Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Many Refuse To Be Evacuated; New Orleans Now Under Semblance of Control
Aired September 05, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Lou, thanks very much.
I am live in New Orleans.
Church and rescue missions continue round the clock as we speak. The latest from New Orleans and all along the Gulf Coast.
360 starts now.
ANNOUNCER: Their homes are flooded, they have little or no food, and their lives are still in danger. Rescuers are continuing their efforts to save these stranded people. So why are some refusing the help?
Who's to blame for the late response to the hurricane?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: Mr. president, Madame Governor, you two have to get in sync. If you don't get in sync, more people are going to die.
It didn't happen, and more people died.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Fingerpointing after the fact. But what was really happening last week when help was slow to arrive? We'll fact-check who knew what, and when.
One of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. Tonight, Anderson visits the Ninth Ward in New Orleans as the rescue effort goes on. See who's still living there, who's still trapped. A look at what life is like one week after Katrina.
He's tough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. RUSSELL HONORE: Put those damn weapons down!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: He's committed to the recovery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HONORE: And we're going to turn the tide on this thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: And he wants results.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HONORE: We need the big-brained people in America finding the damn solution and stop worrying about the first half. The second half is yet to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: He's the man the mayor of New Orleans likens to John Wayne, Lieutenant General Russell Honore. Tonight, he looks ahead, his plans to restore order in New Orleans.
This is a special edition of ANDERSON COOPER 360, Hurricane Katrina, State of Emergency.
COOPER: And good evening. We are live in New Orleans, New Orleans's Ninth Ward, which still largely under water tonight, you can see in the camera behind me. There are members of search and rescue personnel who have been going out all day, around the clock, trying to find the living and also cataloging the dead.
It is a grim process here. There are occasional moments of happiness, when they do find people still alive. And we're going to show you some of those tonight.
But there is much work that remains to be done.
Some good news, and a picture I want to show you, a pump for the first time pumping water out of New Orleans. At last estimate, some 50 percent of the city still under water. That is the first time we are seeing water actually pumped out, and that is very good news indeed.
But, of course, as the waters level -- as the water levels falls, as the floodwater recedes, we are going to be finding more and more bodies. We saw them today. It is a grim, grim scene, and it will be for the next several days.
Gary Tuchman takes a look at the last 24 hours, the latest on the rescue efforts and the recovery efforts here in New Orleans, and all over the region.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One week after Katrina cut through the Gulf Coast, destroying lives, demolishing property, some of her victims got the first look at what remains of the homes they left behind.
Miles of headlights were seen down the road into Jefferson Parish long before dawn so residents could take just a brief glance at what was left of their lives. And what many of them saw was heartbreaking.
Heartbreaking too is the grim task ahead of the three mortuary teams now in place in New Orleans. It's their job to recover the bodies, which seem to be everywhere, floating in canals, abandoned on roadsides, still hidden in flooded homes.
New Orleans' mayor says their task may be bigger than anyone could have imagined.
NAGIN: I've always said that I think this thing is going to be in the thousands. Now, the exact number, I have no idea. You pick a percentage. Five, 10, 15, 20 percent. It wouldn't be unreasonable to have 10,000.
TUCHMAN: The Convention Center has been cleared out, and the Superdome, once city's so-called shelter of last resort, packed with tens of thousands of evacuees, is all but empty.
But there are those still refusing to leave the city they called home, a city now deemed too dangerous for anyone to inhabit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is absolutely no reason to stay here. There are no jobs. There are no homes to go to, no hotels to go to. There is absolutely nothing here.
HONORE: Put those weapons down, damn it!
TUCHMAN: But there is in New Orleans some sense that order is slowly being restored. The National Guard is out in force, nearly 20,000 people have been rescued, food and water is getting to those who haven't had much of either in a week.
The Army Corps of Engineers is beginning the job of shoring up the levees. One of the city's all-important pumping stations is back on line, and the floodwaters seem to be slowly receding.
But the man in charge there on the ground says he knows there is still a long way to go.
HONORE: We're going to have to determine what we're going to do to mitigate the water in New Orleans, and much has to be done about establishing shelter, so there's a lot left to be done, and much of that is a task that industry do, not necessarily military equities.
TUCHMAN: Of course, New Orleans wasn't the only city crushed by the force of Katrina. In Biloxi, Mississippi, crews continue the search for survivors and for bodies. And with disease a major concern in the hurricane's aftermath, there are reports of an outbreak of dysentery in the area.
