Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Obama Speaks at Xavier University for Hurricane Katrina Anniversary; Who Owns the Dream?; Flooding in Pakistan; New Orleans 5 Years After Hurricane Katrina

Aired August 29, 2010 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Now and then. The world pauses to pay attention to New Orleans. It has been five years since the levees broke. It was President Bush's catastrophe then. Today, a new president comes to town to talk progress and failure.

Water took the lives of hundreds during Hurricane Katrina. It almost did the same thing this weekend on America's beaches. We'll tell you why it turned into rescues for the record books on east coast shores.

Dr. King is the one who dreamt it. Glenn Beck wants to make it his reality. Civil rights leaders and many Americans say, not so fast. Can a white conservative become the new face of the civil rights movement?

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, reporting to you live tonight from the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. We're here to chronicle a comeback of a neighborhood, of a city, an entire coastal region, really. Five years ago today, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast with obviously devastating results.

Take a look at this. This is an aerial photograph of the area where I'm standing right now. This is how it looked five years ago when the levees broke and a barge floated right into the neighborhood from the adjoining canal.

And this is what it looks like right now. This is the Lower Ninth Ward, Tennessee Street, among the streets in this very neighborhood. And, of course, this is where Brad Pitt has been putting much of his effort in the Make It Right Foundation. We're going to take you through this neighborhood a little later on and give you a live tour.

We all remember the painful images of death and devastation -- the winds, the rain and the levee breaks that followed that. Much of coastal Mississippi literally washed away and much of this city under water for days, even weeks.

People here in New Orleans are remembering the Katrina anniversary in many ways, including a special church service at the St. Paul Episcopal Church in the city's Lakeview neighborhood. The church was among the many buildings inundated by floodwaters and in the heart of the city, on Jackson Square, worshipers attended an interfaith mass at the historic St. Louis Cathedral. Some residents even staged a mock funeral for Katrina -- their way of putting the storm in the past for good.

And, you know, President Barack Obama was also here today, marking the anniversary with a message for the people of this city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't have to tell you that there are still too many vacant and overgrown lots. There are still too many students attending classes in trailers. There are still too many people unable to find work. And there are still too many New Orleans folks who haven't been able to come home.

So, while an incredible amount of progress has been made, on this fifth anniversary, I wanted to come here and tell the people of this city directly, my administration is going to stand with you and fight alongside you until the job is done, until New Orleans is all the way back -- all the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And CNN White House correspondent, Dan Lothian, traveled with the president here to New Orleans.

Dan, how important was it that the president -- he came to New Orleans on this fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very important because, you know, there are some people here who believe that the rest of the nation had simply forgotten about the victims of Katrina, that they've gotten a Katrina fatigue. So, they felt that it was very important for the president to come here and, again, shine the national spotlight, if you will, on the continuing recovery effort.

Now, it's interesting because the president, the last time he came here, was then-Senator Obama, talked about the neglect of the federal government. Today, he was very much again criticizing the Bush administration for what he said was the shameless breakdown in the government that left a lot of people alone. President Obama reassuring the residents of not only New Orleans but also the Gulf region that his administration is committed to the long-term recovery of their city -- Don.

LEMON: And, Dan, what about the notion every time there is a big celebration or remembrance of Katrina, the president seems to, you know, focus on all his time and energy on Louisiana. People along the Gulf Coast and other states, Mississippi, Alabama, say, sometimes they feel like they're forgotten.

LOTHIAN: That's right. In fact, you know, just over the past week, there was someone who was talking to me about that very same subject, telling me that every time there's an anniversary, the eyes of the country are focused on New Orleans because either the president or some big official comes here and they are forgotten. What the administration says is that, New Orleans is really sort of like the symbolic epicenter of the storm. This is where the major damage occurred, so they felt that it was important for the president to come here, but that a lot of administration officials have fanned out beyond here across the Gulf Coast region and that the president is very much committed, not only to the recovery of New Orleans, but the entire Gulf Coast.

LEMON: You hear this guitar in the background and it's the beautiful sounds of Kipori Woods. He's going to be playing with us throughout the show here on CNN. He is a blues guitarist. I grew up in New Orleans. He plays at jazz fest and he's also part of Irving Mayfield's playhouse and he's been playing there with Irving Mayfield and we featured Irving Mayfield in one of our stories that we aired here on CNN earlier in the week.

