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Hurricane Ike Heads For Texas
Aired September 12, 2008 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I am Rick Sanchez.
I am in Morgan's Point, Texas. What you see behind me is Galveston Bay. Galveston Bay has been going up ever so slightly. We see one boat now coming in. It is a lone vessel that is coming in off of Galveston Bay. It will eventually be going right through the Houston Ship Channel.
And, by the way, so will all of the water that's going to be pushed in from Hurricane Ike. That is the problem. That's why people are concerned. This is a small body of water that is being pushed by a larger body of water into an even narrower body of water when you get into the Houston Ship Channel -- more on that in just a little bit.
But I want to show you now a situation that has been taking place in the area that's first being affected. This is the -- this is Galveston Bay, but, obviously, the water that pushes Galveston Bay is the Gulf of Mexico. Next to the Gulf of Mexico is, of course, Galveston proper.
That is where there have been already some rescues like this one that I'm going to show you now. The Coast Guard had to come in and get people out of a pickup truck, of all things. It is dramatic and almost interesting to watch. You are going to see it for yourself. I am going to shut up and let you do that right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) halfway down. (INAUDIBLE)
Hold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Halfway down. (INAUDIBLE) Move to the right. Hold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) The basket is clear of the truck. You are clear to move aft.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. (INAUDIBLE) clear
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basket and survivor coming up. Basket and survivor are (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) Hello. Speaking. United States Coast Guard (INAUDIBLE) Galveston, Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Am I able to come (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can come up a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) basket (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She does have two dogs with her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. I have still you (INAUDIBLE) left. You will need to come right some.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger, coming right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is getting out of the basket. All right. Ready for (INAUDIBLE) delivery. (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger. (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) 1:00, 25 yards (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go right down. Basket is halfway down. (INAUDIBLE) five. Basket is halfway down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) right. Still holding. Hold. (INAUDIBLE)
Basket is at the truck. Hold. Man is getting into the basket. (INAUDIBLE) ready for pickup (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prepare to take a load. Taking a load. The basket is clear of the truck. You are clear to move back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basket is halfway up. Excuse me. Basket is coming up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) back here. Basket is halfway up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
All right. We have now changed our heading, so I am having a hard time seeing the pole, so just try not to come aft unless you absolutely have to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Do we 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?
SANCHEZ: There you have it. It is literally a national -- you know, people all over the country seem to be shaking their heads as they watch some of this video and they hear the stories of people who decided to ride out the storm and then at the last minute change their minds.
We are here now outside Galveston Bay. This is Morgan's Point. The water is starting to go up here. I was talking to my colleague Chad Myers a little while ago and he says that we are practically at what might be -- boy, we hate to use the term all of the time, but it is really ground zero of where this storm might be coming through.
I mentioned a while ago that people are upset about this. Listen to this. This comes on Twitter.com/ricksanchezCNN. This was just written to me moments ago, seconds ago.
"People with kids in the evacuation area that do not evacuate should be charged with child endangerment. How stupid can you be if you have children?" That is from Jay Goble (ph), who wrote to us just moments ago. But, statement, even if you do the right thing, you can get yourself in trouble. Case in point, this is something that is going on right now. It's about 100 miles off of the Gulf of Mexico -- 100 miles past Galveston, I should say, in the Gulf of Mexico. There is a 400-foot freighter that tried to get out before the storm came, so that they would be out of the area.
But on their way out, suddenly, their engines conked out, and now they are stuck. They have been calling mayday, and the rescue has been trying to save them. They went out there with helicopters to do just that, but we understand it was futile, because they are really in the hurricane, and it is too hard to fly helicopters.
There are 22 people on board. No on has been able to talk to them since now. You are about to hear an exclusive interview on CNN with the captain of that freighter and in charge of those 22 men who is right now stuck 100 miles offshore right in the middle of that hurricane.
This was conducted about 45 minutes ago. We will let you hear as it was recorded. Here it is.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Did the helicopter land on the ship?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not on the ship. It's not on the ship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are the winds strong, sir, around the ship? The winds? Do you have a lot of wind?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It gusts and now it's a little clear. OK. I am very busy now. Please have a moment. Please. I am very busy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Is everybody OK on the ship?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, everybody is OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And are you anchored?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are under buoy. We are under buoy. And now we're finish 10 miles drifting by the water.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Sir. One more question. Do you have any power now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes. We have electricity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, wonderful, wonderful. And you have so far seen one American helicopter trying to help you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Unfortunately, just really to put an end point or a punctuation on that story, as it stands right now, hopefully, it's a comma and not a period. It appears that they have not been able to effect a rescue with that freighter, because it is just too dangerous to be able to get to it.
