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Hurricane Ike Aftermath; Gov. Perry Press Conference
Aired September 13, 2008 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
GOV. RICK PERRY (R) TEXAS: And there have been a lot of people working really hard. A number of them are standing behind me. A number of them that you'll never see and you'll never know. But the real work's ahead of us as we start into the recovery of this state.
And I know a large number of the calls that we have had coming in -- have been in Spanish language. And I want to ask the Lieutenant Governor just to say a few words in Spanish if he would.
LT GOV. DAVID DEWHURST: Governor, thank you. Chief, thank you. As the governor mentioned, roughly -- we're told roughly a third of the calls going in on 911 in the Houston area are in Spanish. And on the state level, we're here to support our local elected officials. (SPEAKING SPANISH).
Obviously, there's a real problem with electricity. 97 percent of the electricity in Harris (ph) County is out. (SPEAKING SPANISH).
PERRY: With that, we'll open it up to any questions that you have. As you're formulating them, let me just say one more thing that for anyone who is -- asking for FEMA assistance, that phone number is 1-800-621-3362. That's 1-800-621-FEMA, F-E-M-A.
QUESTION: Speaking of FEMA, are you happy with the job (INAUDIBLE) not initiating any rescue operations?
PERRY: Here's the way I deal with "I heard" reports. As I pretty much will wait until Jack Colley (ph) tells me we got a problem and I hadn't heard a peep out of Jack Colley yet fro mthis standpoint. We've been working well with our federal counterparts, with our local counterparts and I think it is obvious, not only with the evacuation that occurred, but with the ongoing effort here is that the state, the federal and the local officials and all of those task forces are working well together.
And if it's a perfect operation, I'll be surprised. We'll learn something from this one as well, but the fact of the matter is that I think we've got a good operation to date. Search and rescue is what we're focused on and we'll wait well after we get folks safe before anybody starts pointing any fingers.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)
PERRY: We do not have any information of which I could accurately answer that question for you. I think it's a little early. Sarge (ph) going into place as we speak.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)
PERRY: You are absolutely correct. It is a little early and that's not our focus right now. Our focus is on making sure that Texans who are in harm's way are -- their lives are safe. And there'll be plenty of time to do the calculations on any damage.
The good news is that the surge was nowhere near as large as we thought it was going to be from a standpoint of impact, but there's plenty of damage out there, so let's not -- we don't want to take our eye off on the most important thing we're doing right now and that's taking care of people who are in harm's way. And then, we'll start in on the other recovery side of it.
QUESTION: Why haven't search and rescue operations begun before now? Was it because the storm has just raided (ph) so much? And do you have any reports that there are people that are trapped and --
PERRY: Right.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)
PERRY: Here's what I think you have to keep in mind: that this is the largest operation in this state's history, that I'm aware of, from the standpoint of search and rescue. For us to have initiated aviation assets in particular before it was safe for them to go into those areas would have been irresponsible.
And I got great faith in Jack Colley and Steve McCraw (ph) and their coordination with both the Coast Guard and the State Aviation Assets that we have operational control over and I think that they went in absolutely as soon as they could. As a matter of fact, with the rescue operation at UTMB, they might have been right on the edge. But the fact of the matter is they were able to do a good job and get those folks out of there.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)
PERRY: Steve, you want to -- you or Jack, you all want to -- take that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they were taking care of them, Texas Task Force One was able to get there and rescue them.
PERRY: ...(INAUDIBLE) vehicle type approach rather than aviation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, sir.
QUESTION: How did they go in and (INAUDIBLE)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: WELL, I don't -- I won't go into the details of it, but bottom line, they got there, they did it and they moved on to do other search and rescue missions.
QUESTION: Do you have any idea how many families they had to rescue? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we don't. We're counting those, but it's too early to tell you how many. But we'll make sure we'll get back to you on that number, OK?
QUESTION: Governor, you said that --
PERRY: Right over here -- I'm sorry. I'm going to get right to you. She had her hand up.
QUESTION: Based on the number of 911 calls over the last day, do we have any estimates on the scope of the search and rescue in terms of numbers?
PERRY: I think it's a little early. Jack, you want to take a shot at that one?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, what we're doing now ...
WHITFIELD: ...we're listening to Texas Governor Rick Perry there. The question was do they have any scope of the kind of search and rescue mission that's underway. And you heard from the governor there deferring to the other official. But earlier, the governor was saying that they were just now starting to get a lot of their apparatus into place for these kind of search and rescue missions.
And while this hurricane is now been downgraded to a tropical storm, he says it is still in Texas, it's in east Texas and he said it's still too early for everyone to feel like they're completely out of the woods. This is a very dangerous storm.