More than 400,000 remain without power in Mississippi, and 17,000 are housed in Red Cross shelters.
The debate continues over who was to blame for what some say was the government's slow response in Katrina's aftermath. President Bush took a second trip south today, once again offering words of encouragement for some of those left stranded by the storm.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I understand the damage. I understand the devastation. I understand the destruction. I understand how long it's going to take. And we're with you. That's what I want you to know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: The rescued are still being brought here to what was the New Orleans International Airport, what is now just a huge MASH unit. At all hours, seriously and critically ill people are coming in. Just minutes ago we saw a man in full cardiac arrest being rushed into the old terminal building behind me. They're still working to save his life, Anderson.
COOPER: Gary Tuchman, we are seeing that all over. Thank you for very much that.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour was out largely -- for large amounts of today with an urban search and rescue team, just out in the floodwaters around the Ninth Ward and some of these other communities that are completely under water.
And the water is, as it recedes, I mean, it is going to reveal an awful lot of bodies, people inside their homes. You even see them now just floating out on the street one week after this hurricane hit. And it is still hard to believe the things you see every day.
Here's Christiane Amanpour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Streets that are now rivers, houses that are still flooded, bloated bodies that still bob in the putrid water.
And into this festering filth wades a man desperate to be rescued. Forty-two-year-old Tommy Thomas has survived on M&Ms and chocolate bars for days now. Stunned, exhausted, he's hauled to safety and given food and fresh water.
TOMMY THOMAS, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: Water was so deep, you know, I had to come out, you know. Running out of food. That's why I came out. I was running out of food.
AMANPOUR: Locked and loaded, the Louisiana Wildlife Enforcement Agency is leading this rescue mission, going house to house in flatboats and these ducks, sightseeing amphibious vehicles, whose owners have volunteered their services.
Amazingly, even now, many of those who are left won't leave.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, but why won't you come out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When this thing happened, when this thing happened, you got people shooting each other, stealing from each other. The only thing I trusted was my dog. I'm not going to leave her.
AMANPOUR: Robert is one of many who won't abandon their pets, even though rescuer Pat Maupen now insists everyone must leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys are going to have to shoot me to get me to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one's going to shoot you. We're talking about disease and everything. Look, no matter how much food and water you have, there's going to be -- there -- you're not -- you're in danger. You need to come to the craft.
AMANPOUR: But it's no use. Robert refuses. So it's off to find more desperate cases, like 89-year-old America Romero and her family, eight people who'd spent three days on their rooftop.
But no amount of coaxing could get their neighbor off his front porch. And he's angry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't you turn on the (expletive deleted) pumps in this (expletive deleted) city? Turn the pumps on. That will help us.
AMANPOUR: Many residents had expected the waters to subside quickly. Now, they're being told, it could take at least three months. Volunteer firefighter Shawn Craft (ph) from Massachusetts kicks in a door. He's heard people here need rescuing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: So what's happening now is that they're going in and really trying to get everybody out, and not really giving them so much chance and choice to stay, although, as we saw with the man Robert, who didn't want to leave because of his pet, that's still prevalent. Even now, there are so many people out there with pets, so many people who've got money stashed in their house, all their belongings, who just don't want to go. Even the 90-year-old woman we found didn't want to leave.
COOPER: And what a lot of people don't realize is just how toxic the water is. And, I mean, there, there is, you know, all sorts of stuff in there, human waste, you know, human bodies. And I'm just -- the city needs to be cleaned out.
AMANPOUR: Well, yes, and that's what they're telling them now. Look, we thought it was going to be drained quicker. You thought it was going to be drained quicker. But this is now going to take, they say, 80 days, maybe it's going to take longer. And now it's beginning to get dangerous for your health. This water is going to kill you, they're telling people. Don't swim in it, don't get in it. Come out now.
COOPER: And we're seeing all these animals in this water, what one police officer said to me is, Look, these animals are going to die in two weeks. They've been drinking this water. It's going to kill them if they don't die before then. It's a sad, sad scene. Christiane, thanks very much. Talk to you more later on this evening.
A lot more ahead. Elizabeth Cohen gets some people who are returning for the first time to their parish here in Louisiana, we'll tell their story ahead.
And more of the search and rescues that we have been seeing going on. I witnessed one myself from ground level in a boat. It was an extraordinary event.
