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Coast Guard Rescue; Galveston First Place to Feel Effects of Storm; Riding Out Ike
Aired September 12, 2008 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez.
We're going to be doing our show from out here. You have been hearing all day long today about Galveston Bay. There it is. This is really the most perilous spot in this Hurricane Ike situation that we are following here because -- think of it this way, the water is being pushed into a small area. That is Galveston Bay. That over there that I am looking at -- and you don't have to show it to them now, Tim, go ahead -- that's the Houston Ship Channel where it gets even more narrow and the water is going to be pushed into there.
So we're going to be showing you all of this, describing what's going on, talking to you interactively. We've got our computer set up up here so we can talk to you through twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn.
But the first thing I want you to see is something that may be unfolding throughout the course of the evening. There are probably going to be plenty of rescues over the next 24 hours. One of the first that we've seen, one of the most dramatic we've seen, happened just moments ago. This is in Galveston. It's some folks who are stuck in a pickup truck. I'm going to shut up and let you watch this for yourself. It's quite dramatic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Break 5.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Break 5.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's taking the road. The basket is clear. You are clear (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. You're clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basket and survivor coming up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basket and survivor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the United States Coast Guard in Galveston, Texas.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is that? You can come up a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bringing the basket and survivor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. I've still got you leaning to the left. You're going to need to come right some.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. Coming right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's getting out of the basket. All right. Ready for...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold. You go right down. Basket halfway down. Basket is halfway down.
Hold. Holding on the right side. Still holding.
Hold. Basket is at the truck. Hold.
The man is getting into basket. Ready for pickup signal?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taking the load. The basket is clear of the truck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The basket is coming up. Basket is halfway up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. We have now changed our heading, so I'm having a hard time seeing the poles. Just try not the come at them unless you absolutely have to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you plan on picking anybody else up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to move these people to dry land and then pick up these other guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. So he can stay in the basket?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, let's get the swimmer. I'm not leaving him in there. (CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. OK. Roger that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And we're live once again. We're here in Morgan's Point.
We're going to bring in Chief Petty Officer Mike O'Berry. He has been talking to members of the media about this rescue and some of the others that they are going to be undertaking probably over the next 24 hours.
Chief Petty Officer O'Berry, are you there? Are you with us, sir?
CHIEF PETTY OFC. MIKE O'BERRY, U.S. COAST GUARD: Yes, I'm here. How are you guys doing?
SANCHEZ: What can you tell us about this particular rescue that we were just watching for the first time with our viewers?
O'BERRY: Well, you can -- obviously the viewers can see that, you know, it's dramatic footage of us helping out folks who are stranded. One of the keys is that the Coast Guard right now has probably half a dozen aircraft out in the area trying to -- you know, doing some of the search and rescue. But also -- people -- we see this rescue video and obviously we want people to heed the advice of the evacuations if they can.
You know, we're lifesavers by nature, so it's -- you know, we're glad that we can be there to help. But on the same note, as the storm gets closer to Houston, we're going to have to kind of tie our stuff down. And we won't be out there for much longer.
SANCHEZ: Do you get a sense that people may not have made the realization that this thing was quite serious and that it really was coming for this area? That they didn't make that decision or that realization soon enough from what you have seen out there so far?
O'BERRY: From what we have seen, I'm not sure if people have not made the realization. I don't want to talk for the folks that are out there. But for the Coast Guard, you know, our job, we want to make sure that if people do get stranded for whatever reason, that we are available there to help them, get them to dry land and safe harbors.
SANCHEZ: You know what I was troubled by as I was looking at some of the video that's been coming in all day? I have been looking at some pictures from marinas, and I am seeing an awful lot of boats on those marinas.
I'm seeing boats that are harbor-docked. I'm seeing even on the Houston Ship Channel a couple of barges that I know if the water gets high enough, they're going to be pushed out of there and perhaps into some buildings. Are you as concerned about that as I am just looking at the picture?
O'BERRY: Well, we -- typically when we put out the weather conditions, it's kind of to remind especially personal vessels, if they're their sailboats, and we give advice on how to tie those down appropriately, and, you know, give good advice on that. And we can give updates as the storm approaches.
As it comes to barges and some of the commercial traffic, we set heavy weather plans that we review from each of these companies, and ships that come in have to submit something to the Coast Guard. We kind of review that and look at that.
And they have some advice and mandates of how they need to tie up those barges. Some are allowed to stay in there as long as they follow the heavy weather plan. They hopefully should not cause any problems. Even in Gustav, in New Orleans...
SANCHEZ: Well...