The Coast Guard was out there about 15, 20 minutes ago, and we got word that they had to stop the rescue, because it was just too dangerous, we are sorry to report.
Obviously, they will keep trying, keep monitoring these guys, and see if somehow they can bring them back into shore, 22 crewmen stuck on a freighter out there.
Let's bring in Mark Fetter (ph) now. He is one of the officials who has been monitoring the storm with a company that literally goes out and puts cameras along the coastline to try and find out how much the sea level is rising and what the particular personality of this storm, Ike, is.
Mark, are you there? Are you with us? What can we learn from what you have learned so far?
MARK SUDDUTH, HURRICANE CHASER: I am here.
And we have learned that this is beyond what anybody probably thought, except for those who were forecasting it, who warned people ahead of time. Now it is coming to fruition.
SANCHEZ: I am sorry. I think you just finished making a point, but my producer was talking to me as well.
Are you still there, Mark? I think you were saying that you are learning this storm is even more than we thought we would be reckoning with. Is that right?
SUDDUTH: Especially.
I think that the forecasters at the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service, they knew what was coming. For the public who has decided to ride it out, and even myself, who has studied these things for years, this is absolutely mind-numbing to see in person.
SANCHEZ: Why? Why are you saying that? What have you seen that makes you say that?
SUDDUTH: I have seen the Gulf angrier than I have ever seen it before. You know, I read the book "Isaac's Storm" about the 1900 hurricane, and you can picture it in your mind as to how horrific that must have been in person. Now you see it for real unfolding in front of your eyes.
This, to me, what we are seeing here in Galveston, is far beyond anything that I saw in Katrina to this point. We don't know how is it going to end. Hopefully, we will end up on the better side of this than what happened with Katrina. Right now, this is far worse than anything I saw in Katrina this far ahead of landfall.
SANCHEZ: What is your data at this point? What are the specific things that you are seeing that makes you say what you are saying now, that makes you sound as alarmed as you do?
SUDDUTH: We set up a remotely operated camera this morning, my partner, Mike Watkins, and I, down on the west end of Galveston, what we thought would be early enough to be well ahead of any surge problems. And we were wrong.
Our original location that we scouted out last night was already under water and impassable that early, ahead of the hurricane's radius of maximum winds, where the worst of the surge will come in. That area flooded before we were able even -- able to get there this morning, so we had to sort of go to plan B, and even that was cutting it close, as the west end of Galveston started going under water. And the whole place is just filling up like a bathtub from the bay and from the Gulf.
Fortunately, it has not come over the seawall too bad yet, where it is spilling down into Galveston from the Gulf of Mexico. That has not happened just yet. And we certainly hope that it doesn't.
SANCHEZ: You know, it is a alarming to hear the language that you are using to describe this. And that is me being a reporter who has covered many hurricanes, but certainly still a layman, and not an expert.
Let me bring in an expert in this conversation then. Let's go the Chad Myers, who has been listening to you say what you are saying.
Chad, are you in any way surprised by what you are hearing Mark Fetter (ph) say?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, we knew this was going to be a big storm. That's why they have been calling it a monster storm, even though maybe it's not going to get to Category 3. That has nothing to do with it.
The size of the hurricane wind field is enormous. There are winds 100 miles away from the center that are still hurricane-force. That is pushing this wall -- don't think of it as a tsunami -- this bubble, we will call it, of water right into Galveston bay.
Think about this. Think about taking a bucket that is three feet around and pouring it into a bucket that is one foot around. Well, you are going to pour a lot of buckets out of that three-foot bucket into that one-foot bucket and that is what you have. You have a giant storm with a three-foot bucket and you have got to pour all that water into that one-foot bucket right there, and one foot around. You could probably pile that up 16 feet, and that is the forecast, 16 to 22 feet.
And I am telling you, Rick, I think it could go higher than 22. I really do. I think people there along the bayous and the canals of Houston, they need to be ready to get out of the way tonight and unfortunately it's coming in, in the overnight hours, which is the most dangerous, because it is harder to see.
SANCHEZ: The wind is picking up. The rain bands are coming in. We are with it.