Again, this is Kipori Woods, a blues guitarist here playing for us in the Ninth Ward.

We're going to move now here on CNN and talk about two competing rallies in Washington this weekend, both of which claim ownership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s civil rights dream. We're looking at the takeaway from the two events and the fight that is brewing from that.

Surf's up, way up, all along the Atlantic coast and red flag warnings are posted. Hundreds of people needing rescue from the rough waters all because of tropical weather. It is an unbelievable story about the rescues that occurred.

And actor Brad Pitt taking on perhaps his biggest role ever. How Pitt is helping to build affordable and earth-friendly homes for New Orleans' musicians.

Kipori Woods playing us out into the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Ah, man, it is finally, we're getting a breeze here in New Orleans where we are here to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the storm that really, really tore up the city and the entire east coast -- finally, a breeze for the first time that we've been in New Orleans for an entire week. We're going to continue our coverage here on CNN in just a moment.

We're going to talk about another anniversary, the anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. It was marked yesterday in Washington, D.C. by two large competing rallies, each laying claim to King's message.

At the Lincoln Memorial itself, conservative FOX TV host, Glenn Beck, held a rally steeped in God and country. He repeatedly invoked the name of Dr. King who's iconic speech was delivered on that spot back in 1963. And not far away, the Reverend Al Sharpton held an alternate rally and march to the site of the proposed King memorial. Sharpton was clearly unhappy that Beck had taken over the Lincoln Memorial but he refused to concede the day or the dream.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, ORGANIZER, "RECLAIM THE DREAM": They told me that others are going to be at the Mall and they're going to be standing where Dr. King stood. Well, they may have the Mall but we have the message. They may have the platform, but we have the dream.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. John Avlon is a regular contributor to CNN and to "The Daily Beast."

John, two groups competing for the national spotlight on this important anniversary -- I should say two groups really competing for a very important message about who owns it here. I don't know if this -- these two groups competing will decide who actually owns the "I Have a Dream," the civil rights dream or what-have-you.

So, what's the takeaway about what happened yesterday? Is this a one-day, two-day, three-day story, or will this go on?

JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, this incident is a short story. The larger legacy, of course -- I mean, America's had a debate about race and civil rights. It's one of the core debates in our country's identity.

I think what yesterday does show is that it's still a debate which is very much in play. It is still, unfortunately, a source of some division in the country. Even one of the most unifying figures in recent American history and certainly the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, you had competing rallies led by two, you know, folks who are considered to very polarizing individuals.

And the controversy of Glenn Beck, the conservative, populist entertainer, occupying the Mall with a huge crowd in what was essentially a religious revival, that is what -- that is what becomes the firestorm. The question of, can conservative populists claim King as their own or is the civil rights community, are they better representatives of Dr. King's dream and message? It's an America debate. It's still ongoing with some fractured edges.

LEMON: Hey, John, I want to ask you the very question that I said in the beginning of this show, can a white conservative really become the face of the civil rights, the new face of the civil rights movement and the dream?

AVLON: Well, no, but I don't think that's actually what Glenn Beck's trying to do. The larger issue here is -- simple answer, no. The larger issue is one of I think the Republican Party trying to become reconnect with its roots as the party of Lincoln again. Sometimes, we get a little bit lost in these debates and we don't appreciate the fact that before 1920, there were 23 African Americans who served in Congress and every single one of them was a Republican because that was the legacy of Lincoln. But then, since the civil rights movement, we've only had three Republican African Americans be elected to Congress. That is a symbol of the deep diversity deficit that still exists in our politics, the way our political parties are so polarized around racial lines.

Now, the good news is, is that there are real efforts. There have been over 30 African-American candidates running for Congress as Republicans this year alone. You have increasing diversity in GOP ranks. But it's still a challenge in our politics to move past this racial polarization, and I don't think that's anything that Glenn Beck helped yesterday.

LEMON: Well, it's interesting when you say we have to move past this racial polarization, I think most people would agree with that. But simply, by the very fact that you're talking about the civil rights movement, you're talking about black/white issues in the United States -- at least starting from there and then moving on.

So, here's my question then. You talked a little bit about what happens next. You said it's a short story. But will there be a backlash to the Beck rally or will his message, you think, resonate with African-Americans, at least in part?