O'BERRY: Go ahead.
SANCHEZ: Well, I'm just curious, how do you tie up a boat? When you tie it up, it's in one place, and then later after the storm comes through, the water's going to be 20 feet higher. What do you do? Do you leave 20 feet of slack so the boat will go up? I mean, how can you -- how is that even possible?
O'BERRY: Yes, a lot of those we have, a lot of them are probably tied together. I have not seen the images of the barge (INAUDIBLE) multiple together, and they may have some of that, so they can go up the rising waters and come down.
You know, most of the barges, you know, their heavy weather plan stipulates different things for different category storms so that they do not pose any threat to the docks. And if there's any -- you know, if anything breaks, you know, we do monitor that. We send teams out before the storms. We do spot checks to see if there is any things that don't look right or are not following their plans and have those adjustments made.
SANCHEZ: Obviously, the best thing to do is to get enough information ahead of time. At least two days before the storm comes, get in your vessel and literally just captain it out of there to a location where it's not going to be affected by the storm. But at this point it's probably too late for many of these folks to do that, although we have seen some of the larger ships coming through the Houston Ship Channel.
Chief Petty Officer, thanks so much for being with us, sir. We'll be checking back with you. Let us know if there's anything else going on.
I want to show you something else now, because we were just having -- we were just having this conversation moments ago with what's going on with Galveston Bay.
Now remember, as the storm comes in and the surge comes in, this is where all of the water is going to be pushed in. And that's why I think this is an important point to make.
All right. You see that pier over there? You can't tell because it's under water now, but there's another pier that goes out to that little fish house out there, right in front of it. You can't see it.
Normally, it's about four feet over the water. The water has now gone over it.
Tim, I think you're getting a shot of it. Give me a thumb's up. You got it, right? Good.
All right. So you can see that that is literally under water now, which means, according to the owner whose property we're on right now, that the water where we are here has already risen 10 feet, and they're expecting it will probably rise another 10 feet as the water gets pushed into Galveston Bay.
We're here at Morgan's Point. I want to go now to one of my colleagues. Susan Candiotti is standing by. And she has more from her location of what some of the folks are doing there.
Susan, what's going on?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, we are in Surfside, Texas. This is about 50 miles or so south from Galveston. It's a coastal community of about 2,000 people, about half of Surfside is on an island.
We have just been ordered off the island. In fact, the authorities have left the island, too. That's it.
Why? Because the causeway bridge on the other side, the mainland side, has now been covered with water. And we had a tough time seeing our way actually as we came across along with all the other rescue vehicles as well.
And Rick, they just wrapped up a rescue of eight people, eight people who did not follow the evacuation orders here from earlier in the week. You saw live on CNN the last of the group to come out. It was a father and two of his grown children, and they came out on jet skis, their own jet skis. Before that, they brought out a rescue boat belonging to someone in the fire department to rescue some other people.
We asked why they decided to stay behind and he said, well, the surf is good, or words to that effect. And we hear from the police chief that a lot of these people back here just don't want to leave their houses, that's it, no matter what. But they finally convinced this group to come out. Others among the eight asked for help to get out as the water started to rise.
All the homes in Surfside are on stilts, and the water is already over. We have seen all kinds of debris already floating -- a refrigerator, a port-o-potty, dumpsters, all kinds of things.
But get this, Rick, they just told me that there is one man that is still on that island that they know of and he will not come out. They cannot force him. They cannot make him. They couldn't change his mind. And he is going to ride it out.
And they just shrugged their shoulders.
SANCHEZ: Give us an indication, Susan, of where Surfside is. I'm trying to get a picture of it, a visual script, as they say, in my head of it. Are you closer to Galveston Bay a corner of, or the Gulf?
CANDIOTTI: No, right on the Gulf. We're about 50 miles south of Galveston, but we are right on the Gulf.
And as a matter of fact, we are right next to the Gulf of Freeport. Surfside and Freeport are right next to each other.
In Freeport, we have another live location in the town of (INAUDIBLE), just a little bit more inland. Freeport is just surrounded by miles of petrochemical plants, all kinds of chemical plants owned by Dow Chemical, BASF. And they, in fact, have shut down production.
There are also some national oil reserves located here as well, one of four sites, I believe, nationwide. They have shut down operations, but in some cases, according to authorities, they have got a slowed-down production. So this is quite an area to watch to see what Ike does here.
SANCHEZ: Yes, it's interesting. That's why I had asked that question.
I think viewers who may not be in this area are probably -- and thanks so much, Susan. We appreciate that report.