Let me show you what Chad is talking about, by the way. We are taking you to a break and we are going to be picking up Chad up on the other side.
What you are seeing right there is Galveston Bay. All the way back on the end is Galveston proper. As I walk in this direction right here, and you are going to see a couple of young men who have decided to go out there before the storm comes, probably not a good idea, but it is the decision they make.
You following me, Tim? And we take you all the way over here. As you get to the end of this over here, you actually can see the Houston Ship Channel. So, you have all the water from Gulf pouring into this bay that is right behind me. The water here is already up about 10 feet, and then it is going to continue as the hurricane comes in to push it even into a narrower strait, which is the Houston Ship Channel itself.
But you can imagine, just to show you what we're talking about that Chad was describing just a little while ago, and, yes, there's a couple of guys out there who decided, no, they are not walking on water. They are actually now walking -- go ahead and show them, Tim -- they are actually walking on a pier that is now about three feet or so under water, obviously to up about their knees. That is how high the water is going already.
We are on it. We're coming right back. This is the special edition of the 3:00 NEWSROOM. I am Rick Sanchez. I will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Boy, some of the first signs that this storm is coming are coming in right now. I don't know if you could tell -- Tim, we have been showing you those rigs all the way back there where some of the containers -- that is part of the Port of Houston behind me, but now it appears you can barely see it, because the first wave seems to be coming in.
And I am being told from reports in that area over there that they are getting hit by some serious rainfall as the first bands of the hurricane start to wrap around this area. By the way, new estimates now on what the damage from this storm could be potentially.
Jeanne Meserve has got that part of the they. She is joining me now live.
Jeanne, what do you have?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Rick, these numbers are simply staggering. These are projections that have been put together by the U.S. government from any number of sources.
It is their projection on what this storm is going to do. Of course, these projections will change as the storm does, its intensity and its track changes. But, right now, this is what they are talking about in terms of the storm surge, 572,000 people within the storm surge area.
And I can tell you, I am driving south right now and I am seeing some roads under water now. Six drinking water plants impacted by the storm surge, 34 waste water treatment facilities, 54 police stations, 89 fire stations, 32 ambulance services, 10 hospitals that have more than 10 beds, 47 nursing homes, 140 electric power substations, 48 non-nuclear-generating units impacted by the surge, 10 industrial plants, including oil refineries and chemical plants, and then even more shocking are the numbers they are giving for projected power outages -- 5.2 million customers may lose power in the state of Texas.
Compare that to Louisiana just a week or so ago, when Hurricane Gustav went through. About 1.3 million lost power there. Here, again, talking about 5.2 million people in Texas without power. That could impact 99 drinking water plants, more than 1,500 waste water treatment facilities, 799 police stations, almost 2,000 fire stations, 256 hospitals with more than 50 beds, and more than 1,200 nursing homes, all of those without electric power possibly after this storm goes through.
In terms of the petroleum and natural gas sector, they are saying 95 percent of the Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas production could be suspended.
Rick, these are staggering numbers. As I say, they are likely to change as the storm course and intensity changes, but, right now, it looks very, very bad -- Rick, back to you.
SANCHEZ: Frightening to think of what the impact of the storm is when you look at it or when you quantify it the way that Jeanne Meserve was able to do that for us.
By the way, there's a lot of folks out there with questions as we go. This wind is really picking up, and I am about to lose my hat. Let me turn it around for myself.
This question comes in on MySpace moments ago. This is from a person saying: Hey, Rick, I live in Seabrook. It's about five minutes from where you are, closer to Kemah."
By the way, I know where she is. She is right over there, where I have been pointing to. Literally, you could go around this road and go over there, except the police would not let you go there, because that is totally -- they expect that to be totally inundated within a matter of hours.
She goes on to say: "We have evacuated already. What is going on with all the chemical plants around there?"
Good question.
In fact, let's go to John Richels. He is with Devon Energy, one of the outfits that handles some of that equipment that you see behind me.
Mr. Richels, are you there, sir?
JOHN RICHELS, DEVON ENERGY: Yes, I am, Rick.
A lot of people are very concerned that this storm is going to have such a direct impact on the area where your infrastructure is that it may not be able to handle it. How do you assure people like this who are writing to me and asking these questions that everything is going to be OK? Are you sure it is going to be OK? RICHELS: Well, Rick, we have got both drilling rigs and manned production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. We actually don't have any refineries. We don't operate refineries and we don't have those facilities that are in the refining or chemical processing area.
