the video camera, started rolling on this. Ultimately, they had to shoot -- they got up into their attic as the water rose. They shot two holes into the attic. They punched through the attic wall.
The son swam across the highway, Highway 82 down in Esther, to get to a boat. They got a boat. The boat started to sink. I mean it is unbelievable what these two went through.
Finally, a Coast Guard helicopter came and rescued them. They are safe tonight here in Abbeyville and I hope they are at least getting some food, which is halfway as good as what we are eating tonight.
There is so much -- so many stories to tell and we're going to try to tell them to you over the next couple days.
Adaora Udoji went on some search and rescue operations as well. We'll have her report when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: There are always people who decide they can tough out these storms and there are always people who turn out to be wrong, dead wrong sometimes.
CNN's Adaora Udoji is in New Orleans tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This family thought they could ride out Rita, a mother and her three children, but floodwaters raced in so fast they were trapped in Lafitte, a coastal town south of New Orleans. The Coast Guard had to come in and get them out. They weren't the only ones.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, no electricity, water everywhere. We should have left before but you know.
UDOJI: Rita's fierce storm surges sent the tide crashing onto neighborhoods just finally dried out last week after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Some places flooded up to six feet. Even so, some people didn't evacuate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got boats.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got boats.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Water, young and stupid. UDOJI: Some have never fled a hurricane and have no intention of leaving now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people tell you to evacuate and everything. You get on the highway and then you can't come back or you get stranded like some of these people where they couldn't use the bathroom and they run out of gas and all that. That's not us. We don't do that. We're used to the water.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're bayou people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're bayou people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're used to the bayou.
UDOJI: Rescue workers say that's what they're working against.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their life, you know, they got people that, you know, used to go swimming in the swamp and go get their supper, you know. They'll go down and grab the alligators out of their holes and pull them out their holes.
UDOJI: There were other problems here. A barge got lodged perilously close to a main water source but New Orleans stood up fairly well. After two breaches at the Industrial Canal levee yesterday, the Army Corps of Engineers was out patching it up today, relieved two other major levees seems unscathed. Floodwaters from those levee breaches also went down by the time the storm passed.
Not in Slidell, north of New Orleans. Rita's fierce winds triggered rapid flooding in neighborhoods shredded by Katrina, flooding up to three feet.
Dr. Bob Latterer (ph) made the trek to the home he and his wife spent 13 years renovating, managing to save some tools from the wreckage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a little tiring.
UDOJI: A little?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little.
UDOJI: Rita didn't match Katrina's powerful blast here but it set back recovery efforts everyone is so anxious to start after so much turmoil.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UDOJI: And, Aaron, those crews at the Industrial Canal levee they were working well into the night. There were dozens of trucks. They were hauling in tons of rocks and gravel to fill in the levee breach there and also very important to note that there have been no reports of any serious injuries or fatalities linked to Rita and, of course, Aaron, I think we all know that's a testament to just what a ghost town it's become in this area -- Aaron. BROWN: It is that. Just both for the practical reasons of the flooding and for the comfort of people who are working there, has the weather changed a lot? Has it cleared?
UDOJI: It's calmed down a lot in the last -- since 24 hours ago, Aaron. I mean it is still very windy but there's been very little rain. I don't think we've seen any rain now for probably seven or eight, nine hours.
BROWN: Adaora, thank you, Adaora Udoji.
The best news as we look out on this for New Orleans is that the front itself that brought the storm is moving again. It's not -- it's not stationary and so they could get -- they should get some dry weather, which is going to help in a multiple of ways.
You've seen over the course of the last couple of hours extraordinary video from the damage that the storm did. When we come back we'll show you some still pictures of the power of the hurricane in New Orleans as it hit.
We'll also take a look at morning papers or two or three even.
This is a special edition of NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A quick check of a few morning papers from around the country and around the country.
"The Dallas Morning News" starts it off. As you can imagine, this is essentially a one story day, essentially. We'll get to that part in a moment. "The Dallas Morning News," "Battered, not bowed. Rita shows Houston and Galveston some mercy. You don't see mercy in a headline often but leaves its mark on Louisiana and Beaumont, Texas. Evacuees asked to stay put."
A lot of people came up from Houston or the Houston area up the four miles into Dallas, the four miles, the four hours up into Dallas but it took a lot more than four hours to get there the other day. I talked to a woman who spent 15 hours on the road.
"Big Easy's nightmare could also be the big D's as New Orleans. The right storm could overwhelm local levees." So, they looked to localize the Katrina story in the Sunday edition of "The Dallas Morning News."
"The Washington Post" leads with the hurricane because it is the national lead. "Rita's Wrath Less Than Feared, no deaths reported but wary eyes look to flooding."
Come over here for a second OK. This is going to take me a minute. "Antiwar Fervor Fills the Streets, thousands take their message of peace to the White House despite Bush absence."
There was a huge 100,000 people in Washington protesting the war in Iraq today and I sometimes today feel like I've heard from all 100,000 upset that they did not get any coverage and it's true they didn't get any coverage. Many of them see conspiracy.
I assure you there is none but it's just the national story today and the national conversation today is the hurricane that put millions and millions of people at risk and it's just kind of an accident of bad timing and I know that won't satisfy anyone but that's the truth of it.