AVLON: No. Well, look, I mean, he had a religious revival, and religious revivals have an ability to appeal across all political lines because it's fundamentally a spiritual appeal. But his message yesterday on the Mall was not political. It was certainly not about reclaiming the civil rights movement despite all the hype. He tried to associate himself with King a lot, but I don't think that play really was sincere and I don't think it's going to really help build those bridges between the conservative movement and African-Americans.

That is something that is important to do. It is important that we have a deep, polarized debate about race in politics. We don't want those fault lines to exist.

But we need to confront the reality of our history here. It's all rooted in the fact that slavery is the original sin that American life and we still wrestled with race as a fundamental fault line in America politics ever since. And when a guy like Glenn Beck calls the president racist, even if he's trying to dial it back today, that makes him a fundamentally controversial messenger for anything resembling healing in our politics.

LEMON: John Avlon, very good analysis. We appreciate your reporting all this weekend on CNN. Thank you, sir.

You know, much like the Gulf Coast five years ago, humanitarian disaster is happening right now in Pakistan. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is in Pakistan where millions are struggling after devastating floods. Stay with us. We're live -- we're going to take you there.

And we're also live in New Orleans on this anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and you can see our musician there. It is Kipori Woods, he's a blues guitarist -- symbolizing New Orleans' rebirth, what New Orleans is known for, and where New Orleans want us to go. They want to take the music into the next century, into the city that they hope New Orleans will become.

Stay with us. We're live here in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're live in New Orleans, in the Lower Ninth Ward, for the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. But there are some other top stories today, big stories today.

I want to go to Atlanta and my colleague Ali Velshi who will deliver that.

Hi, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Don. Good to see you. You and the team are doing a great job down there and it's great to see you all celebrating in New Orleans along with the people there.

Let me bring you up to speed with some of the things that we're following right now.

It's been a deadly weekend for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. A total of 10 U.S. service members have been killed in separate incidents since Friday. Two were killed today in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan, five were killed Saturday and three U.S. troops died Friday in insurgent bombings.

Another food recall to tell you about: Cargill is recalling about 8,500 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with E. coli. The meat was sold in several Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Three people got sick after eating it. The meat has a use or freeze by date of July 1st.

Go to CNN.com for specifics about the product numbers that are being recalled.

We'll be tracking two big stories this week: the official end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Mideast peace talks coming to Washington.

President Obama says the end of combat operations on Tuesday is an opportunity for the Iraqi government to chart its own course and the fulfillment of a campaign promise that he made in 2008. Nearly 50,000 U.S. troops, however, will remain in Iraq until 2011. They will move into more training and advisory roles. President Obama will talk about the historic changes in an address to the nation on Tuesday night.

And for the first time in two years, Israeli and Palestinian leaders will sit down face-to-face in Washington on Thursday. The two parties come into the meeting with a mix of hope and apprehension. Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu says peace and security in the region can only be reached if both sides take the talks seriously. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, seen here at the U.N. last year, says he's coming to Washington with the support of other Arab leaders.

Don, we're going to send it back to you. I will be here for an update whenever you're ready for one.

LEMON: Yes, absolutely, Ali. And you know? I'm glad to have you here because I know this has been a focus of your show and I watch your show and it's been a focus of our show as well -- the people in Pakistan really right now dealing with their own Katrina. But -- I mean, it's so much more devastating there. It is just unbelievable what's going on.

VELSHI: Yes.

LEMON: Yes. All right. Ali Velshi, we'll talk to you in just a little bit about that and about other stories happening throughout the United States.

Let's talk more about Pakistan because aid groups in Pakistan say threats from extremists are hurting their efforts to help victims suffering from record flooding. Twenty million Pakistanis are impacted by the disaster that started a month ago. Well, Pakistan's information minister tells CNN he's not aware of any threats but the government will provide security if asked.

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is in the flood zone and he tells us how authorities are getting the word out that floodwaters are coming.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Here's how it works. You see police vehicles like this actually coming through the streets telling people to leave. They say that this particular area, this town of Bala will be under water in the next several hours, certainly by tomorrow.

People are listening. This town would normally be bustling. Thousands of people milling around, shops open. None of this is happening now.

Most people actually are leaving like this, by foot in the hot sun walking for kilometers with no real idea of exactly where they're going or what they're going to find there.