But as far as our manned production platforms and drilling rigs, we got all the people off of all of those facilities yesterday. All the production has been shut in, so there is no chance of leakage of that production, and all those platforms have been secured offshore.
SANCHEZ: People wonder if there is any possibility that any of those things could break off as a result of this, and maybe not the rigs themselves, which I understand that you operate, but how about some of the ones that the rigs feed to, the lines and the containers and all these things out here? Do you have a pretty good sense or assurance that these things are going to be OK? Or are you concerned, as somebody in the industry?
(CROSSTALK)
RICHELS: Yes, we have a pretty good control over that, Rick.
I want to hearken back to Katrina and Rita, for example. We did the same thing. We shut in all of the producing facilities, which is really what you are talking about. And they're shut off in such a way that even if you lose the production platform, there is very little or no spillage that occurs. We in fact lost several platforms during Rita and Katrina, and it had virtually no spills. So, they are shut off well down into the production infrastructure.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: From your mouth to God's ears. We hope it works out that way, even if all it is an interruption. Hopefully, it won't be too long and we won't have to deal with this thing. But it is starting to look frightening when you look at some of these government estimates of what the reports of damage might mean. That is why we are here.
Mr. Richels, thank you, sir, for taking time to talk to us.
We are going to stay on top of the story. We are doing a special edition of our usual 3:00 p.m. NEWSROOM from out here, where, in Morgan's Point, it does appear that in fact the sea level is rising, the bay level, I suppose we should say, because that is what we are looking at here.
The wind bands are starting to come in, as are the rain bands. We will continue to follow in and our check on what is going on with the freighter and my colleagues as well who are down around the area of Galveston, including Rob Marciano, when we continue this special edition of the 3:00 p.m. CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Rick Sanchez. I will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. We are in Morgan's Point. Winds are starting to pick up. We have gotten to see some of the very first rain bands coming through here.
But it is really not the wind that we are really seeing, at least full blow, at this point. It is actually the bay level rising about 10 feet, according to some estimations. And guess what? It's going to continue to rise even more, because it is a big body of water pushing a small body of water into an even smaller body of water. That is actually what is going on as a result of this storm, this hurricane, Category 2 Ike, now essentially pushing into the area of both not only Galveston, but Houston, Texas, as what appears to be if it stays on its present track a direct hit for this metropolitan area.
A lot of viewers are wondering if there are people in the area where I am right now that are still sticking around? This one is from MySpace just moments ago.
It comes from Kelly Shannon. (ph). She is writing to me and saying: "Are there still people in the area to try and ride out the storm? What type of preparations have they made in order to survive this horrible storm?"
I can have someone answer that question for you, Shelley (ph), from -- was it MySpace or Facebook, Chris? Facebook. That question coming in from Facebook from her.
James Pyle is joining us now.
Mr. Pyle, you are kind enough to let us use your property to do this story. You are staying in a property that is -- Tim, see if you can give them a shot -- this is an old governor's mansion. This thing looks like a fortress. It was built in 1927, used by the governor of Texas, has a beautiful view of the bay. But because you're on the bay, it's obviously a scary place to be.
You have now made a decision to stay, but I understand you are reconsidering it?
JAMES PYLE, RESIDENT OF TEXAS: Yes.
My friends and family are calling me every couple minutes, and they are all asking me to leave. And the police chief has just asked me to please evacuate. We were prepared with generators and air conditioners and everything to stay. And the structure is very sound, and we were not worried about the structure.
But with the storm of surge of potentially 20 to 25 feet, we are a little bit concerned. And even if we stay, we would just be an island in a lake of water. So, we are probably going to leave shortly.
SANCHEZ: When did you make that decision?
PYLE: About five minutes ago. I got tired of my wife calling me every five minutes asking me to leave. SANCHEZ: Why did you want to stay originally?
PYLE: To protect the property. We have the property boarded up. I have a lot of valuable things here and boats and toys and plays -- play...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: It's a historic building.
PYLE: And I just wanted to protect it. We're, the base of the house, 19 feet above sea level, and the walls are 18 inches thick solid stone. So, it is not going to go anywhere. But we -- I am tired of all of my friends and family calling me and asking me to leave, so I am leaving.
SANCHEZ: Well, here is the problem. You are 19 feet above sea level. However, they are saying the water is going to rise 20 feet above sea level, maybe more. So, let's do the math.
