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CNN Live Saturday

Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; Dick Cheney from Texas

Aired September 10, 2005 - 2:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN special continuing coverage of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath and the recovery efforts from the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zain Verjee.

WHITFIELD: And first this hour, mission critical, the very latest on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

A member of the commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks says the United States is not prepared for a disaster, or a large- scale terrorist attack. Former Democratic Congressman Tim Roemer of Indiana says, quote, "We have had our first post-9/11 test, and we have miserably failed," end quote. And he blames it in part on the government's failure to implement all of the recommendations of the 9/11 commission.

Meantime, the mandatory evacuation order remains in place in New Orleans, but many holdouts are still refusing to leave. It's believed that as many as 10,000 people are still in the city. However, right now, authorities are concentrating on finding bodies, saying forcing holdouts to leave is not a priority.

The floodwaters in New Orleans continue to drop ever so slowly. Still, listen to this big ray of hope for the city. The Army Corps of Engineers says draining the water should be completed next month. That's far ahead of the 80-day early estimate.

FEMA is trying to get the word out to storm evacuees that a debit card program is ending. A spokesman says the cards valued at $2,000 each are now in short supply. But FEMA says evacuees can still receive the $2,000 through deposits to their bank accounts or receiving checks by mail. Zain.

VERJEE: Fredricka, we begin this hour in New Orleans where Dan Simon is covering a house-to-house search for holdouts refusing to obey the mandatory evacuation order. He joins us now by phone. Tell us about the searches and how they're proceeding.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zain, no surprise here. It's a very hot and sweaty day in New Orleans. And it's an arduous task as searchers go house to house looking for bodies. At one time it's been widely reported that there were as many as 10,000 dead people in the city of New Orleans, but now those numbers are said to be drastically reduced.

Simultaneously, police are also trying to get the holdouts out of their homes. Somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people still here in the city of New Orleans. Based upon this weather, how hot it is, it's really question mark, why they would want to stay here. But apparently they say they have enough food and water to sustain them.

Police have made it clear they don't want to use force to get the people out of their homes, but the folks here are very adamant. They love this community. They feel like they can get by with what they have, and they simply do not want to leave. Zain?

VERJEE: How much have the floodwaters receded, Dan?

SIMON: Well, there is a bright spot today. Many of the pumps are now functioning, so the water level has decreased in many of the areas. As you mentioned, at one point, the water -- it was said that it could take up to 80 to 100 days to get the water down. Now they're saying it could be about a month. So that is a bright spot.

VERJEE: So many people wanting to come back and check their houses, check their businesses, look at some of the critical records that they've had. But checkpoints have been set up around the city, right, to prevent them from coming?

SIMON: Yes, there are some checkpoints, but I've got to tell you, it seems to be pretty lax. You know, we have press credentials, and we're told to show them at the checkpoints, but a lot of time they just wave us through and they have no idea who we are. So we have seen a number of residents of the city of New Orleans who have come back to collect their belongings. They're here for a few minutes, they get the essentials and then they take off.

VERJEE: How much electricity and running water is there in New Orleans?

SIMON: Well, we know that power has been restored to the downtown area, but much of the city is still without power. The water level -- we were thinking about actually moving into a hotel that's been set up for some of the troops here, but the contamination levels are still said to be high. So we haven't quite moved into a hotel yet. So in terms of when the water is going to be safe is still a question mark.

VERJEE: Dan Simon reporting. Thanks, Dan. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. We've got some new pictures just now coming in. You know an awful lot of the evacuees, the majority have found a place of comfort in Texas, particularly in Houston's Astrodome.

Let's take a look at the new images right now, people who have sought shelter there. They've gotten a lot of food and they've gotten a place to sleep as well. And obviously we're having some problems with that video. But when we get it, we'll be bringing that to you as well.

Well, why didn't they come for us? That's what staffers at a New Orleans area nursing home are asking in the aftermath of Katrina. More than 30 residents died at St. Rita's when floodwaters rushed in. The Louisiana attorney general plans to investigate why the residents were not evacuated. But one nurse says she wants answers now.