It is easy to see why they are leaving. We are literally surrounded by water and they are worried that that water is just going to get higher and higher. So, they're fleeing the floods with the thing, the priority, the things they value the most, their livestock, and just starting to walk.

This is where so many of them ended up. They were just walking for kilometers and kilometers down that hot road looking for high land -- anything that could protect them from the flood waters.

And look at what their lives are like now. I mean, thousands of people literally, they have this little -- this little barrier here. It is so hot outside, anything to try to keep themselves cool. But this is the new normal life for lots of folks over here.

This family, for example --

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GUPTA: He says about 15 miles, 15 kilometers. And look, small children. They walked here, again, in this very hot weather. Very, very difficult. He's telling me they really haven't received any kind of help at all.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

GUPTA: They are saying they really have no food at all. All they have is this bag of sugar here which they use to make tea.

This is how it is. This is what's happening here in the middle of this evacuation. There's also been no water here, they tell me, for three days. In fact, a woman died in this area from dehydration just last night.

There's no question that relief is slow coming here. But even as we're filming today at the camp, this Pakistani army helicopter comes over and drops parcels of food.

But this is just one camp. There are thousands of camps like this. There are more than 20 million people displaced, a fifth of this country is underwater.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And that was our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, in Pakistan. And for the latest from Pakistan, make sure you watch tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern -- 10:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN. Sanjay Gupta will join us live from the front lines of this natural disaster considered the worst -- the worst in Pakistan's history. Make sure you join us for that.

Turning out in the Atlantic Ocean right now -- three tropical systems, two of them hurricanes. That's causing rough surf all along the Atlantic coast. Hundreds of people needing rescue from the rough waters.

Plus, our coverage of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina continues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just made human judgments, and those people that needed help, we gave help.

REPORTER: What kind of help?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cash.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They looked after the community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: One bank's investment in its Mississippi community in the days and weeks following the storm that yielded a huge return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hurricane Danielle wreaked havoc on multiple beaches all along the east coast this weekend, not with wind and rain, but rip currents. They forced lifeguards in several states to rescue more than -- get this -- 300 swimmers.

CNN's national correspondent, Susan Candiotti, joins us now from Jones Beach, New York.

Susan, what has been like there? I mean, 300 swimmers -- that's amazing.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is amazing and it happened hundreds and hundreds of miles south of here. Here at Jones Beach, quite a different story. It's been a beautiful day here. No other way to describe it.

Despite a ton of advisories warning people to be careful and cautious about rip tides -- but here, no flags, no warnings so far, and thousands enjoying a beautiful weekend here. Not so -- just a little bit south of here, in New Jersey, where they did have red flag warnings up and people were advised to stay either ankle-deep or knee- deep in water. And then farther south, Virginia Beach, there were about 150 people who were rescued there and you're about to hear from someone who watched them pull a little boy out of the water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBY ALEJANDRO, WITNESS TO RESCUE: You could see him out there way far and they kept signaling him and he wasn't responding so they just started, all of them started running out there and within seconds, they had about five lifeguards out there.

CAPT. TOM GILL, VIRGINIA BEACH LIFESAVING SERVICE: The rips are pulling as hard as we've seen them all summer long. It's an extremely dangerous environment for even good swimmers, deadly for bad swimmers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: And in Florida, there were warnings there as well and Ocean City, Maryland, where about another 250 people had to be pulled out of the water this weekend.

Now, here back on Jones Beach, we're going to talk with Captain Ed Peters.

You've noticed throughout the day it's been beautiful, but you do notice things changing just a bit.

CAPT. ED PETERS, JONES BEACH PATROL: If you look at it now, you can see part of the ocean is starting to perk up a little bit and we might get little bit more when tide comes in a little bit further. So --

CANDIOTTI: In fact, you were ready for trouble.

PETERS: We were ready. I mean, we were waiting for it and it didn't pan out quite as much as we thought it was going to pan out, but maybe we'll get a little bit tonight. So, it's not over yet.

CANDIOTTI: What kind of preps have you done so far because we know Earl is coming up the coast?

PETERS: Yes, they took away all the equipment that might have got flooded and they took away the lifeguard boat and all of our buoys are up in a safe spot. And we're waiting for Earl. Earl's supposed to come a little closer to us. So, we might get a big push from the waves on Earl. And --

CANDIOTTI: You can never warn people enough. Remind people what they should do if they encounter an undertow of rip current.