We'll be right back. A lot more ahead from the Ninth Ward.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Members of the New Orleans Police Department have been barricading themselves in their police stations every night. They live off canned food like this, bottled water, whatever they can find. They've even renamed their police station, because they say this is like the Wild West. They call it Fort Apache.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that's near the French Quarter. We are now in the Ninth Ward, which is virtually completely flooded. We were out there today in a shallow-bottomed boat. And what we saw was just -- I mean, it continues to just be horrific, bodies floating in the water, dogs drinking this water, dogs dead in the water, dogs starving to death.
It is a terrible, terrible scene. We expect to see that for several more days.
Tom Foreman wanted to take a look for us at what went wrong and what went right and who is in charge of this entire operation. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Days before Katrina, FEMA said it knew what it was facing, and that it was ready.
MICHAEL BROWN, DIRECTOR, FEMA: The Hurricane Center at its 5:00 forecast says this could easily be a category 4 by the end of the weekend.
FOREMAN: Monday, the storm hits, and FEMA says it has built an arc of relief, teams with food, water, blankets, medicine, all around the strike zone. Rapid-needs assessment helicopters will take off on the heels of Katrina to direct resources to the right places.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we need everyone to stay put. Help is on the road.
FOREMAN: Tuesday, 150 miles of coast are in ruins. New Orleans is being flooded. Tens of thousands are trapped in plain sight at the Superdome and the Convention Center. Thousands huddle on rooftops, amid looting and violence.
Michael Brown says his arc of relief is facing impassable roads, poor communication.
BROWN: And so we're going to ask you, for the time being, to turn to the American Red Cross, the charities, Salvation Army, local churches, others who can provide for your immediate needs.
FOREMAN: Wednesday. In New Orleans, people are dying on TV.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need you to get him to the hospital. We have no other transportation.
FOREMAN: Even as the president flies overhead, critics along the coast say FEMA's relief is inadequate or missing. Homeland security chief Michael Chertoff, who oversees FEMA, says for the scope of the disaster, things are going well.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We will work tirelessly to ensure that state and local authorities benefit from the full mobilization of our capabilities.
FOREMAN: His own FEMA director, however, now says he was surprised by the storm's power, surprised people did not evacuate, surprised levees failed, even though that was all predicted by many experts for many years.
As for FEMA's arc of relief, 48 hours after the storm...
BROWN: ... and we're going to have the caravans moving tonight, so tomorrow, you're going to see that relief.
FOREMAN: Thursday. Hour by hour, trapped people cry for help, and it does not come. Some buses, yes, but certainly not enough. FEMA says it's delivering enormous amounts of aid all over. Local leaders are also under heavy criticism. And by Friday, they explode.
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS (on phone): It's too doggone late. Now, get off your asses and let's do something!
FOREMAN: Tens of thousands at the Convention Center have been in the news for three days. Help finally arrives, with an admission.
BROWN: I think it was yesterday morning when we first found out about it. We were just as surprised as everybody else.
FOREMAN: A week after Katrina, the situation is finally better.
But there are still few details about where the government's arc of relief was during four terrible days when relief was terribly needed.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, in 1995, FEMA did a study to see what would happen here in New Orleans if a category 4 or category 5 hurricane hit. So there was -- there were studies done. They had done a mock hurricane of this.
So much of what we are seeing now was predicted back in 1995.
Want to talk with the former mayor of New Orleans, Sidney Barthelemy. He is joining us tonight from Atlanta.
Mayor, thank you very much for being with us.
SIDNEY BARTHELEMY, FORMER NEW ORLEANS MAYOR: You're welcome, Anderson.
COOPER: First of all, your mother-in-law is still missing. Is there any word on her at this point?
BARTHELEMY: No. We are looking everywhere. We have many, many people calling. We've called every agency.
And I think that's a critical thing that needs to be addressed today, not just for my mother-in-law, but for many citizens and many evacuees who are all over the country, who are trying to find out where their children are, where their parents are, where the loved ones are.
And the system we have in place is just not working again.
COOPER: But do you understand, at this point, why there -- why this communication is such a problem? I mean, I, I, I can, I've been saying this for days now. I do not understand why someone hasn't come in just with cell phones and satellite phones in these neighborhoods and let people call their loved ones. It seems like such a basic, obvious thing. Do you understand, why hasn't that happened?
BARTHELEMY: I'm a loss for words. I agree with you. I think with the technology we have, we could set up a communications system almost immediately. We do it when we go to war. I really don't understand why they can't set up such a system now, and why they can't find out who the people are that we are evacuating, we're sending to hospitals, nursing homes, and try and contact -- get them in contact with their families.