TAMMY DIAGLE, ST. RITA'S NURSE: I can't understand, if it was a mandatory evacuation scheduled for Sunday afternoon, why they did not get these people out. I don't understand why the ambulance service didn't go there. I don't understand why the parish officials, the fire department, somebody, anybody didn't go there and get these people out.

They knew they were elderly. They knew they were incapable of getting out on their own. They were sick. They were infirm. They were -- but they deserved to live. They did not deserve to drown and not know what happened to them.

WHITFIELD: Still no answers to those questions. The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina has many people wondering if the country is prepared for another terrorist attack. Earlier today former Democratic Congressman Tim Roemer told CNN post-9/11 evacuation plans were not followed in New Orleans. And the country overall is not safe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM ROEMER (D), FMR. 9/11 COMM. MEMBER: We have had our first post-9/11 test, and we've miserably failed. We're not prepared for a disaster. We're not prepared for a large-scale terrorist attack. Our government couldn't drop water to our most needy citizens. We couldn't get generators to people in hospitals. We didn't go by an evacuation plan. I think the first place to start here is not just pointing the finger, it's to get things right and be accountable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Roemer is a former member of the 9/11 investigation committee. He says he would like to see somebody, such as President Jimmy Carter appointed, to help reopen and rebuild New Orleans.

CNN is digging deeply into the aspect of the Hurricane Katrina story by examining what might be next. Tonight, a "CNN SECURITY WATCH" special asks, is America prepared. At 8:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN. Zain?

VERJEE: Fredricka, Washington is maintaining a high profile along the ravaged Gulf Coast. Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife are in the region. Today they're in Austin, Texas, visiting with evacuees. President George W. Bush plans to return to the area tomorrow.

The federal government has been roundly criticized for not getting military troops and supplies into the New Orleans area more quickly. And now the Pentagon admits there was a major flaw in the initial response plan. More now from CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even before any formal analysis of what could have been done better in responding to Katrina, one thing seems clear. The plan to rely on local officials to be the first responders failed.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The natural disaster was of, as they say, biblical proportion. And that means that a number of the first responders, or those who would have been first responders under our constitution and under our laws were in fact victims.

MCINTYRE: Five days into the disaster when President Bush was touring the devastation, there was still confusion over who should be in charge. Pentagon officials say in a meeting on Air Force One, the president offered several plans to unify the chain of command to Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. But she never accepted.

RAY NAGIN, MAYOR, NEW ORLEANS: She said she needed 24 hours to make a decision. It would have been great if we could have left Air Force One, walked outside and told the world that we had this all worked out.

MCINTYRE: In fact, the Pentagon insists the lack of agreement had little practical effect. Because by that time, Lieutenant General Russel Honore was firmly in charge and federal troops were on the way without any additional state requests. But Pentagon officials say that points to just one area, where a better plan could streamline the deployment of military assets when state and local governments are clearly overwhelmed.

RUMSFELD: I think there's no question that the president's indicated he intends to review how those things are arranged and what might be done.

MCINTYRE: The U.S. northern command says some 50 military personnel are already on the ground conducting an exhaustive review of what needs to be fixed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (on camera): Pentagon officials say one option that was discussed by the White House was federalizing or taking charge of the relief operation over the objections of Louisiana's governor.

One official described that as tantamount to an invasion of the state, and said that by late last week when things were getting better, the idea was rejected as unnecessary and heavy-handed. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

WHITFIELD: And now we have those promised pictures out of Houston, Texas. You're looking at an overall view there at the Astrodome, when -- at a time after Hurricane Katrina, Houston has been extending a huge helping hand to the majority of the evacuees out of New Orleans and other parts throughout the Gulf Coast. You're looking at some of the accommodations there in the Astrodome, when Houston as a whole helped shelter up to 25,000 people. Now the number is down to about 8,000. That's in part because a lot of folks have relocated out of Houston and have gone to move in with friends and family members out of state and in the surrounding area, etcetera. And of course, you know by now that a number of people there in the Astrodome were looking forward to getting those $2,000 check cards from FEMA.