PETERS: We have a lot of signs around and you've seen it on the news and so forth, that you're supposed to swim -- if you caught in the rip, you're supposed to go parallel to the beach or let it pull you out as far as it can and then just swim safely to the shore. But the trick is not to panic.

CANDIOTTI: Thank you very much. And the other advice, of course -- thank you, Captain -- the other advice, of course: never swim alone.

Don, back to you.

LEMON: All right. Good advice. Stay safe out there -- Susan Candiotti joining us from Jones Beach in New York.

Here with more on Danielle now and the hurricane's effect on rip currents, we go to our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras in the CNN weather center. Jacqui, that's a -- that's a big number of rescues that occurred.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it is really. And, of course, a lot of people out at the beaches, you know? It's the weekend, it's the summer, and we're concerned about what's going to happen next weekend as well.

You know, Danielle is more than 1,000 miles away from the U.S. coast, but it generates these large swells that it takes a while for them to propagate and make their way towards the east coast. Now, in addition to that, we had a number of rescues in Florida, too.

We've got high pressure in control and when that high pressure system brings in those strong easterly winds, when they come in perpendicular to the coast, that's when we run into trouble and we start seeing these rip currents that even Olympic swimmers really can't get away from. So, that will be waning a little bit by tomorrow, but by next Thursday, as Earl approaches, we're going to have more problems. Let's talk about Earl, OK? Here's where Earl is right now. It is a hurricane, a category one. Maximum winds around 85 miles per hour. It's moving through the Lesser Antilles and is expected to strengthen. This is going to be bringing in some wicked conditions to the U.S. Virgin Islands as well as Puerto Rico, bringing flooding rains and probably producing some power outages and a little damage. The storm is then expected to take a northwesterly curve and it's going to be approaching the U.S. coastline Thursday towards the Carolinas, and then potentially up towards the cape or the Canadian Maritimes later in the weekend.

Even if we don't get a direct hit, we'll see rip currents and rough waves and we'll probably see some of the outer bands making their ways toward the Carolinas later in the week.

Make you stay tuned as there could be changes with this forecast as that storm develops and gets closer -- Don?

LEMON: All right, we'll be paying attention.

Thank you, Jacqui Jeras.

New Orleans is the largest city on the gulf coast. It has received the bulk of the attention following Hurricane Katrina. But it's important not to forget the Mississippi coast, which Katrina hit dead on, obliterating several communities. And ahead, I'm talk with a man who was there and became the go-to guy for many in the hours and days following the storm.

We have been in New Orleans all week eating some very good food and some very fattening food. Look at those shrimp. My producer, who is in my ear now, Tom Fouts (ph), is actually from Louisiana.

Tom, as soon as I walked up, I smelled the crab boil. I said, do I smell crab boil? I'll bring you some back. Yes, thanks for letting me know. I know you're a little jealous.

Any way, we're here marking the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and really trying to investigate what needs to be done. But we're also celebrating a city that is on the rise again.

We're back in a moment, live from the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans.

(SINGING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: As Hurricane Katrina barreled ashore five years ago today, it devastated cities and towns across the region. Coastal Mississippi took a direct hit and after the storm, the area quickly became a cash-only economy. It worked a lot better than anyone could have imagined.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Katrina chewed up and spit out much of Gulfport, Mississippi, including the headquarters of Hancock Bank.

GEORGE SCHLOEGEL: FORMER HANCOCK BANK CHAIRMAN: This floor was completely trashed. It was 100 percent loss.

GAY TODD, HANCOCK BANK EMPLOYEE I'm just glad to be here.

MESERVE: Bank employee, Gay Todd, still tears up remembering, not what was lost but what her bank gave.

TODD: They looked after the community. Sorry.

MESERVE: Without electricity, records or even all its buildings, Hancock started opening the day after the storm, improvising with trailers, folding tables and faith.

SCHLOEGEL: We just made human judgments. And those people did that needed help, we gave help.

MESERVE (on camera): What kind of help?

SCHLOEGEL: Cash.

MESERVE (voice-over): Water-logged money salvaged from ATMs and vaults was literally laundered -- washed, dried, ironed -- and loaned to customers and non-customers alike.