COOPER: Mayor, I just want to point out to our viewers, we have a flatwater boat, which we believe has just rescued some people in this area that we are in in the Ninth Ward. We're just showing that to our viewers. I'm not sure, Mr. Mayor, if you could see this on camera. There is a body very close to where we are standing.
And as you know, there, all day long, people have been plucked out. So we're witnessing right now, there are actually two boats, one on the right-hand side. Chris, I don't know if you can see that. There's people inside it who we believe have been rescued. And there's another boat coming in. Mr. Mayor, what is -- who is to blame? I mean, if someone is to blame, if mistakes have been made, who do you believe made those mistakes?
BARTHELEMY: I think the blame has got to be shared all the way around, Anderson. But the biggest, biggest burden, and the biggest blame, should be on the federal government. I don't understand how they could not see what was happening, happening, and why it took them so long to get in. It's baffling to me.
COOPER: Mr. Mayor, I'm joined also now on the phone by former FEMA director, James Lee Witt.
Director, we spoke last night. Thank you very much for being with us.
You said to me last night, and I just want to hear your thoughts on it today, what we are seeing now is a result, you believe, of FEMA's budget being basically eviscerated? Is that a fair statement what (INAUDIBLE), of your beliefs?
JAMES LEE WITT, FORMER FEMA DIRECTOR (on phone): Well, Anderson, what I testified to Congress, and what I've said consistently, is that we need to put FEMA back as an independent agency, give them the programs and the money and the resources to do what they have done for years so well.
And when they created the Department of Homeland Security, they put big parts of FEMA in the Homeland Security, left FEMA with just response, recovery, and the flood insurance program.
And you cannot plan, train, and exercise, and be able -- if you don't plan, train, and exercise, you can't do a response together from state and local government and national government. And that's really important.
And my hope is that they'll put it back to an independent agency with a director with a cabinet-level status, because it will make a difference for America, and it'll make a difference in this type of catastrophic event.
COOPER: What would FEMA be able to do that they are not currently able to do? I mean, we're seeing behind us a search operation going on right now. Those guys have been brought in by FEMA, as many urban search and rescue teams have. But what more could FEMA have done?
WITT: Well, it's important, Anderson, that it's a close-knit partnership from the -- from FEMA at the national level, to every single state and local community, with the emergency support functions of each plan of every local government and the state and the national government that there -- when something like this happens, that there's a seamless operation that takes place.
Give you an example. You cannot do a task order for a thousand firefighters and have them staged, and not do a task order for airplanes to transport them.
COOPER: Well, I can tell you, I mean, I've talked to so many local firefighters who have been sitting around waiting for a mission, waiting for something to do here, and they are frustrated. And they feel it's a lack of coordination, that no one kind of knows -- the right arm doesn't know -- or the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing.
WITT: And, you know, they're right. And let me tell you what we're doing. We've got a meeting tonight at 6:00. I met with Mike Brown and the FEMA staff, and by the end of the day tomorrow, there's going to be a joint operations center that's going to be seamless. There's going to be incident commanders in place to making sure that tasks are done, tasks are carried out, and that this thing is seamless, and that this kind of stuff is not going to happen.
COOPER: Because I, I mean, I talked to a crew from Destin, who are desperate. They had boats ready to go in the water, and then they had people from Fish and Wildlife telling them, No, don't put the boats in here, this is our territory. I mean, is there a fight over turf going on here?
WITT: No, it's just a miscommunication. And the organization needs to set up to take care of these problems. And that's what we're doing. And Mike Brown and I are in sync on it, and FEMA's in sync on it, the (INAUDIBLE)...
COOPER: But is that going to be up and running tomorrow?
WITT: It's going to be up and running by the end of tomorrow.
BARTHELEMY: But, Anderson, I think that's the whole point. You know, there is a fight for turf, it seems, there is a lack of coordination. Here we are, a week since the hurricane hit, and they're still talking about trying to set up a plan.
WITT: No, it's not a plan.
BARTHELEMY: I mean...
WITT: It's not a plan, it's an organization. And I -- you know, (INAUDIBLE)...
BARTHELEMY: Well, I mean, well, whatever you call it, it is a week after the hurricane, and you're just setting an organization up?
WITT: Sir, let me just tell you. I wasn't here until Friday, and I have been working night and day without sleep to get this operation moving seamlessly. And I can promise you, I am going to do that.
COOPER: We're going to, we're going to, we'd love to check in with you again tomorrow night. We always like talking to you, former FEMA director, James Witt. Thank you very much.