Most of the damage was done there in Galveston Island and that's what they're just now beginning to asses. The University Hospital in Galveston, they were able to see that it already has two feet of water and the Coast Guard already had to execute some rescue missions. Four patients at that facility just in Galveston, but they're biggest concern is the many residents who decided to stay on Galveston Island, an island of 57,000 residents on a good day.
But about 40 percent of those residents, about 20,000 people decided to stay. They're the ones that they're now concerned about. They have the U.S. Coast Guard in place, as well as state and local and national guard apparatus already, including the Texas Wildlife Commission and Black Hawk helicopters and the Coast Guard, as I mentioned, National Guard, all perched to carry out any kind of rescue missions.
Meantime, let's take a look at some of the damage that we do know of right now. You're looking at various images from -- debris that's scattered about there, high water in some places as well. President Bush also declaring parts of Texas a federal disaster area. That now clears the way for federal assistance. Even the governor giving a phone number, a FEMA assistance number during that press conference, that being 1-800-621-3362. Again, 1-800-621-3362, that's the FEMA assistance phone number.
Lots of destruction in what's considered the "impact zone." New images there from KEMA there on -- right off Galveston Bay thanks to our affiliate KTRK. Rooftops, plywood, furniture strewn about on the roadways there as some folks decide to venture out anyway.
The governor in that press conference, you heard from him, saying, look, if you've evacuated the area, stay put. It is not time to try to go home and assess the damage. And of course, if you are among those who did not evacuate, you need to stay put because you don't need to get out in your vehicles and cause even more potential harm and get in the way of the rescue efforts there.
We're going to have much more on the devastation as a result of Hurricane Ike, now, again, downgraded to Tropical Storm Ike, but still in east Texas as it makes its way out to western Arkansas. Much more straight ahead.
All right, we also have our CNN reporters on the job throughout Texas all night long, braving the elements as Hurricane Ike moved in and moved on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The power went out a few hours ago. It is naturally pitch dark out here and you're starting, you know the expression, you hear things that go bump in the night. You're starting to see it, but you can't, you can't -- uh-oh -- like this bush to hold on to. You don't know where that stuff is coming from.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I'm underneath an area that's giving me some shelter, but I'm just going to walk out there real quick just to show you what it looks like when you walk into this thing. I'll see if I've got enough wire.
Now, this is a big difference from what Gary says he's feeling now, being in the eye of the storm. We're still in the middle of this thing. And there, you see -- there, you see what it's like when you get inside this thing. I mean, the rains are coming hard and there goes my cap. By golly, I'm getting out of this. There goes another transformer as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The bricks are coming down, the wood is coming down, the cedar is coming down. Signs are coming down, telephone polls are coming down. Trees are coming down. And it's not a safe place to be outside right now. But Galveston is really getting it seriously. I just, you know --
(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: All right, that's what it was like at the height of the storm overnight, in the darkness. Pretty scary stuff. Well, right now, daylight, we're finally getting an assessment of what kind of damage has taken place from residences to businesses. And we know that south Texas along the Gulf Coast there is big in the oil business. We know about the oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico that have been tossed around.
Well, what about the 26 oil refineries that are strewn about Texas? Particularly Baytown, Texas, which is home of one of the largest oil refineries. We're talking about ExxonMobile.
And we also also find our Ali Velshi there to give us an idea of what assessments have been taken place thus far. What do we know about the damage to those oil refineries and the many homes that surround ExxonMobile?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. A lot of refineries in this general area. A lot of people who have built lives and businesses around that. You can see one of these houses right behind me in an area of Baytown, Texas, a 90-foot oak tree came down on this man's house.
In fact, there are some folk you can see down road there -- if Rick can see -- they're riding around on ATVs. In fact, this area has just sort of been cleared over the last couple of hours, with people who have come back with chain saws and have been cutting the trees up. This was impassable not even an hour ago.
Now, we have just been getting estimates in about the damage and one of the things that's going to be a concern to people across the country, Fred, is that we are looking at estimates for the price of a gallon of gas, because of the effect of this storm on these refineries anywhere from just under $4 to as high as $5.
Now, most of the estimates are on the low end of that because of the fact that the damage does not seem to have been as bad, but it's still early to tell. A lot of the oil companies are reporting to us that their priority is to getting their delivery terminals up and running with generator power so they can the trucks build. They can go to the gas station and getting those gas stations up and running. Some of them need excillary power. So, that's a priority.
The next thing they're doing is touring their own refineries. There are 26 of them in Texas. About 20 of them will have seen some affects from this storm. Fourteen of them weer shut down. The biggest one as you mentioned, biggeset one on the continent is right here, the ExxonMobile Baytown refinery, which processes 590,000 barrels of crude oil a day into gasoline. Fourteen of them are shut down.