SCHLOEGEL: And we would write a little IOU on whatever little piece of paper you had that you could put your hands on, little yellow sticky pads, a piece of a napkin.

MESERVE: Marvin Koury got a few hundred dollars.

MARVIN KOURY, MISSISSIPPI RESIDENT: A lot of people's lives depended on being able to go buy gas, ice.

MESERVE (on camera): And you needed cash to do it.

KOURY: You needed cash to do it.

MESERVE (voice-over): Hancock Bank says millions of dollars of salvaged money was used to make its unconventional Katrina loans. All but $300,000 was paid back.

And there were other unexpected dividends. In the four months after the storm, Hancock's deposits grew 40 percent. And in 2009, George Schloegel, the bank chairman of Katrina, was elected mayor of Gulfport, with almost 90 percent of the vote.

SCHLOEGEL: Basically, people are honest and want to do the right thing. and they'll stand by you if you do the right thing by them.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: MESERVE: And like Hancock Bank, a Gulfport pharmacy gave people the medicine they needed after Katrina for a simple IOU. Our Jeanne Meserve tells us the pharmacy got 90 percent of its money back and gained a lot of new customers.

Let's talk about New Orleans. It may have grabbed the lion's share of the attention as we have been talking about here. But there was a lot that happened all over the entire gulf coast.

And that's where Keith Burton comes in. He runs a web site called gulfcoastnews.com based in Biloxi. He witnessed firsthand what Katrina did to Mississippi and the official response afterwards.

Again, the name of your web sites is gulfcoastnews.com. You were there from the very beginning. Did you ever think you have all of these big television and radio network and all of that, that gulfcoastnews.com would be the place people would turn to for live- saving information?

KEITH BURTON, GULFCOASTNEWS.COM: We hoped to do something, be an important aspect. We were there, at ground zero. I knew the major media and broadcasters were going to have a trouble of it because we weren't in the center of communications. We weren't in an area where New Orleans was. It was getting all the attention. And what happened -- we saw right away a response in our database. Actually, it was just a regular talk forum where people wanted to know where everybody was going.

LEMON: Did you notice -- I talked to Mayor Ray Nagin and a lot of us were in the media noticing -- you hear things coming from Washington or the command center in Baton Rouge. And we were here on the ground. I was on the ground in Mississippi. My colleagues were here in New Orleans. And we were like, what's going on? That's not necessarily driving what we're seeing on the ground. How early on did you notice that? and what did you do about it?

BURTON: Well, right off the bat, we started -- I have a brother who's a computer scientist. He was in Colorado Springs and he saw that we had a huge demand on our web site for people wanting to know where everybody was evacuating to. And between his work and the work of another individual that works with me in Washington, D.C., we managed to put together a thing called the Katrina database, the survivor database. We were the very first web site or anything, anybody, that had a central place that people could go to find out where people were going, including people from New Orleans.

LEMON: I remember we had to fly in. Remember, the airports were closed?

BURTON: Yes.

LEMON: Port of Biloxi -- I forget which airport -- and drove down the coast with every intension of coming to New Orleans and couldn't get in because of all that was going on. Basically it was chaos. We went to Pass Christian that was really hit, and all along where the water, along that road, Ocean Drive or whatever, these beautiful homes that had been in there. There were people who were wealthy going down --

BURTON: The storm did not matter, it didn't matter if you were wealthy or not in that.

LEMON: Five years later, what's that like? What's happening on the Mississippi coast?

BURTON: For one thing, we're cleaned up. We look OK, but you wonder why is it there's so much area that's empty? There hasn't been a lot of rebuilding on the front beach. A lot of locals still don't go down to the front beach highway, Highway 90, because it reminds them of so much that we've lost. And photographically, we were expecting a good season this year. And then we had the oil situation with B.P.'s oil leak. and while we weren't affected for the first two months, it kept the tourists away. It kept the visitors away. And frankly, it hurt everybody's attitude.

LEMON: It was just really a second hit really.

Thank you, we promise CNN will keep reporting, not only about New Orleans but what's happening on the entire gulf coast.

Thank you so much. Gulfcoastnews.com?

BURTON: Gulfcoastnews.com. A lot more information than what we could even begin to talk about here.

LEMON: Thank you. Go and enjoy this little block party.

BURTON: OK.

