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CNN Live Saturday

Hurricane Katrina Recovery Coverage; Finding and Relocating Victims; Victims Still Looking for Emergency Aid; FEMA's Debit Card System Scrapped; New Orleans's Zoo and Aquarium Animals; Recovering Bodies in New Orleans; Vice President Dick Cheney Makes Appearance in Austin, Texas; 5-year-old Boy Saved by Gulfport's Veterans

Aired September 10, 2005 - 12:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM ROEMER, FMR. 911 COMMISSION MEMBER: We've 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Troubling comments this morning from a former member of the 911 Commission. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is a special edition of our coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I'm Tony Harris.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning and thanks for joining us. I'm Betty Nguyen, coming to you live from Houston, where it's 11:00 local time. We're going to be talking today a lot about the evacuees, their plight for assistance, housing and loved ones -- lost loved ones that many are so desperately searching for. We're going to give you an update on all of this coming up, but first, it's Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Betty, thank you.

Mission critical: Here's the very latest on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Vice President Cheney is in Austin, Texas. He's meeting with hurricane survivors and getting briefed on relief efforts. Earlier, he toured hurricane damage in Louisiana and Mississippi. President Bush will make his third trip to the region tomorrow.

No more emergency debit cards from FEMA: The agency has scrapped its debit card program for hurricane evacuees, switching instead to direct deposits of emergency aid.

In New Orleans, the Air Force is launching aerial spray missions to rid the city of mosquitoes and other disease-spreading insects. Mosquitoes can transmit diseases like malaria and West Nile virus. Meantime, New Orleans officials are still urging people to get out of the city, but some stubborn residents are staying put. Still, law enforcement is not using force to get them to leave.

And finally, one month -- workers say that's how long it'll take to pump the water out of New Orleans. It could take even longer to dry out some areas of the city.

Meantime at the Houston Astrodome, evacuees are looking for emergency aid, but some are not getting what they need. And Betty, you have heard from some of them first hand.

NGUYEN: I sure have. In fact, many of them are still walking in looking for that aid, hoping to get those debit cards. But as mentioned, FEMA is not giving out those debit cards today and in fact, they're not giving out anymore debit cards. They are going to the old system, but a lot of people aren't getting that information. And when they do get those checks and those direct deposits, well, some folks don't even have accounts for those to go into. Take a listen...

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN (voice-over): At dawn, they made their way to the Astrodome looking for assistance, only to be find out their luck had run out. The debit cards are gone.

MARSHALL WHITE, VETERAN: We shouldn't have to be keep running around and then find out Saturday morning the debit program is scrapped. Now we don't even know what the status is, now.

NGUYEN: For these veterans, that seems to be the theme of their journey.

CURTIS SMITH, VETERAN: We get so many tales of what to do about it and so many different words of which way to go until we get to the place that we never really get the help, because it's gone by the time we finally make it to the front door.

NGUYEN: FEMA says it handed out 4,200 cards Friday, but the debit card system requires too large of a staff, so it is scrapping the plan and resorting back to issuing assistance in the form of checks and direct deposits.

JOHN LEWIS, VETERAN: We don't any have bank accounts at all. We don't have access to anything, really. And like for myself, it's difficult for me to get around.

NGUYEN: And that's just the beginning. Disabled veteran, Kenneth Keith, lost his voice to throat cancer and must write down everything so Marshall can speak for him.

WHITE: Our government moved with lightning speed for other countries, but when it comes to us as vets and U.S. citizens, our government hasn't really helped us that much.

NGUYEN: So, this band of brothers keeps walking and searching, hoping to find the assistance that they desperately need.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And today, as we mentioned, FEMA is not giving out debit cards, but they are resorting back to the old method of sending out checks and direct deposits. For those who don't have a bank account, of course they will get a check, but there's a lot of question about, "Well, if I'm in temporary housing or a shelter, where is that check going to go?"