Want to get a sense of what we're talking about when we're talking about a storm surge. And really, just to give you a bird's eye view, so to speak, from where we are -- and we're going to bring in Chad Myers in just a little bit, by the way, and he's going to show you this on his maps.
If you really look at what's but behind me right now, this is essentially Galveston Bay. If you keep going straight down that way, you will eventually hit the city of Galveston. So it's on the other side. This is the water that's going to get pushed.
Now, let me show you something else. And Chad is probably listening to us right now, and he's going to get a real good sense of what it is we're talking about.
You take Galveston Bay, right? We're in Morgan's Point. There's La Porte right behind me. Kemah right behind that, which is probably going to be under water in the next five or six hours.
And then you keep going over this way -- follow me, Tim, if you would. The actual Houston Ship Channel, the ship channel goes right through that area right there, where I'm pointing right now, and behind those fish houses out there is the actual ship channel that takes you right into Houston, if you can see me right there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
SANCHEZ: Obviously, over the next two hours we're going to be taking you through what's going on.
Tim, come with me real quick.
I'm also twittering for you. So twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn. I'm going to be talking to you and I'm going to be asking you what's going on here.
You know what a lot of people are talking about? A lot of people are somewhat angry that all of this oil infrastructure is in place here. People on the Internet are saying things like this -- this is Dira El (ph), who just wrote to me a moment ago and she said, "Rick, drill now, pay later. The only jobs it will create is for FEMA. We need more alternative energy, and we need to grow, baby, grow."
People are upset about what's going on here. They're afraid of what can happen with some of those huge containers that you see behind me right there, if they're empty and they turn into projectiles themselves. Imagine the damage they can do.
A lot more coming your way. We're taking you next, after the break, back to Galveston. Rob Marciano's going to be standing by there.
Stay with us. This is a special edition of our newscast. We are going all the way to 4:00, and then maybe some as well.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. Before we do anything else, I want to take you now to Galveston. That's really been the hotspot today throughout our coverage, because it was the first place -- obviously it's the southernmost point -- to feel the effects of the storm.
Rob Marciano has been there all morning long, monitoring what's going on with both the rise in the sea level, combined with the wave action. He's going to take it away and tell you all about that from both a human standpoint, because he's there, and a meteorological standpoint as well.
Rob, do it.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Rick, listen, for the past couple of hours, the most rain we have seen really is just a sprinkle, a spritz, maybe a little bit of spit. It really hasn't amounted to much. The most wind we've seen, maybe 20, 25-mile-an-hour gusts, maybe 30. The big story has been what is behind me, and that's the Gulf of Mexico. It looks completely different today than it would any other day. It typically would be flat, pretty tranquil, and it would be much, much further out by about 500 yards.
But today, it has churned up, it is foamy, and it's bashing the seawall which was built after the great 1900 hurricane, and made of granite, and able to protect this island from a couple of other storms over the past century. But will it protect this city from Ike? That's the big question.
That seawall, 16, 17 feet in most spots. But we're going to have to check it out. There's a lot of sand that's piled up over the years. And really, the only sort of protection I think it offers is maybe 10, 12 feet, tops.
And with a forecast storm surge of 15, 18, maybe 20 feet here, the water should be easily up and over that seawall. So that's an issue for sure.
There have been evacuation orders. A little more than half of the town's population of 60,000 have been evacuated, but that leaves a lot to ride out this storm.
So they've set up a curfew beginning at 8:00 tonight, through Sunday morning at 5:00. And if you're out, they're going to either arrest you or slap you with a $2,000 fine. Shelter in place is the name of the game if you choose to ride out this storm.
Meanwhile, FEMA has ordered 10 search and rescue teams around Texas to dive in when needed during and after this storm. And the Coast Guard is on board. They've got five choppers in the air -- two in Corpus Christi, three based in Houston.
We have already seen one of those choppers buzzing up and down the coastline. So already a flurry of activity, and the storm really nowhere near us, Rick, and that is the most alarming thing. That's what makes it so eerie, to see this sort of wave action and surge, knowing that the storm is still well over 100 miles away. This is a big one, and it's certainly going to be a long night.
Back to you.
SANCHEZ: Yes. You know, I'm sitting here, Rob, and I'm reading some of the things that -- I'm having a conversation with viewers who are watching us on the air right now, and they're writing to me.
Susan Reynolds (ph) just wrote to me on twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn. "It's crazy how some of these people are yelling for rescue when they chose to say. And now they're putting EMS workers in peril. It just must make you nuts to see it."