LEMON: We appreciate it, Keith.

BURTON: Pleasure.

LEMON: Thank you for joining us here on CNN.

We're going to talk about Chile. Today, those 30 miners trapped underground for three weeks, well, they get their first chance to speak with their loved ones on the surface. That is ahead here on CNN, along with more from the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EILEEN, IREPORTER: This is where I lived prior to Katrina. I was so happy here, you know. For me, my whole way of life was wiped out, that I knew.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, I'm Ali Velshi at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Back to Don in New Orleans in a moment. But first, the day's top stories. In Chile, those 33 trapped miners spoke directly with family members for the first time today. A communication line was set up and one person per family was given about 20 seconds to talk to their trapped loved ones. Tomorrow Chilean officials plan to start drilling a rescue shaft to reach the trapped miners. Officials say it could take up to four months to rescue them.

A betting scandal has rocked the world of cricket. British police have questioned four members of the Pakistani cricket team for allegedly helping throw a match against England last week. A British tabloid set up a sting. It gave a man nearly $233,000, who gave them information about how the match would play out over the next few days. He was exactly right. The president of Pakistan has ordered an immediate investigation.

Another thing to blame on a bad economy, Americans are having fewer babies. The National Center for Health Statistics says the birth rate has dropped. For 2009, it was 13.5 births for every 1,000 people. It was 13.9 births in 2008; 14.3 in 2007. Sociologists say people unsure of their financial future are putting off having kids.

Hong Kong is a crowded city where space is at a premium and that's prompted one architect to design a small studio apartment that houses 20 rooms.

Anjolie Roush (ph) shows us in today's "Edge of Discovery.

(EDGE OF DISCOVERY)

VELSHI: Let's take it back to Don in New Orleans.

Don, how you doing?

LEMON: Ali, I'm doing great because I have something for you. Let me reach out and grab this. Ali, the crew here, everybody knows, Ali.

VELSHI: Yes.

LEMON: Take off the head set. It's Mad Dog, the photographer. It's Mad Dog. He handed me these. He told me to -- he wishes we had smellovision because we're trying to make you jealous.

VELSHI: The best part, great stuff about being out in the field, it's better being in New Orleans because everybody likes to eat. And with Mad Dog, your friend there, nobody ever eats better. so I'm envious.

LEMON: We have boiled crab, too, here and after we're done, we'll probably have some adult beverages, little beer, what have you, Ali. I'm sure you wouldn't want anyone of that.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: I'm very happy to see people in New Orleans celebrating and having a good time. It's like I'm there with you. I'm there with you in spirit.

LEMON: OK.

I just forgot everything my producers have told me.

I've got to go, Ali. We're tight on time.

VELSHI: All right.

LEMON: Ahead, actor Brad Pitt taking on perhaps his biggest role ever, helping to rebuild homes here in New Orleans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD PITT, ACTOR: These people are pioneers here, and now, they've built the greenest neighborhood in the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're back now live in the Lower Ninth Ward. We're going to give you a tour of the neighborhood. This is Tennessee Street. This is where Brad Pitt has built about 50 homes. That's his goal. Probably, he's going to do more with his Make It Right Foundation.

Before Hurricane Katrina, these lots were filled. You see the new energy-efficient green homes there.

Let's turn around this way because you can see some of the other homes and down the street. This is really a place where tourists come. People come to visit and take a look. It's also where the media is camped out as well because this street symbolizes what the city of New Orleans, what people want it to be like, especially people like Brad Pitt.

Our Tom Foreman spoke with him for our "Building Up America" segment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRAD PITT, ACTOR: I got down here because I was angry. And then I got excited.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You have set for yourself a very ambitious project in taking on a very difficult problem. Five years in, how do you think you're doing?

PITT: These homes have exceeded my expectations. The goal here was, how do you build affordable housing that's high performance and that is going to be strong enough to withstand the kind of weather we're seeing down here?

The things that drives the price up. We have to get the price down.

FOREMAN: How have you grappled with that because I'm guessing your first units here cost a lot more than your -- PITT: Sure, the prototypes. Now we're down to dollar to dollar what it costs to build a normal house, anything else here.

FOREMAN: A normal house, yes. How did you do that?