Now, I took a tour around Baytown this morning. I drove around it, didn't look to have any visible damage. But again, they have to have power, and we don't have power. They have to not be flooded and we don't have reports of that yet. So, we are still waiting to see what the affect is. But the estimates are that your gas prices are going up. We saw a 6 cent increase in a gallon of gasoline, Fred, overnight. That's one of the biggest increases we've ever seen and we can expect it to go higher. We've seen some states where we've seen 20 cents or even higher average increases overnight.
Now again, back to what's going on here. Folks are rebuilding. This road was not passable a little while ago. That's why we established here because we've got a big satellite truck that couldn't get further. What we're going to do is go down toward this road and you'll get to a bay and that is just before the Houston ship channel. Apparently, as you get about two blocks further and make a left turn, and we're going to do that next, there are houses that are very badly flooded.
Around here, around Baytown, there's a lot of low-lying area. There's been a lot of flooding, a lot of power lines down. A lot of impassable roads, and a lot of this kind of tree damage. You can see those folks over here have spent the morning cutting down their trees, so there's a pile of brush over there. But there is a great deal of damage here in Baytown, both to the folks who live here and potentially to the refineries, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ali.
Well, on the other side of that bay, that ship channel that you mentioned, we're going to find our Sean Callebs there. And we know this ship channel is big on the transporting of petrow chemicals. And there he is, this time not driving. But what are you seeing from your vantage point?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, if I stand at just about this way a bit, we're over looking the town of Kemah and beyond it is Galveston Bay. And really, the bay has pushed all the way up through here. It has swamped this tourist area of Kemah. I don't know how well you can tell, again, we're broadcasting on broadband, but the streets completely flooded.
There are a number of businesses down near the newer ones built on pile-ons, but certainly they're going to be soaked. But in the distance, we can see a lot of homes, a lot of splintered wood that is simply floating around. There's some significant flooding through here.
The police let us onto this bridge that really connects the town of Kemah to the town of Seabrook. We're going to drive across in a short while and take a look and see what we can find in Seabrook. But really, we're finding some very significant flooding in this area. And the town of Clear Lake is actually that way just a little bit, and the -- there's a small river, if you will, that runs right through there. It's flooded, too. It (INAUDIBLE) its banks.
There are scores of pleasure craft through here. A lot of big sailboats, a lot of big motor boats. And joining us right now is David Sanderson. He's one of the gentlemen out here. Dave, if you could just step down this way a bit. You came down to look at your boat. It took you a long time to get here from Houston, didn't it?
DAVID SANDERSON: Sure did.
CALLEBS: What was that drive down like?
SANDERSON: Well, it was easy to -- it was all freeway, but then when I got in this area, it's a lot of streets are out.
CALLEBS: Now, you've been down here a long time. Is this damage as bad as you thought it would be?
SANDERSON: Actually, my boat survived and I'm really thrilled. I didn't it would. I really didn't.
CALLEBS: You got your first look at it just a couple of seconds ago.
SANDERSON: Across the bridge, right.
CALLEBS: Now, you got friends who live down in these homes. You look at these nice homes in the distance. They look pretty destroyed.
SANDERSON: Yes, a lot of them are. Right here along Bill (ph) Road, I know a lot of people.
CALLEBS: And what about Seabrook, Clear Lake? Those areas yet, because you did the same thing we did. You have to jog, you have to get around puddles, you have to get around stop signs, you have to get around roadblocks. There's some significant flooding around here. I mean, this is going to take a long time to get this area back to normal
SANDERSON: Oh yes. I haven't been back up there to see what happened, but I know there has been. Surge was at least 12 feet, so there's plenty of water on the ground now.
CALLEBS: Tell me about the town of Kemah and Galveston Bay here, this area, the channel, if you will. What's it going to do to this area knowing that the shipping channel's going to be adversely affected for such a while?
SANDERSON: Oh, I think this will get healed pretty quick. I really do. People put their shoulders to the wheel and get things cleaned up pretty quick.
CALLEBS: OK. David, congratulations your boat is still hanging on here.
SANDERSON: Thank you very much.
CALLEBS: Good luck to you.
SANDERSON: All right.
CALLEBS: Freddie, I believe I've lost communication with you here. I don't know if you -- oh, there you go. See, we're going to try and get over to the town of Seabrook and try and drive around a bit in Kemah. But boy, there's just water everywhere. We're going to be very limited as to where we're going. But this is pretty significant inland flooding that we're seeing down here.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
CALLEBS: Once again, this is like a tourist area. There's a big roller coaster in the distance, a ferris wheel, all swamped right now.