I guess I throw that question to you. And I also have to ask you this, Rob. I heard you talking about people are going to ride this thing out. How can you ride out a storm -- just thinking out loud here -- how can you ride out a storm in a place that's going to get 20 feet of storm surge if there is barely a place on the island that's higher than 20 feet? I'm not quite sure I get that.
MARCIANO: Well, there are a handle of spots. I had my doubts, too, as well, Rick.
When we rolled in last night, I said, "No way are we staying here tomorrow." But there are a couple of spots that are above that 15 or 20-foot mark. We are standing on one.
So we're, what, 20 feet above the 10, 15-foot seawall, so we need a surge of 30 feet really to get the water to where we are. So that is item number one. That's the water.
Item number two to worry about is the wind. When you have 100- mile-an-hour winds, you can't stand up in that. And when things fly around in that wind, it's going to hurt you if not...
SANCHEZ: All right. Rob Marciano, thanks so much for that report.
Boy, he's been doing some yeoman's work out there since early this morning. I've seen him following what's going on with the wave action and the storm surge itself, which is really going to be the big part of the story right now until the winds come in, in the next probably three or four hours. We'll start to see some of the bands as he was talking about.
Let's go now to Ronald Williams, Jr. He is one of those who's decided to stick it out.
Mr. Williams, thanks so much for being with us, sir. Tell us what your situation is and tell us where you are.
All right. Apparently, we are having problems reaching Mr. Williams. We just lost him at the last minute there.
Let's do this, let's take a quick break. When we come back, I want to talk to you about the petro situation as well.
Follow me, if you would, Tim.
All right. We were talking about this a little while ago.
This is part of the Port of Houston. You see it right behind me. I'm looking at it now. All right?
You see some of the rigs back there. There are also those large containers. You know those big, giant white barrels that you often drive by when you are driving in areas like this where there is a lot of petro industry.
Well, here is the problem, folks. Those containers are empty. The water will essentially flood that area back there. And what happens is they will float. And because they have nothing in them, not only will they float, then after they float, the wind will come, push them, and literally take them into the air like a giant kite.
Those things are made of metal and they can create serious problems for people who live in an area like where we are right now if they literally come flying across the bay. That is one of the concerns that some of the officials here were telling me about just moments ago that they are real worried about, mostly from the Port of Houston that you see right there on the edge of that point behind me.
More on that, more on some of the folks who are sticking it out. We'll have conversations with you on twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn all throughout the next hour and a half.
Stay with us. We are live in Morgan's Point, Texas.
I'm Rick Sanchez.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. So much to talk about. I'm Rick Sanchez here, and we are in Morgan's Point.
We are now starting to feel -- I don't know if you can see them, folks. The very first rain bands are now coming through.
Sherri Ditrich is the police chief out here in Morgan's Point. She's been good enough to kind of help oversee what we are doing out here.
Thanks, Chief, for being with us.
CHIEF SHERRI DITRICH, MORGAN'S POINT, TEXAS, POLICE: You're welcome.
SANCHEZ: What's the situation? What are you telling your residents? Who have you evacuated and why?
DITRICH: We started yesterday a mandatory evacuation. Of course, we can't make you leave your residence, but we encouraged them very strongly to leave.
SANCHEZ: Why?
DITRICH: After a certain point starting today, when the winds get at a certain wind speed, we ourselves, the emergency personnel, will be evacuating ourselves. And at that point, there will be no EMS, no fire, no police. And to me, that's a big concern for those that choose to stay.
SANCHEZ: Isn't it as much about water as it is the wind at this point?
DITRICH: You bet. You bet. We've been getting word that there can be anywhere from 20-plus storm surge, with anywhere from five-plus tides -- I'm sorry...
SANCHEZ: Yes, the surge...
DITRICH: .. waves on top of that.
SANCHEZ: First the water goes up, then the wave comes and kicks it in.
DITRICH: Exactly.
SANCHEZ: You've been -- by the way, I understand that you have been in contact with the state as well. The OEC guys have been in contact with you. What do you sense that they're saying to public officials like yourself? What is the sense of alarm that you are hearing?
DITRICH: Just get ready. You know, just be ready and make sure your people are ready. You know, take care of our own, our own officials. And hopefully at this point, we have taken care of all of our residents, which we have.
SANCHEZ: We have quite a perilous situation going on out at sea. There was at least one large cutter that was trying to get away from the storm, but his engine's cut out. Now he's stuck about 100 miles out.
They may be actually -- when they rescue them, they might be bringing them back to this area. What could you tell us about this? What do you know?