PITT: We had to start over. We thought we could do it better. We thought we could build a house using light and high-performance technology, that we could bring bills down and give the families who live here a better life. We wanted to prove it at the low-income level, this idea of high performance. Now every house you see here, last month, everyone but one was producing more energy than it was consuming.

FOREMAN: That's big news. That's a big change.

PITT: That's a game changer. There's no reason to build any other way now.

FOREMAN: You have wanted to spread this idea beyond this neighborhood too. Where are you in that process?

PITT: We are looking at getting into other areas in the U.S. and even abroad. This thing -- this neighborhood was built on the kindness of strangers. For this to go on --

FOREMAN: How do you translate --

PITT: Yes. It has to be --

FOREMAN: How do you translate that somewhere else?

PITT: It has to work on a governmental level. They have to look at this and see -- set new practices and new codes.

FOREMAN: That's going to be a long process.

PITT: But in the meantime, with more donations now, we can get into other parts of the city, which I would love to do.

These people are pioneers. They have built the greenest neighborhood in the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That was Tom Foreman with Brad Pitt.

That was the Lower Ninth Ward. That is where we are today. This is where Tom -- Brad Pitt is building those homes.

And that is the levee, one of the infamous levees that broke. We're going to take a walking tour through some of the hardest hit neighborhoods right after the break. Don't go anywhere. We're live in New Orleans for the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So here in New Orleans, the storm left a lot in its wake, a lot of landmarks, a lot of reminders really. I took a walking tour of hard-hit neighborhoods. First, I stopped to see pieces of history preserved in the aftermath of the disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: So New Orleans, especially the French Quarter, there's always a sound track. David and Rosen (ph) are playing back there.

We want to go inside of the Louisiana State Museum.

The director here, Sam Rykels.

SAM RYKELS, DIRECTOR, LOUISIANA STATE MUSEUM: One of the things that we discovered is that a lot of boats were used in the streets of New Orleans. We looked for a boat that would be the perfect symbol.

We found this boat on Napoleon Avenue. This boat rescued over 400 people.

LEMON (voice-over): Inside, the first thing you'll see, the museum's centerpiece, the great Fatts Domino piano.

RYKELS: So it's preserved exactly the way we found it in the house. It was up on one side like that. There's probably no greater living cultural icon living, than Fatts Domino. The fact that his house was in the Lower Ninth Ward, it was flooded. Fatts had to be rescued. We believe this piano speaks to that.

LEMON: So does an0 ax survivors used to escape through a roof, religious heirlooms, a water-logged clarinet from the legendary Pete Fountain (ph), seats from a crippled Superdome.

RYKELS: This is where people sat during their evacuation.

LEMON (on camera): Actually, sat and slept and whatever --

RYKELS: Lived.

LEMON: And lived.

(voice-over): Also on display, those haunting photographs. You don't need a museum to see that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: These pictures show what the hardest-hit neighborhoods were like in New Orleans. One of them, the Lake View neighborhood, this house used to be right here. This picture was taken by CNN iReporter Eileen Romero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

You lived two blocks away from here. You started documenting. why?

EILEEN ROMERO, CNN IREPORTER: Because after Katrina, I had a hard time expressing how I felt about what I saw. So I just got a camera and started trying to express it through my pictures, what I saw and felt.

LEMON: This is your neighbor's house?

ROMERO: Yes.

LEMON: And that house was right here, right next door to yours. Where is he now?

ROMERO: I never saw him again after the storm at all. This is where I lived prior to Katrina.

I was so happy here. You know, for me my whole way of life was wiped out, that I knew.

LEMON (voice-over): And over this the harder hit Lower Ninth Ward.

(on camera): How long before you came back after the storm?

GERTRUDE LEBLANC, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: I came back in 2007.

LEMON: 74-year-old Gertrude LeBlanc, here 46 years -- lost everything.

LEBLANC: This is like a miracle. This here.

LEMON: The Virgin Mary.

LEBLANC: That statue was still as is, after Katrina.

LEMON: You're sitting on your porch, you're swinging. There's no place like home.

LEBLANC: Yes, because there's my steps. That was all that was left of my house.

I say it's like a little memorial to let us know what we went through.

I take it one day at a time. I enjoyed it one day. Tomorrow, I'll look for another day and enjoy that day.

LEMON (voice-over): Days that bring challenges and surprises five years after the storm.

LEBLANC: That's what I do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)