And former mayor Barthelemy, good luck to you in this personal quest to find your mother-in-law. We wish you the best and hope she is safe, and are, all the members of your family are.
A lot more ahead. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: welcome back. We are live in New Orleans in the Ninth Ward, which is just about completely flooded.
What you're seeing is what we have been seeing all day. First, there's a personnel there from the -- actually, they're from, I believe, the Border Patrol, of all things. They are going around looking for people who are alive.
Meanwhile, they're moving right past people who are dead. We set up our live shot and suddenly noticed that there is a body in the water not too far from where we are standing. It is, frankly, the kind of thing that we are seeing an awful lot of here, every day. We just saw some other bodies today. We're going to show you that piece a little bit later on in the program.
They can't even, at this point, collect the bodies. I mean, they're not at the stage of rescue operations. They simply, you know, kind of look, they know generally where some of the bodies are, where the most obvious ones are, but there are so many bodies they haven't even found yet. They don't even mark down houses at this point in some neighborhoods. They're trying to find the living. They're going to deal with the dead, and, of course, deal with the disease and all the germs and bacteria.
I mean, this city's going to have to be cleaned and evacuated. And that is what people here are gradually realizing. It is a very, very -- it's a dark time here in New Orleans. And it's going to be dark days ahead as well.
CNN's Rick Sanchez went out with paramedics on a search and rescue. And we want to warn you, what you may see may be disturbing. But we want to show you what is really happening here. We don't want to put a gloss on it. We want you to see the reality, seven days into this disaster, how this disaster continues. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who is going on this boat? Curt, you're over here with me?
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They come from all over the country. This crew is made up of paramedics from Harrison, Arkansas, and this is why they do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Want Daddy and my momma.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want your daddy and your momma?
SANCHEZ: Six-year-old Mark Franado (ph) is safe now, but separated from his parents. At least he's out. A full week after the hurricane brushed New Orleans, others are still waiting to be rescued. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want us to go out there and see if we can find her and bring her back to you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's her name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joyce Rolle.
SANCHEZ: We joined paramedics as they looked for Joyce Rolle in a 17-foot airboat. But when we finally get to the place where she's supposed to be, she's not there.
We motor through the overpass, across I-10, enter the city of New Orleans. We're told it's really bad here. We soon realize it's even worse than we imagined. After patrolling for a full hour there's a sign from above. National Guardsmen are signaling us in the direction of a building. We negotiate the debris in the water and countless cars left in the middle of the road. We pass a shopping center where locals say many perished, and finally, we spot the rooftop where the chopper was leading us. The white flag signals the way and brings us to the evacuees, who we bring out one by one, all thankful to finally be out.
(on camera): What country are you from?
(UNINTELLIGIBLE)
SANCHEZ: China?
(voice-over): Turns out they're Chinese cooks from a nearby restaurant, who were suddenly trapped after getting caught in the hurricane and subsequent flooding. They were desperate to get out. Many here, though, are not.
(on camera): You want to stay?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. If you get out you can't get back in, and everybody talking about evacuating. What you do when your money run out?
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Our return route is marked for evacuation, but our method is not how it was intended. It's a dangerous and complicated journey, and this is why they do it.
(on camera): What are you going to do when you see your mommy and your daddy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm gonna hug them.
SANCHEZ: You're gonna hug them?
(voice-over): They do it so a scared little boy can eventually meet up with his parents. These men, who are strangers to this town, say they'll continue their missions of mercy until the last person, who wants to get out, is found. (END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Tough story to tell. I have a 6-year-old myself and dealing with little 6-year-old Mark Bernardo really takes your breath away. He's a desperate little boy who was in tears, he was crying. We talked to his grandmother; she said his parents got separated from him, because, well, they need to go find supplies. They're somewhere in Houston, his grandmother says, and they hope to be able to meet up with them. We hope to be able to make contact with them and see if we can somehow bring you that reunion as well sometime later.
Anderson, back to you.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Rick, keep following the story. Thanks, Rick Sanchez reporting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Who's to blame for the late response to the hurricane?
Mayor Ray, Nagin New Orleans: Mr. President, Madam Governor you two have to get in sync. If you don't get in sync, more people are going to die. It didn't happen. More people died.
ANNOUNCER: Finger pointing after the fact. But, what was really happening last week when help was slow to arrive? We'll fact check who knew what and when.
He's tough.
LT. GEN. RUSSELL HONORE, U.S. ARMY: Put those damn weapons down!