DITRICH: The only thing that I've heard that is true about the ship being stranded out there was it was having engine problems. And I believe I heard in several reports say that they were trying to get the Coast Guard out to them, and if need be, they will bring them right up the ship channel and get them tied down where they need to be.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your letting us be out here.
DITRICH: You're welcome.
SANCHEZ: And good luck to you and all your residents, as well, and all of those folks on your staff.
I think we've got a chance to go now to that interview that we had promised just a little while ago.
I'm going to check the twitter to see what's going on as well here.
I think we've got Ronald Williams though now.
Ronald Williams, are you there? Ronald Williams, Jr., are you there?
JOHN SARACCO, REFUSES TO EVACUATE: This is John Saracco.
SANCHEZ: All right. Let's go to John Saracco then.
John Saracco, are you there? This is Rick Sanchez at CNN.
SARACCO: Yes, I'm here.
SANCHEZ: John, tell me where you are, what your situation is.
SARACCO: I'm in Galveston, Texas, I guess Ground Zero. We're downtown in the historical district, and the old Galveston news building, and we have got water rising. We are locked in right now. And it's coming into the first level of the building.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you a question. My producer was just telling me that you are there with a family of 16. Are there children involved?
SARACCO: There is -- yes, there's some children are here.
SANCHEZ: Do you worry that you may be making a decision that would not only affect your situation but theirs as well?
SARACCO: No, no. We are in a commercial building six stories up. It's a masonry building.
SANCHEZ: Oh, OK.
SARACCO: It survived the 1900 storm. We have sat out a few here.
SANCHEZ: So you think that building will hold up. That's respectable.
Let me ask you this though, if it's true what they say, that we're going to get a 20-foot storm surge, that water is going to come in. It's not necessarily going to away within 24 hours, so you're kind of going to be stuck there.
What are you going to do if the entire area is flooded and you have to be on, let's say, you know, the seventh or eighth floor of the building? Do you have enough provisions to get you through for, let's say, at least a couple of days, if not a week?
SARACCO: Yes, we have more than prepared ourselves. We have got plenty of water, generators, nonperishable food. Yes, we have boarded up the windows. It's not my first rodeo.
SANCHEZ: No, I get it. No, listen, I get it.
SARACCO: Yes. Yes. Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: If you think that you are prepared, if you think you are in a building that is going to be steady enough to hold on, then that is your decision. That is what it's like to live in this country, you're allowed to make decisions for yourself.
We wish you the best of luck to you and to your family and we'll continue to check in with you and hopefully the water won't rise as much as some are saying it might, although at this point I've got to tell you, everything looks like it is coming right for Galveston, my friend.
SARACCO: Oh, I hear you. I hear you. Thanks for your concern.
SANCHEZ: All right. God bless.
Let's go now to Ali Velshi. Ali is standing by.
Ali, I am getting all of this e-mail traffic here on twitter.com from people who are real concerned about the petro industry, and they are concerned that this is the kind of hurricane that is going to go right into the city where a lot of that industry is, knock out perhaps some of the rigs, some of the containers.
What is the concern there, if any?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The rigs are probably safe, Rick. They are built to withstand this sort of a hurricane. They were good during the Gustav, what was the problem was Katrina because of the amount of time. It was Category 5 over the Gulf of Mexico.
What the problem is here -- I'm in Baytown about 35 miles southeast of Houston -- and the issue here is what you see over my shoulder, where you can see the flare from the stack over there. That is ExxonMobil's Baytown Refinery. That's the biggest refinery on the continent. It refines 590,000 barrels of gasoline into oil everyday.
And we are in the heart of refining country. Texas has 26 refineries that make oil into gasoline. Ten of them are shut down already. The issue is what damage is done to them already. Unlike the rigs, which can handle certain things, these refineries -- they're not going to blow away, they need power and they need to be dry. And what we are seeing right now -- we've already seen the water level rising about six inches in the last hour or so. And when I started this morning that dock was entirely accessible, I could get to that, and the water just keeps coming further and further up.
If the power goes out here and those rigs -- those refineries get wet, we're going to have a problem. About a quarter of the country's oil is refined into gasoline right here in Texas, so that's what we're worried about. You're going to start to see price spikes if there is damage done to these refineries. We have already started to see price spikes in the last couple of days and overnight, Rick.
SANCHEZ: So what we are really talking about then, Ali, I hear you saying, is not so much any devastation or anything like that, but an interruption, per se, which would then cause an effect on the financial market, itself, right?
VELSHI: Yes. And I should tell you, that the interruption in the case of Katrina, for some refineries, was six to nine months. So --
SANCHEZ: Wow.