Well, FEMA has now changed its plan and will no longer distribute those check cards of $2,000 to those evacuees. Instead, FEMA is now saying folks need to expect to perhaps get them in the mail at some juncture, if they are able to get them at all.

Well, the mayor of Biloxi, Mississippi, says things are slowly getting better in his city.

VERJEE: Crews are working to remove debris from downtown and from around the casinos. But what about people with no insurance? How are they coping? Ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY, we'll show you how one man's working to get his life back.

WHITFIELD: And we're tracking Hurricane Ophelia as the storm threatens the Carolina coast. A live update right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: The storm hovering off the southeast coast has strengthened into a hurricane again. Forecasters are warning residents from Florida to the Carolinas to beware of Hurricane Ophelia, expected to make landfall next week. Jacqui Jeras has an update for us now -- Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Zain, it is a hurricane, as you mentioned: 80 miles per hour. That's the maximum sustained winds right now. And its location is about 225 miles east-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina.

Some gradual strengthening is going to be possible today, but the movement is not going to change all that much. It's kind of drifting up to the north and the east, maybe three miles per hour, but it's going to be moving very little we think throughout the afternoon.

Hurricane watches have been posted from the Savannah River extending all the way up to Cape Lookout. That means that hurricane conditions are possible in the next 36 hours. The timing on this one, still a little bit uncertain. We are expecting it to be making landfall -- there's an area of high pressure that's going to be building into the region, that's going to help push it back toward the coastline. It could be making landfall even as far as south as the Georgia coast, as far north as into North Carolina.

So, there's still some uncertainty and once we start to get that new steering current move in, we'll have a lot more confidence in that forecast track. So, keep in mind the margin of error. The National Hurricane Center, now bringing it in towards about the central coast of South Carolina. That would be late on Monday night, into the early morning hours of Tuesday. In the meantime, we're still dealing with that threat of rip currents and the high surf all along the beaches. So, you -- go ahead and go out to the beaches this weekend if you'd like to, but you're probably going to want to stay out of the water -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Good advice. Thanks so much, Jacqui.

Well, Biloxi, Mississippi, is the state's third biggest city, but Katrina destroyed one-fifth of the city's structures, more than 5,000 in all and tens of thousands of people there are now homeless and in dire need. CNN's Allan Chernoff is with us now from Biloxi -- Allan?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, that is exactly the case. The east end of Biloxi is the poorest part of town and within this neighborhood are some of the poorest people in the entire state. Yet even after the hurricane, they are also some of most grateful.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: (voice-over): When the floodwaters reached five feet in Daniel Jackson's home, he, his wife and daughter began to pray.

DANIEL JACKSON, BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI: We prayed and ten minutes after we prayed, you know, the water started dropping in the house.

CHERNOFF (on camera): What prayer did you say?

JACKSON: Man, we prayed, you know -- I prayed, you know, "The Lord is my shepherd. Thou shall not want."

CHERNOFF (voice-over): His desires are few, but now after the hurricane, Mr. Jackson's needs are great. His wife and daughter left for a shelter. He stayed, even though virtually everything in the house is ruined and the stench of mildew is everywhere.

The house itself was pushed off its foundation.

(on camera): Say that the weather forecasters were predicting yet another huge storm to hit the Mississippi coast. Are you staying?

JACKSON: I will stay. You know, I will stay, like I said before, I put my faith in God. Because, you know, I feel like by me staying here, I mean, it couldn't be no worse than this. You see what I'm saying, because this hurricane was a lot worse than Camille. So, if I pass this test, I think I can pass the rest of them.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): Jackson, a 59-year-old former maintenance worker, has a herniated disk in his back and bum knee. With only $600 in the bank, he and his wife, who has cancer, live off of disability checks. Jackson had no flood insurance, so he expects his policy may not pay out.

(on camera): Are you angry at all?

JACKSON: Not at all. No. Not a time to be angry. You know, it's a time to rejoice. We don't worry about material things in these -- at these times. I say, what we're concerned about here is our lives.