ANNOUNCER: He's committed to the recovery.
HONORE: And we're gonna turn the tide on this thing.
ANNOUNCER: And he wants results.
HONORE: We need the big brain people in America finding the damn solution and stop worrying about the first half. The second half is yet to come.
ANNOUNCER: He's the man the mayor of New Orleans likens to John Wayne. Lieutenant General Russell Honore. Tonight, he looks ahead, his plans to restore order in New Orleans.
This special edition of 360 continues.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: When you're going around in the neighborhoods, it's hard to tell where you can go. First of all, the street signs are gone, but you also don't know how deep the water is. You don't want your boat to get stuck so you have to constantly test to see how deep it is. Right now, we're in about two feet of water. So, it's pretty shall low.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We're here on an off-ramp off of I-10, which is, if you can look over my shoulder, completely flooded. We got a group here of U.S. Border Patrol officers just coming in for the night at dark. They come in, they stop all search and rescue efforts. It is simply too dangerous. There are a lot of desperate people here and these are desperate times and terrible things can happen. You might also notice just about everybody who goes out on search and rescue missions are armed. That is very rare that you will see that on a search and rescue mission, but it is not rare in New Orleans. Right now, I can tell you that, seven days after this disaster.
I went out with CNN crew earlier today in our own boat, just motoring around in neighborhoods in the 9th Ward and I gotta tell you what we saw shocked us. I think lit shock you as well, take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Parts of New Orleans may be drying out, but in the 9th Ward, the streets are still submerged under several feet of water. On some streets, the water is so deep the only way to get to see them is by flatbottom boat. The water is black, a toxic mix of gas and mud, oil and excreta garbage and human remains. It's difficult to know how deep it is, best not to think about what's really in it. Dead dogs are everywhere, so are living ones.
(WHISTLING)
(on camera): She's alive.
(WHISTLING)
We got water.
(WHISTLING)
Hey, we got some water, here...
(voice-over): There's only so much you can do. The water is too deep, the dogs too scared. They are starving, abandoned, stranded in trees. Around a corner, we find a Coast Guard helped hovering.
(on camera): Even now, seven days after the storm, rescuers are still finding people trapped in their homes in flooded areas. They're trying to pluck somebody out right now from their home. It's amazing to think that this person has lasted this long living in this condition. They're right over there. I don't know if you can see that, they're right there, look over there, look at there on the porch.
(voice-over): A boat of rescuers from a nearby town try to radio the chopper they can help, but they don't have direct communication.
(on camera): There they go! What's frustrating for a lot of rescuers, though, is the lack of coordination. There's people here -- there's a crew here from Destine on boats that could have gone in, had they known these people were here. They tried to signal to the chopper, that they could do it. He's going down again, the rescuer's going down, we believe there may be at least two more people in the house. He re-enters the water and that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the house, wraps some protective bindings around the people and then hoists them up. It is remarkable to see.
On the next block, we find the Humphrey family, Deirdre and her son, Manuel. They've rescued several dogs and don't want to believe leave them. If forced to leave, they say they plan to hide the dogs in their bags.
DEIRDRE HUMPHREY, HURRICANE VICTIM: Just be quiet. We taking him, yeah, we don't want him to die too.
COOPER (on camera): So, you're telling him to be quiet so he doesn't give it away?
D. HUMPHREY: Be quiet, huh? Be quiet.
COOPER (voice-over): Every day, Deirdre feeds a dog stranded in her next door neighbor's backyard.
D. HUMPHREY: Uh-oh, it got caught on the line.
COOPER: Today, her aim is off. The bag of food eventually drops into the water. The Humphrey's are going to have to evacuate. This water is toxic and this city must be cleaned.
(on camera): There's no way of telling how many people have died here in New Orleans at this point and there probably won't be for many days if not a few weeks. The flood waters are still high, homes are flooded, people haven't been able to -- rescuers haven't been able to get inside the homes to check on bodies. You find bodies just floating in the water. There's a man over there who's dead on the top of a car.
(voice-over): As bad as it is, as horrible as it looks, it's only going to get worse. When the water is gone and the homes searched, the number of dead will finally become clear.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It is a horrible thing to see. And as I said, there's a body not 100 yards from where we're standing right now and no doubt, we're going to be finding a lot more in the days to come and a lot of people -- a lot of good people searching very hard to find them right now. I'm joined, in a moment, by Senator David Vitter from -- a republican from Louisiana, but first, we talked to Senator Trent Lott from Mississippi, last week. I want to show you what he said about his thoughts about the recovery effort and response to the disaster back then. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: We've got the National Guard troops that we need, they're coming in there. They're coming in 1,200 a day into Mississippi. We're going to have 6,000 to 7,000 in Mississippi alone. Not just Mississippi National Guardsmen, but Alabama, all the way from Michigan are going to be there. We're all pulling together.