WHITFIELD: Wow. We look forward to some of those images that you're able to bring to us. Sean, we did see some images thanks to our affiliate KTRK of Kemah a bit earlier. We saw rooftops that were in the strangest of places. In the middle of the road, we saw a lot of plywood. We saw furniture and even appliances. So, you be forewarned that I have a feeling that you're going to see a lot of destruction.
CALLEBS: Yes, thanks, Fred. And we certainly are. It's up on this bridge, we're getting some gusting winds. And looks like the police are pulling up here, so maybe we'll just kind of mozy (ph) along and we'll check back with you in just a bit.
WHITFIELD: All right, look forward to that. Thanks so much, Sean, appreciate it. Much more from the NEWSROOM right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, post Hurricane Ike. We've seen a lot of flooding and debris in downtown Houston. Our Jeanne Meserve is keeping an eye on that situation for us there -- Jeanne?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, we've talked to the city and county officials. They say at this point of time, they are not aware of any fatalities or any casualties related to this storm. That is the good news.
The big story here is property damage. And there's no better illustration of that then the Chase Tower behind me. As you look over at that building, you can see that virtually all of the windows from the ground floor up to probably about the 30th, 38th story have been completely blown out on this side of the building. You can see in some cases where you have venetian blinds hanging out the side. They look sort of like Christmas tree tinsel at this point, they've been so damaged by the wind.
And then on the other side of the street, another building badly damaged, but then in contrast, you come over here, and here's another fairly new building, all those windows are in tact. It looks fine.
But this is just downtown. We've been talking to police, we've been talking to county officials, we've been talking to the mayor. They tell us there is a lot of tree damage in this city. There are small landscaping trees down here, but one policeman was telling me about one neighborhood where he saw a single oak tree come down on three houses. That's how big that tree was and that's happening all over the city. Also, there is some flooding in the Clear Lake district, also here downtown near the interstates, some flooding. And the rain has stopped. That's the very good news because that was contributing to the problems here. And the mayor has had some concern about the water system. No sign at this point in time that the water system is contaminated, but the pressure is low. They are urging people in the city to please drink bottled water and not run their water if they possibly could to try and keep the pressure up to maintain the integrity of that water system.
Those are the really big issues here in Houston here today: property damage, property damage and then more property damage. Back to you, Fred.
WHITFIELD: And then, Jeanne, you do have some folks who actually live downtown. I'm guessing that some of the folks that we see behind you are walking about. They actually live downtown and just wanted to get a closer look.
MESERVE: Yes, I've run into some people who are evacuees, but also people who live -- several people in this apartment building right here. One of them was an architect who talked about being in his house last night and hearing what sounded like gun shots. And it was just the glass coming out of the window across the street.
But yes, the people who stayed in town and the people who evacuated here are coming out now to sightsee, to take a look at what the damage is. I mean, this is a pretty spectacular sight to see this building. It's the tallest building in Texas, and you see one whole side of it essentially blown out.
You may also see some police on the street here. They've been trying very hard to keep all these people away from the building because glass is still falling. Occassionally, the wind picks up quite a bit and when it does, it can carry things right down on the street and those shards of glass can do serious, serious damage to an individual if they are silly enough to be standing underneath that building. We are at a distance, I should emphasize we're keeping ourselves safe -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Oh, well, that's good to hear. All right, Jeanne, thanks so much there in downtown Houston.
From the damage of what is the tallest building in downtown Houston to now the damage of what has been probably one of the more popular buildings in Houston. And we're talking about Reliant Stadium. Well, there was supposed to be a football game, NFL, Monday night between the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans. Well, it's not going to happen because that retractable roof right there damaged from this hurricane, hurricane Ike.
They thought perhaps that by moving this scheduled game from Sunday night to Monday night, that would be enough because of the hurricane. No one expected this kind of damage to take place at Reliant Stadium. And so, as a result, there's no way this game is going to take place because of the damage that you can see right here. Of course, we'll keep you posted on the NFL schedule as a result, but this stadium not being used as a place of refuge for any of the evacuaees. It was completely empty in terms of no personnel, no people there. So right now, just structural damage there to Reliant Stadium, downtown Houston.
All right, much more straight ahead on the remnants and the results of Hurricane Ike, now downgraded to Tropical Storm Ike, but it is still in Texas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, Hurricane Ike as a category 2 storm caused a lot of damage, especially in Texas and Louisiana on the coast there. Let's check in with Chris Smith now that's it's a tropical storm, it's still reeking havoc in Texas, leaving east Texas right? But certainly not as powerful as it once was.
CHRIS SMITH, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, it most certainly isn't. This storm is now beginning to kind of transition into what was a big hurricane just earlier this morning, now beginning to turn into a tropical storm and the winds begin to weaken. And so, the main threats move away fro mthe wind and the storm surge and they begin to transition into the possibility of very heavy rainfall, which we're already seeing across eastern Texas and also, a possibility of some severe weather in the form of tornadoes, which we've seen across portions of Louisiana.