PYLE: Right, right. I am going to be standing in water. So, I am leaving.
SANCHEZ: You have been very kind, by the way, to let us be here and use your property. And we certainly appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Let's do this. Let's talk to Jim Spellman now. He is one of our CNN producers.
We have been telling you the story. For those of you just now getting home from work, I don't know if you have been hearing what is going on. About 100 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, there is a freighter -- it's about 400-some-feet -- that has 22 members on board, 22 crew members. They are stuck. They tried to get out of this hurricane, but their engine suddenly gave out.
They are in the hurricane proper. The Coast Guard has tried to rescue them, but they can't seem to be able to effect a proper rescue because of the condition that they are in.
Jim Spellman has some information on this story. He has been following it for us as well.
Jim, what have you got?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN PRODUCER: Rick, the aircraft that were actually sent to check out the freighter have had to pull back. It's just too dangerous to fly.
And, Rick, as you know, they call them giant flying missiles, to put these into the -- into the eye of the hurricane. So, the crew of that ship is just going -- basically going to have to ride it out and hope for the best.
SANCHEZ: Is there any way they can use any other kind of, perhaps, rescue system that they have in place or is this pretty much what they have and that's it?
SPELLMAN: No, that's pretty much it, although it's a very big freighter and they feel like they will be able to weather it OK. They've been trying to figure out ways to put anchors down. But it doesn't seem like any of that is going to work. They're just going to have to do what they can and ride it out.
You know, you've seen these freighters. They are giant. They're pretty stable, so they're hoping that they're going to be OK. But it's just -- they left the bay here to go out and try to ride out the storm and they lost steerage around 4:00 a.m. This morning and they've just been floating around there.
So you can imagine, they must be terrified. But it's really the only option that the Coast Guard has. They've been working at it now since 4:00 in the morning and they just can't get anyone out there to try to get these guys off of the ship and back to safety.
SANCHEZ: By the way, CNN is the only network with an actual interview from the captain of those crew members, who is on that 400- foot freighter. We've got that tape. We're going to cue it up for you in just a little bit and let you hear again, because Jim just mentioned they've got to be frightened, they are. And you could sense it when you hear his voice talking to one of our producers.
We did a ship to shore with them to hear what's going on with him. And he does sound frightened, to be honest.
Wouldn't you, stuck in a hurricane, not being able to get out and the rescue -- the Coast Guard tells you they're not going to be able to rescue.
Jim Spellman, thank you for the update.
Let's get another update now.
We've got Betty Nguyen standing by. She's in one of the area hospitals here to give us an update on what they're doing there to try and deal with some of the people there, and especially the little ones -- the children who may be around these areas.
Betty, are you there?
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I'm here, Rick.
Essentially what they're doing is they're moving the babies -- the very small ones in the neonatal intensive care units out of that particular wing. Because as we were there, you could see there are windows all around. And when these winds start whipping up here in downtown Houston, that's going to be a major problem -- a very dangerous situation.
So what they've done is they've moved about 14 babies -- a lot of them still hooked up to machines in very bad condition -- down to what is a day surgery room. It's in a very fortified area of the hospital, where there are walls on each side and no windows that I can see. And it's where they're going to ride out this storm.
All the doctors are going to be there and all the assistants are going to be there. They're spending the night, in fact. And in a wing next to that, the parents are being allowed to stay the night so that they can walk over and hold their babies during the night and make sure that someone besides doctors -- a parent -- is with them during the storm.
It's a situation that they want to make sure that the babies are in good care and out of harm's way, because, as you well know, officials here in Houston are saying that 25 percent of all of the glass in the high rise buildings could be blown out. So it's a major concern and they're being proactive about it -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: CNN's Betty Nguyen, who's going to be out here tomorrow anchoring her program live from what will be the really blunt force trauma of this Hurricane Ike. You see her here, obviously, on CNN weekends early in the morning.
By the way, the governor of Texas is Rick Perry. There is a man who is busy today. He joins us live next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right. We welcome you back.
More rain bands coming through now. As you start to see them with maybe a little bit of water coming out of the lenses, as well. We'll try to do the best we can to bring you the story.
Governor Rick Perry of the Longhorn State of Texas is joining us live from Austin to tell us what he's doing from a preparation standpoint.
I knew that would eventually be happening. The wind is picking up here, as well.
Governor, sir, thank you so much for joining us.
Rick Sanchez here. You're live on CNN.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: Yes, hi, Rick. How are you?