VELSHI: -- what these refineries would like is if this thing passes by and they are back and up to speed -- they dry the place out -- and they are back up to speed in a week. You probably won't see much effect at all. But if it is longer than that, this could be felt, and it's not just in this part of the country. You will see -- gas from here goes all over the country, so you can see those effects.
So I should tell you, the effect is not -- the fear is not about the price of oil or oil supply right now, in fact the price of oil dropped below $100 a barrel a couple of hours ago -- the issue here is gasoline. And that is what we are worried about.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks so much. Ali Velshi reporting to us there, following the situation that a lot of folks are real concerned about.
By the way, we've got two chemical officials who are going to be joining us in the next hour to talk about this specifically. We will have that coming up, as well more reports with some of our reporters who are scattered up and down the coast here, from Brazoria County all the way up to Harris County, where this storm seems to be headed. That and talking to you right here on twitter.com. I am reading your messages. We will share some with our audience as well.
I am Rick Sanchez. I am live in Morgan's Point, Texas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in Morgan's Point, Texas.
This is where the bay goes into the Houston Ship Channel. And according to most of the trends that we are looking at now, this is very close to where the eye of Ike will actually come through parts of Galveston and the city of Houston.
We have breaking news now, information that we want to share with you right away. Let's go back inside the NEWSROOM. Let's get to T.J. Holmes.
T.J., what do you have?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Rick.
We just have an update here on the investigation into Governor Sarah Palin's office in Alaska. This was a case in which she had been under investigation for the possible wrong firing -- wrongly firing her public safety commissioner, having to do with -- because he would not actually fire her ex-brother-in-law. So, some family stuff there, a little inside baseball, and a little more details than you care to know there.
But what we have now is that, in fact, the Special Counsel has asked Alaska lawmakers to subpoena Governor Palin's husband and a dozen other aides as part of this investigation. That is the word we are just getting now that, in fact, possible subpoenas are going to come down in this particular case. Governor Palin, of course, has certainly shaken up this presidential campaign after being named the Republican running mate for John McCain.
And of course, this investigation had been going on. Of course it was knowledge beforehand. But the new update now coming out is that, in fact, her husband and many others may be subpoenaed as a part of this investigation.
Just an update that we just got in, Rick. We just wanted to get that on record, get that on board. We will get more details, get more to you as we get them. But I will hand it back out to you out there in Texas.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks so much. T.J. Holmes -- following the very latest on the situation with Governor Sarah Palin and that subsequent investigation taking place in the state of Alaska.
Now I want to show you, or direct your attention to, that area behind me. You see those piers directly behind me? Usually they would be about four feet above the water. Now, obviously, at least that one you are looking at, the water is right below it. Eventually it will overtake it.
There is another one you cannot see because it is already under water. That leads to that fish house just to the left of it. That tells you what is going on here in the Galveston Bay, that the actual sea is rising as a result of what is happening a couple of hundred miles out. And what is happening 100 miles out is Hurricane Ike.
With more on Hurricane Ike, let's go to man on the know, that is our own meteorologist, Chad Myers, who is standing by now.
Chad, what do you have?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: At the magic board right now, Rick, and I will take you to a few places here. This where you are, right here, near Baytown and La Porte and this is your little point, there -- it shows up right there -- Morgan's Point, and probably the peers you are looking at would be right, I can zoom in a little bit more, these are the piers right there. But basically just walkways out to people's boathouses out there.
But I will close this up a little bit for you. I'm going to take you down all the way down to Galveston Bay because that is basically -- I've heard it called ground zero. We'll try not to use that thing too many times today. But we have hurricanetrack.com right there -- (INAUDIBLE) in the middle, and that is where our mark Sudduth, right there. We've got trucks out there, we're going to get him off pretty soon, but he is leaving boxes, suitcases really, like the kind you have to check they are so big. They're not carry on boxes. But he is leaving them all over the island. He has one right now. He's put a couple down here and also by the 1800 -- 1900 monument, there too. This is where Mark is right here, if you want to go to hurricanetrack.com you can actually see this if you logon. Right here, here is another off to the right. This is what Galveston Island over here looks like. But where there is not the seawall, the water is already under these houses right here, coming up here. We're going to watch this inundate this. I know those houses will not be there later on tonight.
When we lose power here, there is actually a battery in these boxes. It's the Marine battery and that Marine battery will last us 15 more hours. So we're going to zoom back out here a little bit because this is part of the island that we are the most concerned about, the part that does not have the seawall. Everybody is saying, oh, I am safe, I am safe, I have a seawall. But you know what? I know that seawall is high, but we are talking about a storm surge that was going to be going over that seawall. So I am not sure what people are thinking by staying out here on Galveston Island. That is just not a really good idea.