Let me go ahead and zoom in. We can show you that the rainfall tapering off a bit there into the Houston metro area. Some of the heavier showers to the north side of town right now. You're not completely down with the rain in Houston, but probably the heaviest of the rain is now begining to move on out.
We head on over a little bit further towards the east, over towards Louisiana, and what we're looking at over here, we're looking at the threat for some severe weather. And let's go ahead and show you exactly what's going on. We put the map on here. We have a tornado watch that's been in effect throughout much of the afternoon hours. You see these little purple boxes that show up right here, there's another one up there towards the top of your screen. These are for tornado warnings that are in effect. This is Vernon Parish right now. This is Interstate 49.
So these tornadoes, typically very fast moving. Some of the speeds on some of these tornadoes as far as the movement speeds, right around 59, 60 miles an hour. Now typically, the tornadoes that do spin up are fairly weak, less than 100 miles an hour, but still nonetheless, you need to be on the lookout for these possible tornadoes as they fire up on some of these outer spiral bands coming up off the Gulf of Mexico across portions of Louisiana. You can see eastern portions of Texas and this actually goes all the way up into the southern portions of Arkansas. So, severe weather is also going to be one of the threats that we're talking about today.
Now, here's the very latest. Our tropical storm, at 2:00 it was downgraded to a tropical storm from a category 1 hurricane, now has winds of 60 miles an hour, but still possible you can get some gusts up there, right around 100 miles an hour. Currently, it's about 130 miles from Dallas, Texas, just to the south of the Tyler, Texas area. You see the storms -- some of the cloud tops were the biggest showers and thunderstorms, the cloud tops beginning to cool as the storm continues to lift further up towards the north.
It will eventually curve up towards the northeast. And that's going to be critical because again, severe weather is the threat, but also some very heavy rainfall. Yes, the storm system is going to be moving quickly as it moves through Ozarks back up through the Ohio River Valley up through portions of Indiana, Indianapolis -- you're going to get a bunch of rainfall.
But the thing is, you've a cold front hung up in this same area and you've already seen a ton of rainfall, so you're going to get even more rainfall as the remnants of Ike continues to lift further up towards the north. So, that's what we're going to be talking about. We have our remnants of Ike right here, we have our front, and that's been sparking tons of just incredible amounts of rainfall today across potions of Missouri, back up into Michigan, Indiana. So you're going to get more rainfall, so you could by the time it's all said and done, get anywhere from five to 10 inches of rainfall up into this path.
We have the threat for severe weather today, mainly into this area. Then tomorrow, it will be a smaller threat, but still a threat nonetheless as you transition up towards the Ohio River Valley up further towards the north. We're talking about places towards Columbus, back down over towards Indianapolis, down towards the Saint Louis area, you could be under the gun. You're also going to be under the gun for the extremely heavy rainfall first, today across the lower Mississippi River Valley, then we transition up towards the Ohio River Valley. And again, Fredricka, we're talking about anywhere from five to 10 inches of rainfall. So again, the two threats right now, of course, the clean up down on the coast line, but as far as weather- wise, right now the big threats are going to be the heavy rainfall and the severe weather was we go throughout today and on into tomorrow.
WHITFIELD: All right, Chris, still lots of rain to cause a lot of damage. Thanks so much.
All right, new information we're just now getting in an update now on the death toll as a result of Hurricane Ike. Now we're understanding that four people in Texas have died as a result of this hurricane that made landfall early this morning, now a tropical storm, as you heard Chris say, but it was believed that as daylight came and assessments would be made it's likely the death toll might be rising. And now we're just learning of a woman who died in her home after a tree fell through her home in western Montgomery County, Texas. More information as we get it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECY: Well, I hope that people are not trying to take advantage of what they see as a short form in order to gouge profits. I think the president as spoke up very strongly against that today.
It's going to take us a little while to assess exactly what the impact has been on refineries and on platforms. First, we want to make sure they are structurally sound and not going to be -- have a problem in terms of the actual infrastructure, itself. Second of course, we need power to begin the process of getting everything hot to start up again. So, both of those are going to be very high priorities for federal, state and local authorities over the next 24 to 48 hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, Homeland secretary chief, Michael Chertoff there talking about still too early to get assessments for any potential damage to oil platforms and the oil refineries in Texas. Still somehow, we're still seeing gas prices spike up $4 plus, $5 et cetera. Josh Levs has been following the spike in the gas prices. And are you satisfied with the answers that you're getting as to why this is happening?
JOSH LEVS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I am satisfied with the initial answers that we're getting from analysts. But what we still don't know is in each individual place, how any individual gas station is getting its specific rate. Because we're hearing some complaints of price gouging, but on the flip side some of the analysts are saying, don't blame each location because in a lot of places, they've had to up how much they pay wholesale.