SANCHEZ: Well, what is the situation as you see it now?
And I guess maybe the way to ask the question is are you more alarmed now, given that it looks like the hurricane is, in fact, making a bead for what is one of the largest metropolitan areas in your state?
PERRY: Well, it's a worst case scenario for us, but it's one that we've been practicing for a long time. And the state is as prepared as any state in the nation to address this. There -- you know, there's a point in time where Mother Nature will just overcome any of your efforts. But we've we put our best foot forward and got a great evacuation going. And I think that 1.2 million have already evacuated from the area. We've had 12,500 special needs type patients and individuals who had to have help with the evacuation. So we've had a great plan in place. And, you know, we've been practicing these things for a long time, whether it's helping our neighbors over in Louisiana or dealing with them here ourselves. And we've learned from each one of them how to do it better.
The evacuation went relatively well. My big concern now is going to be the recovery after this storm of this size and the storm surge up the ship channel in Houston. The worst case scenario for us is to have that type of water moving in with that speed into that type of an area, where you have the 15 percent of all of the petrochemicals in our refineries in the country that are located. So getting those back up and getting them back into shape to keep this economy going in America is going to be a very important secondary role for us.
SANCHEZ: We've been talking to viewers throughout the day about how unique this situation is. I mean what you have is the Gulf of Mexico pushed -- being pushed literally into the Galveston Bay -- being pushed literally into the Houston ship channel. So you're going from a large body of water to a smaller body of water to an even smaller body of water.
What is the worst case scenario that you envision as a result of this dynamic?
PERRY: Well, the worst scenario for us is a category five top hurricane up the ship channel. And trust me, we're praying that this thing comes ashore with the least power that it can. But it's sitting out there right now with a category two, with possibility of going into a category three.
But you've hit the nail on the head, Rick, when you talk about it's the Venturi effect of both speeding up that water and pushing it into a smaller and smaller area. And then you get that surge effect, which is -- it's a tsunami, is what you're looking at -- upwards of 20 feet as it comes into the Houston ship channel, over to the east into Port Arthur, they're talking about surges of upwards of 24 feet.
So, again, this is an incredibly destructive storm that has the potential to do some long-term economic impact to not just the State of Texas, but the entire country because of the petrochemical and the refining industry that is so compact in that area of America.
SANCHEZ: Rick Perry, governor of Texas.
Sir, we know you have your hands full. We'll let you go and we thank you for taking time to spend some time talking to us.
PERRY: Thank you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: (INAUDIBLE) who are watching us right now.
PERRY: Keep us in your prayers. SANCHEZ: All right. Thank you, sir. Take care.
All right, he mentioned -- you heard the governor mention moments ago Port Arthur and Beaumont. We haven't had a lot of conversation about what's going on there. But one of the things that we're going to do as we continue over the next 25 minutes is get Chad back in here, because I'm getting a lot of e-mails on MySpace and Facebook and Twitter.com/ricksanchezcnn about what's going on in Beaumont. You know, we're worried here. We want to know, also.
And we've got that exclusive interview with the captain of the freighter who is 100 miles out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. He may not be able to get rescued. He's going to ride it out with his 21 other crew members. That exclusive interview when we come back.
Stay with us. Back in two.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Somebody talk to me.
Oh, hi. I guess I'm on the air. Sorry about that. We seem to be having some problems with my communication.
By the way, this area where I am right now, this was a swimming pool or wading pool that was built for the governor of Texas. We were just outside the old governor's mansion here. It was built in 1927.
If the water goes up, as we expect it should, there's every indication, in fact, that this pool will be, by the end of the night, filled with either salt or brackish water.
The biggest story that we're following today, at least in terms of human drama, involves a freighter with 22 crew members on board. Those 22 crew members are literally stuck at sea right now. And Coast Guard officials have been trying to effect a rescue, but they haven't been able to do so. It's just too -- it's too dangerous. It's too difficult.
They've tried to fly out to them, but apparently they can't. We have had producers following the story. We've finally been able to also even reach the captain in charge of those 22 crew members on a ship to shore. Our producer talked to him. This is an exclusive interview that you're about to hear. And you'll hear, among other things, the -- obviously the sense of concern in his voice as he talks to our producer.
Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Is it -- did the helicopter land on the -- on the ship?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are the winds strong, sir, around the ship?