"The Sunday Times," this is the "Washington Times" which has branded itself America's newspaper. Who took a vote on that? I like the paper but I'm not sure I'm really ready to say that. "Rita pulls her punches, major cities spared harm in Louisiana and Texas."
Down at the bottom of the front page they put the antiwar demonstration also. "Demonstrators assail president, war in Iraq" picture of Jesse Jackson. Speakers call Bush a liar. Counter protesters rally in support of U.S. forces and policy. A much edgier headline, isn't it, from the "Washington Times."
"The Chicago Sun Times" we always end on the weather in Chicago and we'll end on the weather in Chicago. So, if you're in Chicago tomorrow, the weather is going to be prickly, beats me too, 78 degrees.
We have much more ahead tonight as our coverage of Hurricane Rita and its aftermath continues here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: You are watching special coverage of Hurricane Rita with Anderson Cooper and Aaron Brown.
COOPER: There are a lot of people here working very hard in very difficult circumstances. I want to introduce you to two of them.
Officer Wayne Luquette, who is with the Abbeyville Police and, I'm sorry, I didn't get your name.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sergeant Jonathan Touchett (ph).
COOPER: OK. First of all your wife hasn't seen you in how long?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since Thursday morning at four o'clock when I left to go to work.
COOPER: And what anniversary is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was our fifth anniversary yesterday.
COOPER: If she's watching, do you have a message for her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just I love you babe, happy anniversary. Hi, Tyler and Michael. Hope to see you soon.
COOPER: I hope she's watching by the way. What's this like for you guys? I mean you've been in this community a long time.
WAYNE LUQUETTE, ABBEYVILLE POLICE: Yes, so it's pretty bad. The floodwaters is really bad. It never really floods like this in this area. It's really the first time ever. The damage we've seen basically the same thing from Lilly (ph). The damage is not new to us but the flood is awesome. It's just...
COOPER: You know what I think a lot of people don't realize about police and firefighters who are here and first responders is that I mean you don't know, personally you don't know about your own home.
LUQUETTE: No.
COOPER: Whether it's still there.
LUQUETTE: No, like us and me and there's other officers, there's at least three-quarters of the department that we live outside of town and as far as we know our houses are flooded over and we're still working in town here. We haven't been out there and we don't plan to get back out there until everything is done here in town.
COOPER: How is the town doing? How are the people here doing? I mean people seem so friendly here.
LUQUETTE: The people are real friendly here. They always have been. It's basically friend helping friend out here. You can always find that especially around here.
COOPER: You know I don't think there's any good that's come out of these storms but for me at least one of the things I've seen, which is something I'm always going to remember, is just how, you know, individuals stood up and banded together and really helped people who were strangers or neighbors.
LUQUETTE: Well, we had a fellow that I met earlier today that was going around. He had a cattle trailer and he was going around picking up people's horses and cows that had got loose and bringing them to a confined area.
And we had people doing just like that and other people taking their own vehicles and trying to get through the high water to get people out of the houses and stuff like that and it's off the spur of the moment. I mean they just ask and they're there. If they got a high enough truck they're going to try to make it.
COOPER: I saw a fire department vehicle go by with a whole bunch of ice on it and they were just tossing bags of ice into people's pickup trucks on the road.
LUQUETTE: They're doing it. They got a lot of people lining up on the side of the road and all they're doing is just passing by in each neighborhood and giving them bags of ice and that's the way it's been most of the night because we don't have no power.
COOPER: Any word on when you think I mean you might get power back?
LUQUETTE: They're putting it, different areas of town are getting it back slowly but we have no idea.
COOPER: Yes. Is it -- was it worse than you thought it was going to be or about what you anticipated?
LUQUETTE: It was about, the wind damage and everything was about what we anticipated. The flood wasn't because where I live at in the southern part over there it has never flooded. In Hurricane Audrey it didn't flood like that.
COOPER: Well, Wayne, I wish you a lot of luck and I hope your home is good and I'm really glad I met you. Thank you.
LUQUETTE: Thank you.
COOPER: Appreciate it.
LUQUETTE: All right.
COOPER: You know we've met a lot of people like Wayne and, man, I don't think there is any good that comes out of these things but there are good people you meet along the way and those are the people you remember.
Our coverage continues. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STILL PHOTOS OF RITA'S DESTRUCTION)
BROWN: I think of all the words, Anderson, that we have spoken over the last 48 hours to describe the storm that was coming and the storm that hit and just in a few still pictures you see much of the power of it.
The stills don't necessarily show the degree to which people's lives have been uprooted and disrupted but they certainly show the power of what you and your guys all experienced 24 hours ago.
COOPER: Yes, and, you know, I think there was a sense today of like, oh well, you know, it wasn't that -- it wasn't that bad but, you know, you come to these communities and you meet the people and -- and, you know, I don't think anyone -- any of us who were here would say, you know, it wasn't that bad. We've seen the effects of this. Lives have been forever changed -- Aaron.
BROWN: And, just to go back to the point we made at the very beginning of the hour, while we have a kind of broad picture of everything, it's the specific snapshots that we'll get tomorrow. We'll have a much better, clearer picture of the damage Rita did.
CNN's coverage of Rita continues now with Bonnie Schneider in Atlanta with a look ahead at the weather.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