And as you push water into the bay, Rick, where you are -- you've got to get out of there because all of this water is going to be pushed right straight up into the bay and then -- almost like it goes exponential, because it has nowhere to go. You've got 10 miles worth of water trying to get into one mile worth of river. And then it just goes up even exponentially from where you are.
So, obviously, I know right after the show you're getting out of there and going to higher ground.
SANCHEZ: Yes, we are figuring probably around 4:00 or 5:00 -- it probably wouldn't be a good place to go. We're going to move inland a little bit.
Got a question here, Chad. People are e-mailing me and twittering me and I got one just moments ago. The question came in from somebody and it was interesting. All right. It says -- "Rick, you are there" -- OK. It says -- (SPEAKING SPANISH).
"My grandparents are in Spring, Texas. Do you think they should evacuate, or no?"
What can you tell those folks?
MYERS: Well, it depends on how frail the grandparents are. If my grandparents, or even my parents, they are in their upper 70s, I would say, yes, go. Spring, Texas -- there it is right there. There we go. Spring, Texas, right here.
And here, Rick, here is the track of the hurricane. So, I mean, this is one of the points right there that is going to be a 95-miles- per-hour storm when it gets to Spring, Texas. They are going to lose shingles, they are probably going to lose some windows. I wouldn't want my grandparents living there -- or being there.
The options at this point are difficult because you cannot -- from Spring you can't go really west very easily. You have to go down and then go out and these interstates are just packed. And so, I think most of the -- you need to either move very quickly now or just baton down the hatches and know what you are going to be riding out. But -- that is a 95-mile-per-hour wind, that is like an F-0, F-1 tornado that is going to last for hours and hours and hours. It's not going to be a five-minute storm.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks, Chad, for the perspective. Throughout the show we'll do that. Whether you want to write to us in Spanish, in English or any other language we can possibly understand, let us know what your thoughts, your concerns, your questions are. We'll get them over to Chad. Hopefully he'll be able to answer them and we'll be able to get through these next 24 hours together and hopefully safely.
I'm Rick Sanchez. I'm in Morgan's Point, Texas. And I'll be right back.
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SANCHEZ: OK. All right. Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
We're just now getting information -- pardon me for looking down, but I am checking my BlackBerry now. My producer just sent me some information. All day long we've been following the situation with that freighter that has been out there at sea. Its' about 100 miles out when it was -- it tried to get away from the hurricane, but boy, wouldn't you know it, the engines cut out on the ship, and they have been literally stranded and floating out there. The Coast Guard is attempting a rescue now.
It is a 584-foot freighter. There are 22 people on board. There was some real hope, just a while ago, that they would be able to go out there and rescue them, but we've just received word from the Coast Guard -- Angie (ph) make sure I am giving the right information here -- received word from the Coast Guard that at least for now, they were not, they were not able to execute the rescue because the conditions are just way too -- are just way too treacherous. Obviously, they are in a hurricane.
Thank you, Angie, for backing me up on that.
Look, they are in a hurricane and they're trying to go in there and see if they can use the helicopters to get these folks out. Obviously, we're going to be able to follow this and I am also being told -- here you go -- I am also being told, by the way, that we at CNN are the only ones who have just received actual communication with some of those 22 members, some of those 22 crewmen who are on board that freighter. We were able to have an interview with them. We have recorded it. We're going to be turning that around for you real quick here. As soon as we do, we'll have it for you and we'll have it on the air.
Meanwhile, let's got General Russel Honore who is joining us once again.
General, boy, you and I have had so many conversations in the last couple of weeks about hurricanes. It seems like we've just about covered all of the ground there is. But this is fresh material that we have here; now we're talking about a hurricane actually coming into a metropolitan area and pushing the water, not only through the Gulf and through the bay, and eventually through a Ship Channel itself.
How concerned are you, sir, about this situation?
LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET).: Well, Rick, this is, worse case -- big, bad, dangerous storm coming into a populated area that has a lot of industrial capacity to it. It is key, as we would say in the military, key terrain because of its importance to our industry. And it is a key -- it's the fourth largest city in America. The number of people in the greater Houston area is equal to the entire population of the state of Louisiana. So we are talking about a very important area of the country and a very dangerous part of the country right now. Over.
SANCHEZ: You know, I am wondering, as I am talking to you, if there is anything that the folks around that area, where the water is, can do at this point if they have decided to wait it out or if they do make the decision that they are just going to wait it out.