The winds -- do you have a lot of winds?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). Please. Help me a moment, please. I am so busy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is everybody OK on the ship?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, everybody is OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And are -- are you anchored?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the ship is still not (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, sir. One more question.
Do you have any power now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, wonderful, wonderful. And you have so far seen one American helicopter trying to help you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Boy, I'll tell you, a tough situation. And we just talked to one of our producers, who told us -- Producer Spellman, who told us just a little while ago that it doesn't appear that the Coast Guard is going to be able to get to them. They're telling them they're on their own. They're just going to have to ride this thing out, unless they can figure out another way of doing it.
Let's go to Josh Levs now. He's following some of the reports. We've been checking in with our viewers throughout the course of the day.
We do so on -- oh, I'm told we cannot go to Josh. Apparently there's some kind of problem.
Thanks, Chris, for the heads up.
Let's do this. Let's take a break and we'll get you back to Josh and some of those I-Reports in just a little bit.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
We are at the very edge of Galveston Bay. We've been sitting here literally watching the water rise. People always talk about what a storm surge is. And people seem to have this misguided impression that it's a wall of water. It's not a wall of water, but actually the water is being pushed so the sea level just rises up. And we've watched here -- on a day that the water doesn't look particularly difficult -- I mean it's pretty flat, for the most part, except for some of those little white caps. But it's just gone up. It's gone way up, to the point where it's passing now those piers that you see behind me.
Now, in a place where you really can see not only the rise in the sea level, but also some of the wave action that comes with it, as well, is further south from here. That's in Galveston proper.
That's where Rob Marciano is standing by for us now, to give us an update on how things are going there.
Rob, what you got?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Rick, the wind has picked up. It has barely rained a drop. Yet this entire roadway is soaked. As a matter of fact, the waves just came right up to the opposite side of the curve. This is Seawall Boulevard, typically a busy stretch of road. And typically all -- nothing but beach for another 500 yards out there. But today, the water has surged all the way up here and the winds are picking up, as well.
We anticipate that that 10 to 16 foot sea wall that protects this city will soon be completely covered by that water and those waves will be pounding up across this roadway.
Back to my wind, turn left, there's the storm. It's heading that way. We're right in the way. So this surge is going to continue to increase, as will the wind. The rain has not been a big story, Rick. It has been this -- these oncoming waves and the constant pounding they put on this sea wall, that I'm told is built of granite and it has protected the city in the past.
Will it pass the test of Hurricane Ike?
That will be the question as we go through the overnight period tonight -- Rick, back over to you.
SANCHEZ: Yes, it's interesting, when you think.
Thanks so much, Rob, for that report.
You know, you think, as you watch Rob do his report from Galveston, that it was in 1900 that 6,000 people lost their lives in Galveston as a result of a hurricane very much like this one when it came ashore.
By the way, that's the reason they put that sea wall where they did. I think Rob may have mentioned that in his report.
Let's go now to Josh Levs. He's inside the NEWSROOM the very latest information on what we are getting from you in the form of many of the I-Reports that people have been sending us of other locales.
All right, Josh, take it away. JOSHUA LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I've got to. You know what, they're coming in like crazy. We've been following them throughout the day and every minute we find that we're getting even more.
If we zoom in on the board behind me, I want to start off showing you all the map of where some of the latest I-Reports are coming from. Really, all over the Gulf region.
You have this general Galveston area. That's where Rick is. A lot of the major reporting is being done; also, over here, on the Florida side.
But let me take you right now to one of the latest photos that we've got -- this one. You can see that sea wall crashing. This comes to us from Dennis Williams, who was there and went out to Galveston today and says he physically could see this over and over, that sea wall crashing.
We're getting a lot of I-Report video, too. Let's take a look and listen to the sounds of this. Then I'll tell you what it is, then I'll tell you what it is.
(VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And that's coming to us from Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Max Dansky took this earlier. So this is over on the other side -- the eastern side of the Gulf. A lot of the waves crashing over in Florida. And that's something to keep in mind, that while Ike has been headed over toward Texas, it's been pounding Florida. They've been getting those waves, they've been getting those winds.
And one more thing I want to show you and that -- let's take a look at some of these photos that we've got. From Michelle Radke (ph), kind of in the middle. These are really interesting photos. These come to us from Biloxi. And she says that she's just -- all she had to do was step outside from where she lives and take some of these pictures, and that she was seeing throughout the day a lot of the major winds and she could see coastal flooding. And, obviously, this is what a lot of people expected. But she's right there in the thick of the drama.