Let me give all of you a sense of what's going on. Let's go in on this board behind me, if you can, right here. These are some iReports we've been getting throughout the day of people complain about the gas prices in their areas and we're hearing from people particularly in the south and also into the Midwest -- Indiana and also from Georgia and from places who were more closer to Ike, itself. And all these people are saying that all of a sudden, prices are not just going up a little, they're jumping 50, 60, 70, 80 cents. And Fred, people are literally seeing it go up as in, they're in line at the gas station and while they're there, someone comes out and raises the price per gallon 70 or 80 cents. Let's look at...
WHITFIELD: That makes them angry.
LEVS: Oh, no kidding. Now, let's talk about the reason. Let's go to this Google Earth. Do we have that? Let's take a look at that because I want to show you how important Texas and the path of Ike, and Fred, I think you've seen this. This path, you can see all those oil installations along there, all of these key refineries along there that are in Texas. Texas has 26 refineries and we were already reporting yesterday that 13 of them had shutdown in advance of Ike and a lot of them cannot operate if they get wet. So clearly, this is a big part of the reason and this can then cause problems in the demand, as well.
I think we have some iReport video here from Mike Biddle (ph) who sent us this from Tennessee who has been complaining today, one of the many iReporters, saying, I've got to show you what's happened to prices. And he was telling us that it wasn't even at all like this 24 hours before he sent us those images. So, it's crazy.
I did mention that I spoke to an analyst earlier who said you know what, don't automatically blame the local operators. Let's listen to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN KERR, GLOBAL COMMODITIES ALERT: what you are seeing is you're seeing the retail gasoline guys, and it's really not fair to blame them. What they're doing is they're reacting to the wholesale prices and they're fearful that they're going to have to get. They're running out of gas, they've got to refill these tanks and they're worried they're not going to get more supply and if they do, it's going to be awful expensive, so they got to pass that cost on to the rest of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: So, that's certainly part of it, but we're hearing from some places, including Florida, that they in Florida have had 100 complaints of alleged price gouging.
One more thing, Fred, I want to tell you before I toss it back to you. Let's go back in on this screen, it's not just gas that can be affected, gas at the pump, it's also natural gas. These are all natural gas pipelines in Texas. In fact, Texas -- let's go to this one from the Energy Information Administration -- all the red is pipelines just inside Texas. Texas has more interstate pipeline miles than any other state, 43,000 miles of pipeline inside Texas. So we have to see, especially in this section, how the national gas pipelines were affected, as well. So Fred, we are days or weeks, as we try to get more answers, could really see both sides of the energy market impacted big time.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, Texas, a vital state impacting all of us no matter where you live in the corners of the United States.
LEVS: That's right, everywhere.
WHITFIELD: And we're feeling it now. If you weren't convinced before Hurricane Ike, I bet you are now. All right, Josh Levs, thanks so much.
Much more on the NEWSROOM straight ahead.
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WHITFIELD: All right, roughly about two hours ago, we told you about some concerns along the Texas and Louisiana borders there. And our Rusty Dornin had joined us earlier to talk about how a lot of people in Orange County, Texas has decided to stay and now they're in trouble because or all that rising water. Well, Rusty Dornin is with us again now on the line. We understand that some 200 people have had to be rescued. And Rusty, is it true that the U.S. Coast Guard has, for the most part, has been facilitating those rescues taking place there in Orange?
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: No Fred, it's been the Orange County Sheriff's Department and some good Samaritans. I mean, they've done everything from hotwire trucks. We road in a monster truck through 10 and 11 feet of water in downtown Bridge City (ph) in Orange where hundreds of homes have been completely inundated. Many people have had no choice but to go (INAUDIBLE) to their roofs, waving white flags. We saw one man with his dogs up on the roof. People who decided to ride out the storm and every person that we spoke to said that they of course regretted that decision to do that, but they were very frightened whether or not they were going to be able to get out.
Captain David Pack (ph) of the Orange County Sheriff's Department also just said that he felt these people were very stubborn. They knew the storm was coming, the were told to get out and they didn't and they almost lost their lives. So, they are still trying to facilitate rescues in this area. Much is completely impossible, except by boat. As I said, they're using everything from airboats to dump trucks, anything that can get high enough above the water to get to people's homes -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Wow, and so some real, you know, threatening moments there for the people who have been stranded and really brought themselves to that situation. But, is the sheriff's department saying anything about how dangerous this was for the rescuers, as well, to put their own lives in ham's way in order to save people who made the choice to stay?