CHERNOFF: Daniel Jackson is a man of faith. The National Guard and Red Cross are providing for him now. And he says the Lord will provide for him in the future.

JACKSON: I feel I'm a blessed man.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: It certainly does put life into perspective -- something for all of us to think about, even as we pay those sky-high prices at the gas pump, which for most of us is the primary effect of the hurricane -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Allan.

We want to go straight to Austin, Texas, right there, because the vice president is touring the convention center there and meeting with evacuees, many of whom came from the New Orleans area about anywhere between 1,300 and 2,000 folks there at the Austin Convention Center, Zain.

The vice president had toured other Gulf port cities as well, being in Biloxi, Mississippi and even Gulfport, Mississippi, earlier in the week before moving on to New Orleans and now through his tour in Texas, here he is this Saturday afternoon in Austin.

VERJEE: Exactly. There are about 1,300 to 2,000 evacuees at the center, with whom -- which he'll be addressing right now, apparently speaking to American Red Cross and other relief officials. The federal government, Fredricka, as you well know, has been so criticized for not getting in the troops and the supplies into the hurricane-affected areas quick enough.

The vice president, Dick Cheney, here visiting evacuees; Washington wanting to maintain its high profile in the area, around and along the ravaged Gulf Coast. We expect the vice president to speak in just a few minutes.

And when he does that, we're going to be taking that live. For now, we're going to take a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Vice President Dick Cheney is speaking now at the Austin Convention Center. Let's listen.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you look at the operation, really what's happened nationwide, Texas has had an enormous success story. It has accommodated, I think, more than all the other states combined in terms of the evacuees out of Louisiana.

And so it's really been a tremendous performance in terms of what's happened here, thanks to the great work of the people like the mayor, all the volunteers, the governor and all of his people. The State of Texas has really turned too in remarkable ways and done a lot of things right. That's one of the things I wanted to focus on today.

I had the opportunity to spend time with the governor and their regional FEMA director and the state agency people at the headquarters for about an hour-and-a-half earlier. And this is the shelter here, of course, in Austin. It's a remarkable experience.

I had a chance to talk to a few of the families, to talk to some of the volunteers to see all the services that are being provided here. Obviously the folks from Louisiana are enormously grateful in terms of what's happened here. And a lot of that is due to the tremendous efforts of the people of Austin and Texas.

And what they have done to step forward and make these folks feel at home, get them the help they need so they can recover from one of the deadliest disasters in the nation's history. I'll be happy to respond to a few questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What can the federal government do to help Austin out now? Because so much is given towards the effort to kind of help Austin keep up with that.

CHENEY: Well, in terms of things -- for example, the school system and the fact that kids are getting enrolled in schools, not only here in Austin, but all across Texas. Those are responsibilities that ultimately the federal government will take a major hand in in terms of helping finance those kinds of activities so that the burden doesn't fall totally on the local school system.

So there are a number of things -- housing, long-range housing arrangements, how that gets sorted out right now. Of course, a lot of the cost is being borne by the federal government, as well as state agencies, and ultimately the state gets reimbursed for a lot of that as well, too. So everybody's got to chip in. But the federal government has a major role to play, especially financially.

And just this week we got authorized, and the president signed into law another $52 billion appropriation for Katrina relief recovery. So there will be a lot of federal help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Vice President, what are you hearing from the people inside? Obviously a lot of criticism in the media and from evacuees about the response, the federal response. The president said Mr. Brown was doing a great job just a week ago, and then now he's been, you know, reassigned. What are you hearing from those folks? Are they talking to you about that?

CHENEY: No. Not one of them mentioned any of it. What they were talking about -- well, they're all very thankful where they find themselves now. I asked a lot of them how they got here, were they evacuated by the National Guard, so forth. And they all had stories to tell in that regard.

A woman who has nine children, and initially they were broken up as a family getting out, but she's now got everybody together. Two of the kids ended up in San Antonio, but they're here now. It's gratitude for medical support and medical supplies and help, that their kids are in school.