COOPER (voice-over): And you're pleased with the federal government response?
LOTT: I am pleased with the federal government's response. And by the why, while they're hurting and I understand it, this is not a time for complaining. This is a time for specifying what help we need and let's make sure we get it in there. I'm really shocked at some of the comments that are coming, you know, a day or two or three, a week from now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, today, Senator Trent Lott made different comments about the efforts. He said, and I quote, "Mississippians are homeless, hungry and hurting. FEMA and MEMA need to be saying 'yes' to Mississippi's needs not 'no.' This is an emergency situation without peer, like nothing our generation has ever encountered. If suffering people along the Gulf Coast from Mobile to New Orleans are going to recover as soon as possible we need an unprecedented public and private effort that can't be hampered by a process geared toward much lesser disasters."
Senator David Vitter joins us now, a republican from Louisiana.
Senator, on Friday, you gave the federal government an "F" for their efforts. What grade do you gave them right now.
SEN. DAVID VITTER (R), LOUISIANA: Yeah, first of all, Friday, I gave all of the organized government relief effort an "F," state and federal. I think it's turned a corner, in fact, it began to turn later that day, Friday, when it essentially became an unprecedented military operation, not only National Guard, but major active duty military. Now today, we're going to have upwards of 40,000 boots on the ground in Louisiana. So that is really turning a corner, and it's getting better every day. I know what a letter grade is, but it's getting better every day, at least.
COOPER: Senator, let me put a question to you or tell you about something that a firefighter from Louisiana -- I don't want to name the town or his name, just because he didn't want to get in trouble. He said, "Look, we came down here to help people. We have yet to be given a mission." They're told to go to one place, they show up, and people from the Fish and Game service say, "Oh, no, this is our territory, y'all go back. We don't need you here." And they've got boats which are empty and, you know, they're running out of gas themselves and they're frustrated. Do you hear that from people, here?
VITTER: I hear stories like that all the time and it's very unfortunate. As I said, I think those stories are lessening because the military is taking a much larger role, beginning last Friday and ramping up every day, but do I hear stories like that? Absolutely, every day and I've been on the ground in every affected parish.
COOPER: How do you stop it? I mean, if there is, you know, in- fighting or jockeying for power of organizations, whatever it is, how did on a you go about stopping it? I don't know the answer. From your position, do you?
VITTER: Well, about a day and a half into it, my thought was, you go about fixing it by making it a military operation and putting competent operational commanders on the ground. I think we've done that, particularly with General Honore who is active duty military a three-star general. I think that's making a dramatic difference and have all those sort of problems you're talking about gone away? No, absolutely not. So we need to keep working on it particularly on the sort of civilian bureaucratic side.
COOPER: Representative -- Senator Vitter, appreciate you joining us and we'd love to talk to you again as the week progresses. Thanks so much.
VITTER: Sure, thank you.
COOPER: When we come back, a lot more ahead. People, evacuees, trying to find new homes and some wanting to return to their homes. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, wherever you are watching this tonight in your home and I hope you are in your home surrounded by loved ones, just think about this, there are a quarter of a million people right now -- quarter of a million Americans in homeless shelters, in shelters because of this storm, right now. That is an extraordinarily high number.
Jason Carroll take a look -- took a light at the plight of these evacuees.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is early morning at a shelter known as the St. Peter home, here in Memphis, Tennessee. For Delisha Isaac, the day starts like any other. While her cousin hurries to get dressed, her mother though wonders simply, what happened to her family?
TIFFANY ISAAC, EVACUEE: I never in my life imagined I would be like this.
CARROLL: Imagine a week ago, three cars, 18 family members, three generations of the Isaac family form their own evacuation caravan. They drove north with no destination in mind until they stopped here 395 miles later. Some came from the hard-hit 9th Ward of New Orleans. They now know it is still underwater, wonder if they have any future there at all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we left home, we say we'll stay maybe two, three days and we'll go back home, but it didn't happen that way.
CARROLL: They have little left.
T. ISAAC: A dress for church. A pants, like a shirt was donated.
CARROLL: They know their homes are gone and in some in the family are missing.