DORNIN: That's exactly what, in no uncertain terms, Captain Pack he was very angry about people who are, as he put it, "stupid enough to stay." And he has to put his own people in danger. There are downed power lines everywhere, downed trees. It's very dangerous to get in here and try to rescue these people. So, he was very upset at the numbers of people who had decided to stay. But many people that we talked to clamed, of course, that they couldn't afford to leave, that they had left during Gustav, they couldn't afford the gas to leave. Captain Pack was saying he wasn't accepting those kinds of excuses. That when your life is in danger, you should get out. And many of these people did not get out.
WHITFIELD: A little more clearly on the numbers, again. I mentioned 200 people, but is it 200 that are stranded or 200 that have been rescued?
DORNIN: There have been about 200 rescued so far, there have been more calls coming in. Many people, I couldn't call in because their was no cell phones access, so many people were not able to use their cell phone, which is why they would get on the roofs and wave the flags, so you have a lot of people in boats, a lot of search and rescue teams from -- as I said, all sorts of agencies, now, that are in Bridge City (ph), that are going around the different neighborhoods and searching for people who might be left behind. So, if people wave out their window, they can get out. WHITFIELD: Wow, and so simply being played out like that, line of sight, these rescuers to see just who else may be there, aside from the 200 rescued, who's waving their hand out the window, who's on the rooftop, that kind of thing.
DORNIN: These are all just working people who live in Bridge City, families. As Captain Pack put it, they've rescued everyone from an 8-week-old infant to an 80-year-old woman. So, all sorts of reasons people choose to stay, but in the end, his point was, you should have figured out a way to get out, that there are shelters that people could have found.
WHITFIELD: Wow, this is exactly what officials were afraid of when they heard of the large number of people who decided to try and ride out this storm. And now as you hear about these rescues Rusty is telling us about, 200 people rescued ranging in age from eight weeks old to 80 years old. And it's because of Good Samaritans and the Orange County Sheriff's Department and their apparatus to get out there to try to carry out these rescues with their monster trucks or ATVs as well as their jet skis, all of that taking place, pretty extraordinary. Rusty Dornin, thanks so much for keeping us updated there in Orange County.
I think we're going to take a short break, right now?
All right, well, it looks like we're going on to another, I guess a real juxtaposition on what's taking place involving people who have to stay. In this case, in Houston, not far way from Orange County where those rescues are talking place, let's call a whole 'nother kind of life saving mission that's underway at some of the hospitals, there. We understand that a baby was born right in a hospital there in Houston. Dr. Brian Kirshon -- is it Women's Hospital in downtown Dallas -- Doctor.
DR BRIAN KIRSHON, OB/GYN TEXAS WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: Yes, that is correct.
WHITFIELD: All right, so tell us the story of the woman who had to give birth. You helped deliver this first baby, what's believed to be the first baby of this storm. Was she already at the hospital or was she somebody that was quickly brought in because she went into labor? Explain.
KIRSHON: The lady who came in via the police department and came in the wee hours of the morning and in active labor. And it just was amazing that she could make it in through the storm.
WHITFIELD: Wow, it is amazing. And how is the baby and how is momma doing?
KIRSHON: Everybody's doing just fine. And I must say, it was quite remarkable how the hospital was so geared up for this kind of an emergency from the nursing personnel's standpoint, from the physicians, from the administration; everything was so amazingly prepared and well orchestrated. WHITFIELD: And do you know whether this was a tough decision for this hospital to make, to be able to keep operating under maybe a skeleton staff, but there were some hospitals or medical facilities that made a decision to (INAUDIBLE) altogether, if not close down?
KIRSHON: Absolutely, and this was the amazing thing about this hospital. We did receive a lot of patients from other hospitals that had closed down and right around this time that I was referring to, we actually lost all our power and had a generator system in place and it was amazing how it worked and we never lost any significant power and were able to continue with our process and delivery process without any interruption.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, and given the stresses of a hurricane that's taking place outside your hospital. Give me an idea of how that impacted this delivery, did it make it anymore difficult, did it impact it in any way?
KIRSHON: Not at all. And in fact, the operations in the hospital were as if there was nothing on the outside, because it was quite amazing. You know, the hospital made preparations available for all the staff to be there, staff and family members of all the nursing personnel, and we also had the staff that were coming on for the next shift in the hospital already, so that if they had problems getting in they would already be there. So, there was no interruption of care and there was no interruption of staff, and it was just a -- an amazing operation.
WHITFIELD: And while we've heard so many stories and we've heard a lot of urging coming from officials, from the governor on down talking about the importance of why everyone needs to evacuate, in this case, for this woman, clearly, she had another reason why she really couldn't just pack up and go, and in a strange way it's a good thing she didn't, right, because that meant she was close to the hospital.
KIRSHON: That's exactly correct. So, it's just one of the good things that we can report on.