A number of them said they really like Austin. And my guess is some of them may want to stay. That's their choice, obviously. But, no, it was uniformly positive. They said things had been rough when they were trying to get out of New Orleans, the Convention Center and so forth. But it has been remarkable ever since. They are overwhelmed, I think, by the outpouring of support and assistance that's been provided to them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, did you recommend that Mike Brown be reassigned?

CHENEY: Mike Chertoff made those decisions. And certainly I support it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will he be ...

CHENEY: Mike Chertoff is the one for you to talk about all that. He runs that shop. Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is anybody else going to be removed? Is anybody else going to be removed?

CHENEY: I'm not going to announce anything here today. It's not my call to make. Mike Chertoff runs the Department of Homeland Security. He makes those decisions. And I support him. Yes, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You were hear to learn more about the response. Anything that jumps out right now, for investments that you might ...

CHENEY: Well, I was struck by the briefing I had this morning with the state officials. The extent to which they're able to model and demonstrate graphically with the photographs for example, what would happen if a category 4 storm surge hit Beaumont or hit Houston or hit Galveston.

It's a remarkably sophisticated system that Texas has got that allows them to go in and visually display the consequences of various hypothetical events, and then use that in terms of working with state and local officials in terms of their planning activities, in terms of making decisions about whether or not you would have to evacuate at some point, a very detailed understanding of the timelines of when you have to make decisions about evacuation in the event of a major storm or disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think that should be applied worldwide?

CHENEY: I think the Texas system is very good. I haven't seen all the others yet, but I was very impressed with the sophistication of what the folks have done in Texas in terms of being able to watch obviously the way they track storms. Any storm that comes into the Gulf for them is potentially a storm that may hit Texas. So they always get ready for every single one. And they've got a great capacity obviously, to organize, communicate with one another. And I was very impressed with the caliber of the planning effort that had gone into all of that.

The fact that they were able to respond so quickly to the Louisiana crisis was because they were very well equipped to respond to their own crisis. If there had been a storm strike in Texas, that's the system they mobilize. And that's the one that was put to use to take care of all the folks who came this way from Louisiana. One or two more questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) to minimize a similar catastrophe or similar response to the ...

CHENEY: I think it will move fairly rapidly. Every storm we'll learn more. And a lot of the folks that are involved here, because there is an intense focus on what's going on, I think the lessons will be fairly widely disseminated. In my meeting today with the governor and his people, had -- Senator Hutchison was there, as well as members of the congressional delegation, in fact, some of them are here now. Godfried (ph) back here, Paul (ph). Who else have we got? Willy Horton (ph), so several members of Congress were there.

Joe was asking questions, because he, of course, is the chairman of the key committee in the house. He's trying to learn just as the rest of us are. And Texas -- as I say, the reason I'm here today is I was impressed with the caliber of the effort that was mounted here. And it's a good place to come learn. I think it's valuable lessons. Thank you all very much.

VERJEE: There have been a lot of things right here. And I want to focus on that today. Vice president Dick Cheney speaking in Austin, Texas at the Convention Center, where about 1,300 to 2,000 evacuees from New Orleans are being housed. The vice president saying, if you look at operations nationwide, Texas is a success story. It has had, in his words, a tremendous performance in housing evacuees.

He said just moments ago that he had a chance to speak to evacuee families and said the people from Louisiana are especially grateful. They are getting the help that they need now. He says that he knows that things were rough for them, but now it's remarkable, he added, saying they've been really overwhelmed by the outpouring of assistance that they've been getting.

The vice president adding that the federal government will have a major role to play in financing the entire relief and recovery effort. He was also pressed on questions by the press on the removal of the head of FEMA, Mike Brown, in coordinating the ground operations.

And he said this, "look, Mike Chertoff runs Homeland Security. It was his decision and I support him." Vice president Dick Cheney ending really by saying, "with every storm, we'll learn more." Fredricka? WHITFIELD: Well, Texas just one of the states, one of the many states absorbing the responsibility of the evacuees. And so for days, we've also been hearing about the harrowing survival stories of so many people who made it out of New Orleans, amazing accounts of people who were trapped in their homes, and somehow managed to make it out alive.

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