If you want to send us your I-Report photos, all you need to do is go to iReport.com. You've got photos, videos, your story, send them along. And I want to emphasize to everyone, every time I talk to you today I've said this -- be very, very careful. We screen these things before we show them. If you go to any danger, we're not going to use it. But if you do have photos, stories that will tell us what it's like out there, you are the story right now. IReport.com. We'll make it really easy for you.
And, Rick, overnight and throughout the weekend, we're going to be keeping a close eye on these -- for all the people who can now bring us to the scene of what they're seeing.
SANCHEZ: Hey, Josh Levs.
Thanks so much for that reporting. LEVS: You've got it.
SANCHEZ: Thanks for keeping us in touch with some of the folks out there who have been communicating with us through many different ways, specifically on this hour.
How about some of the immigrants out there who are not quite sure what to do and afraid to communicate with the government for fear that there may it be some kind of pre-reprisal?
Yes, that's actually going on. We're going to be checking in with Glenda over in CNN En Espanol. We'll have that for you in a little bit. And, also, the latest advisories on the storm.
Is it going to reach three -- category three?
It is a category two right now. That's certainly one of the questions that some of the folks are asking.
We'll be on it. We'll be right back. I'm Rick Sanchez at Morgan's Point, Texas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back.
We've been hearing stories throughout the day that there are some immigrants who are scared about what this hurricane might do and feel like they haven't gotten the proper information. And some of them are afraid to reach out to authorities, for fear that there might some kind of reprisal, which, of course, there wouldn't be.
But let's go over to CNN En Espanol.
Glenda's been following this story for us now and can bring us up to date -- Glenda...
(SPEAKING IN SPANISH)
GLENDA UMANA, CNN EN ESPANOL: (SPEAKING IN SPANISH). Gracias.
We appreciate you are reporting for CNN En Espanol, too, from Texas.
Listen, there is a clear and strong alert from Home Security -- we have been talking to them -- to illegal immigrants. Please evacuate. They are assisting people in areas of Houston, Texas. There will not be any raids. There will not be any questions asked or they are not asking for I.D.s.
(SPEAKING IN SPANISH)
Now, in Houston, Rick, some people are resistant to leave, but mostly, we are hearing, for economic reasons. They are saying they don't want to spend money on gas or hotels. But they are in stores getting food to stay in their homes although, as you know, Rick, there are shelters they could go to.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.
That's important information.
UMANA: (INAUDIBLE).
SANCHEZ: And we certainly hope that they -- thank you, Glenda.
We certainly hope that they heed it.
We've been filing reports from here in Spanish, as well, for Glenda and CNN En Espanol. So she's kind of returning the favor for us now.
A quick break. When we come back, we'll talk to somebody from Galveston who's evacuating.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. There are now about a million evacuees. We have one of them on the line. It's Mike Rodriguez.
He decided to high tail it out of Galveston.
He's on the line with us now.
Mr. Rodriguez, are you there, sir?
MIKE RODRIGUEZ, GALVESTON EVACUEE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Why did you make your decision to leave, when did you make it and what's going on for you right now?
RODRIGUEZ: Right now I'm in Alvin. And I decided to leave because it is getting pretty bad down there. Things are badly deteriorating in Galveston. I've never seen the water get so high.
SANCHEZ: So, you originally weren't going to leave until you saw the conditions throughout the day and then you said forget it, I'm not going to stick it out?
RODRIGUEZ: Yes. Well, it was me, my brother and my neighbor. We're all staying down there. And they decided to leave and I was going to stay. I had the dog. And when they left, I decided to go, too.
SANCHEZ: What would you say to your neighbors who may have decided to stick it out if they're listening to you right now?
RODRIGUEZ: It's going to be a real night for them. I hope they pull through.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks so much.
Mike Rodriguez, one of the many -- in fact, over a million evacuees, we understand now, from this general area around greater Houston and Galveston, all the way through from you Brazoria County up to Harris County. The areas that is going to be most affected is where we are right now. This is Galveston Bay.
We're going to stay here and stick it out throughout the night.
When this thing turns real serious, we'll be here to bring you as many pictures as we can.
I'm Rick Sanchez. We've brought you two hours of special programming from here and we aren't done yet.
Now let's turn things over to my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, who's standing by in Washington, D.C.
Wolf, over to you.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Thanks very much, Rick.