T. ISAAC: I don't know if my brothers and sisters was in there. I don't know where they at.
CARROLL: The Isaacs' are among the 250,000 people living in shelters across the country. They are part of a staggering exodus, the largest displacement of Americans since the Civil War. Twenty- four states have accepted or are about to take them in. They will be housed from as far east as an Air National Guard base in Cape Cod to as far west as a homeless shelter in Los Angeles.
(CHEERS)
CARROLL: Where the hurricane homeless were welcomed.
EILEEN HIVNER, ASSOCIATED CATHOLIC CHARITIES: Initially, everybody throughout the country is going to respond to this devastation. I'm hoping that three months from now, they'll realize we still need people to respond.
CARROLL: But where to start? What what to do first? For now, Tiffany Isaac worries about work and school for her daughters, like Laquila, who's 10 oonld misses her room.
LAQUILA ISAAC, EVACUEE: I had a kitty on my wall and I had bunk beds with my sister and me.
CARROLL: And delisha, who is 13 and cannot grasp the enormity of what's happened to her.
DELISHA ISAAC: I don't want to talk about it.
CARROLL (on camera): Why not?
D. ISAAC: Because I don't like talking about it.
CARROLL (voice-over): And if it's so hard for a young daughter, then imagine how her mother must cope. T. ISAAC: This is a nightmare.
CARROLL: Perhaps because she can make no sense of it. Does she look back and wonder what happened? Or look forward and wonder what could possibly happen next.
Jason Carroll, CNN, Memphis, Tennessee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It is so hard to explain what is happening here. General Honore, the man -- the military man in charge down here, CNN's Barbara Starr takes a look at him and his efforts when we come back. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We're on an off ramp in the 9th Ward, an off ramp off the 10 East, which is completely include flooded. Behind me, you see Border Patrol officers who are ending their day of searching in the air boats. A sight we've gotten very used to seeing, here in New Orleans. General Russell Honore is the military man in charge of operations, of the military efforts here. CNN's Barbara Starr takes a look at him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three days after the hurricane had struck, it was clear the Cavalry really had arrived. Lieutenant General Russell Honore was there to take charge. The least textbook, least P.C. military leader one could imagine. Perhaps, exactly the right man for this impossible job.
He is seemingly everywhere, 20 hours a day. Imagine a three star Army general waving in helicopters on relief missions, constantly on the phone issuing orders, meeting with his planners at the Superdome. This is something you never see a general do.
HONORE: Get those god damn weapons down! Put those weapons down, damn it.
STARR: No nonsense, no patience, no interest in playing the blame game about those who responded first to the hurricane.
HONORE: That's B.S. I will take that on behalf of every first responder down there. It's B.S.
STARR: Technically, the military is here, just to assist state and local officials. The reality, on the streets of New Orleans, General Honore is filling the leadership vacuum. One example, a late- night meeting with the Mayor Ray Nagin.
NAGIN: How do you recommend we handle this?
HONORE: I think we try to get a public message out on the radio and you tell the governor, the buses need to be there early in the morning.
STARR: Through sheer force of will, the general has pushed things forward.
(on camera): Sixty-thousand people have now been evacuated from here, at the Superdome, and at the convention center. Now, Phase 2 of the military assistance operation is taking shape.
(voice-over): Systematically, now, under Honore's central command, thousands of troops are now beginning to move through the streets of New Orleans and surrounding parishes, providing food, water, and rescue for thousands still believed to be trapped.
Honore also is preparing his troops for the worst kind of soldiers' work, where Americans must recover the bodies of fallen Americans.
HONORE: Then the next run at this is to take a look at going house to house and building to building, will have to be done.
STARR: This very plain-spoken man who says exactly what he thinks, warns all of this could be the toughest part of the disaster.
HONORE: It's a potential to be bad.
STARR: But this tough-talking general has only compassion for the people of this city. He stops to help stranded mothers and babies.
HONORE: Hey, tiger. Hey, tiger, let's go.
STARR: It's all so personal to this Louisiana native. He has a cousin here still unaccounted for. A daughter in New Orleans, displaced to Florida, and he worries about Mississippi soldiers he trained last year and sent to Iraq.
HONORE: I told them when they left, we'll take care of their families, and we're gonna do that.
STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: A tough man for some very, very tough times. Our coverage continues as the sun sets here over flooded New Orleans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: CNN's primetime coverage continues right now with CNN's Paula Zahn -- Paula.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