Do you think, from what you have been looking at, that the water in and around the Ship Channel will, in fact, overtake the banks?
HONORE: If I was a betting man, I would say yes. And here is why. The surge, if you look at the bay there -- you'll remember if you use it as a point of reference, which a lot of people here may have seen on television, Katrina put a 17-foot wall of water in Lake Pontchartrain. This storm has the potential to do the same inside of Galveston Bay, the area where you are standing at.
The other part of it is the threat to Interstate 10 that runs along here. This is very critical.
The other part of it is people need to remember as the eye of the storm, and this is the eye of the storm, goes along here, that there will be no power. There will be no cell phones operating for -- starting here in about 12 hours. So if you can watch this program now, and you have any questions, you need to get a hold of your local officials because right now, we don't have -- the Coast Guard will have to stop flying along here momentarily because the winds are going to get too high.
So the issue we've got to deal with is if you can watch television now and you can use -- still use your phones, if you have any questions, you need to contact local officials to let them know where you are. And if you have any questions about the structure that you are in -- whether you're in a mobile home or a structured home, get a hold of your local officials on where can you go to be in a safer place than you are right now, because it is just about too late to hit the road, pending on the information that you get from the local officials. Over.
SANCHEZ: Point well made.
Russell Honore, thanks so much.
The thing to consider when you're in a situation like this is not what happens before the storm, not even what happens during the storm, but often what people forget to take into account is what happens after the storm, where you're going to have to live for a week with, as what the general mentioned, no electricity, no way to get around, no communication, no support, no law enforcement, and no rescue officials who can get to you. Think about that as you make your decision as to whether you're going to flee or stay.
I'm Rick Sanchez. We're in Morgan's Point. This is a special edition of the NEWSROOM. I will be right back with more from the petro officials who will explain to us what is going on with the industry here and the effect that Ike might have on it.
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SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez here at Morgan's Point right along Galveston Bay.
You can see some of the water levels have already risen. It is hard to tell -- one of the owners here says he thinks it's already up about 10 feet. Certainly it's up more than five, maybe as high as 10, depending on how long you have been looking at some of those piers that are now being inundated.
Beyond the piers, all the way back there, you see some of those -- that's where part of the port of Houston is. That is a petro industry complex where they bring in some of the ships and they take the oil and put it into some of those containers that you can't see out there that are also very dangerous right now because of -- many of them are going to be empty, and that means they could fly away.
Let's go to Luiz Batiz. He is with Texas Petro, and he's joining us now to fill us in on what the concerns are about being able to secure outfits like the one that you see behind me there.
Mr. Batiz, what's the situation? What can you tell us, sir?
LUIZ BATIZ, TEXAS PETROCHEMICALS: Yes. First, I'm with Texas Petrochemicals. We've got three plants in the area. Two plants here in the Houston area, one in Port Natchez, close to Beaumont.
Our concern, first of all, is the safety of our employees and the safety of the community. Then we try to secure our facilities, and trying to --
SANCHEZ: Is there any -- is there any danger to the community right now from your particular facility?
BATIZ: No. All of -- our three facilities are both (sic) shutdown. We tracked the hurricane -- we've been tracking Ike since it formed in the West coast of Africa a couple of weeks ago. And once it got close to Cuba and to Florida, we started taking action regarding (INAUDIBLE) the plants and taking immediate action as far as tracking the direction and the projected landfall and we made decisions on the plants in anticipation of the direct hit that would allow us to secure the facilities to avoid impact to the employees and the community that we operate in.
SANCHEZ: What is the worst case scenario for you at this point? What is the one thing that you would want to avoid at all costs when you look at any vulnerabilities that you may have at your complex?
BATIZ: Well, right now, we are basically at the mercy of the hurricane and how well our plants have been designed. Our plants are designed to withstand hurricane winds Category 4 and so forth. But there are parts of the plants that are more fragile than others, like cooling towers and pumps and so forth.
SANCHEZ: I see.
BATIZ: That could actually be impacted.
SANCHEZ: All right well listen --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Mr. Batiz, thanks so much, sir.
Go ahead. Worst scenario?
BATIZ: The worst scenario for us is a storm surge where we could get a little water and the facilities can flood. That is no different than what the gentleman before me was speaking about regarding the areas near the bay and the channel.
SANCHEZ: All right. Well, we'll be keeping an eye on it and we'll be in contact with you, sir.
Thanks so much for being with us.
We're going to be taking a break right now. We'll be right back, starting the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Rick Sanchez, here in Morgan's Point, Texas. We will be right back.
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