WHITFIELD: So, I got to ask, was it a little boy or little girl, and the name wouldn't have been Ike, would it?
KIRSHON: No, it wasn't. But you're right. I think that would have been quite an appropriate name, but it was not.
WHITFIELD: Oh, great. Well, glad you're able to bring us this happy story, a successful delivery, Dr. Brian Kirshon of Texas. We wish all the best to momma and baby.
We're going to talk our Lieutenant General Honore coming up, to talk a little bit more about the rescue efforts that are underway. You heard them right before hearing about this baby delivery, rescue efforts underway in Orange County Texas, Petty harrowing moments, indeed. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right. A convoy of National Guard are now on their way, just on the western edge of Harris County in downtown Houston, they've brought all kinds of apparatus and personnel to try to help out there. Just hours now after Hurricane Ike made landfall this morning, causing a lot of structural damage, and we understand now four deaths are being attributed now to Hurricane Ike.
On the phone with us now, Colonel John Nichols of the task force -- or rather is he the task force Ike commander, and along with me right now is the commander of the National Guard in New Orleans, right after Hurricane Katrina, Lieutenant General Russell Honore. We're going to have this three-way conversation now, as Colonel Nichols is on the phone and on the road with us.
Give me an idea, Colonel, exactly what you're prepared for as you're now just moment as way from hitting downtown Houston.
COLONEL JOHN NICHOLS, TASK FORCE IKE COMMANDER: Well, we're going to try to go around the outskirts of Houston. And let me clarify one thing, I'm the task force commander of the Texas military port and response and we're supporting the unified command under the governor's division emergency management.
So we're -- we've got about 575 vehicles in this push alone, that's civilian military and federal vehicles. Probably about 2,000 people coming towards this area. We're prepared right now to help continue the search and rescue effort that's ongoing and were going to bring more folks with high water vehicles to go out there and rescue any stranded personnel.
So, the first push will be search and rescue. After that, then mass care for all of the people that are out of electricity and need food and water.
WHITFIELD: And if I could, Colonel, what do you anticipate in this search and rescue effort, knowing that there were quite a few thousand people who have decided to stay in the low lying, more vulnerable areas? I realize you have those 575 vehicles and pretty good number in personnel, as well. But psychologically, what are you prepared to see?
NICHOLS: We're prepared to see high water. We're prepared to see infrastructure that we're going to have to work around. We have the Texas Department of Transportation folks with us. They're going to hen us clear roads. There are folks in place now, try to make it clear that there are people are doing those efforts right now. We're the first wave of re-enforcements and then we've got another force in reserves that are forming up to come as soon as we establish what we need out there.
WHITFIELD: All right. And General Honore with us now. General, earlier you mentioned these waves or the layers of responders when it comes down to National Guard. Knowing what we know right now, some of the images that we've been seeing coming out of Galveston in particular, what do you expect their first, I guess, response to have to be, given the images that you've seen that perhaps they have not seen while they've been on the road?
LT GEN RUSSEL HONORE (RET), CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think it will be the response to the local sheriff's or senior official in each one of the cities or passing requirements back and then Colonel Nichols -- Colonel, what's been your priority of work? If I'll kick that back to you, as to where you're to employ once you get on the ground in the affected area?
NICHOLS: Texas City in Galveston, we know the bridge is a little bit of an issue, and we're also sending folks toward the Beaumont/Port Arthur/Orange, and all the way up to Lufkin, because with Hurricane Rita, the area between Lufkin and south was pretty devastated, so the needed help. The high water rescue folks are leaning toward the Texas City and the Beaumont/Port Aurther/Orange area. And you hit it on the button, we're here for local jurisdictions. The Jack Crowley (ph), our chief of the governor's division of emergency management wanted us to focus on search and rescue at first, but as usual, it's the civilian needs.
WHITFIELD: All right. Colonel John Nichols, thanks so much for your time, we appreciate it. We know you're on the road making your way to a number of people who are certainly in desperate need of this assistance. We appreciate you taking the time out to talk with us. General Honore, same goes to you. We appreciate it.
We're going to a lot more with you throughout the afternoon here as we continue to see, you know, from images and hear from people exactly what is at hand, the damage and the kinds of needs in terms of residents.
HONORE: Yeah, and we're real proud of that sheriff, captain going in, picking the people up, those are men of consequences. They're in every community. That's the history of our nation. Local people helping neighbors, getting it done, then you have the great National Guard, our national treasure.
WHITFIELD: Yeah.
HONORE: That's always there for our people in every area code and zip code across the country. They're there for our people.
WHITFIELD: We're glad all of then and that is in place to assist in such great need like this. General Honore, we appreciate it. We're going to take a short break, right now. Much more in the NEWSROOM, right after this.