It's going to go to those areas, especially the ones listed in that registry. When you sign up for FEMA, you've got to put an address in there. If you're in a shelter that's the address you put. So, this money is being distributed, just not in this new form of a debit card anymore, at least not here in Houston.

So, besides the money and the assistance that folks are so desperately looking for, people also are looking for loved ones in the form of animals and pets. So many people didn't want to leave because of those pets, but at the same time, there are a lot of animals in other areas like the zoo and aquariums. Well, what happened to them? We're going to go live now Dan Simon is in New Orleans with the latest on their plight -- Dan?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Betty. I'll get to that in just a second, but I -- first I want to give you a snapshot of what's going on here. You can see some workers here. These are firefighters who are going to go out to some of the devastated areas in just a short while. They're going to be actually recovering some bodies.

And just to give you an idea of what else is happening, we're here on the foot of Canal Street and before this area was completely littered. There was all types of garbage and crews have done an excellent job in terms of cleaning up the garbage.

Now, let's talk about the animals you alluded to. First, the zoo. I've -- a lot of people have asked me how are those animals holding up? Well, fortunately the zoo made out pretty well. They only lost a few animals, a couple sea otters and the curator there, who I spoke to yesterday, is very optimistic that they can basically be up and running in a matter of weeks. The problem is, is very few other businesses will be able to operate.

As for the aquarium, a much different story. My camera man can pan over there, you can see the aquarium right behind us and they were absolutely devastated. They have about 10,000 fish at that aquarium and nearly all of those fish died including their famed shark aquarium. So, they do have some penguins, though, about 19 penguins and those penguins are going to be going to Monterey, California until the aquarium is back open.

As I mentioned here we have some folks who are going to be recovering bodies, that's the primary task today. Originally we heard that perhaps there were as men as 10,000 dead people in the city of New Orleans, but now officials are expressing optimism that perhaps the numbers will be a lot fewer. If you can call it good news, we'll call it that.

And in terms of trying to get folks out of their homes, perhaps as many as 5,000 people, five, 10,000 people in their homes who just don't want to leave. Crews, obviously, want them out of town because it's now dangerous for them to be here. The challenge now is trying to get those people out. They feel more comfortable in their homes. They have enough food and water to sustain them. The police doesn't want to use -- they don't want to use force to get these people out but they may have to do just that. Betty, back to you.

NGUYEN: Dan Simon, thank you so much for the update on all of those issues that you are dealing with there. Dan Simon is in New Orleans, back to you Tony.

HARRIS: OK, thank you both. The federal government has been taking a lot of heat for its handling of the Katrina crisis. A lot of it aimed at President Bush. CNN Elaine Quijano in the White House monitoring developments there.

Hello Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Tony. That's right. And the Bush administration has certainly been trying to work to reverse some of those initial perceptions of a slow federal response. The president dispatching top officials to the region, in fact today, Vice President Dick Cheney, just a sort time ago, landed in Austin, Texas. As you mentioned, he is going to be visiting, not only with victims, but also getting a briefing from federal, state, and local officials. Now publicly aides here have said that over and over again they will not engage in a blame game when it comes to finding out what went wrong in the Katrina efforts, but Friday a sign that the president is not satisfied with the results, that is when Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that the embattled FEMA director, Michael Brown, was being pulled from the region and being sent back to Washington. His replacement, U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen.

Now, questions still persist of about how ready the U.S. government is to handle another disaster. Tomorrow, of course, marks the fourth anniversary of September 11 and some democrats are saying that the response to Katrina shows the U.S. is not safer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROEMER: We had our first post-911 test and we've miserably failed. We're not prepared for a disaster. We're not prepared for 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 VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, White House officials argue that the sheer magnitude of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it left in its wake covering more than some 90,000 miles is certainly presenting some enormous challenges, but with respect to the terrorism fight, dhorx believe that the U.S. is better off because they say that the government is now actively pursuing terrorists worldwide -- Tony.

HARRIS: Elaine, a quick question. How much of this decision to relocate Michael Brown belonged to the president and how much to Michael Chertoff?

QUIJANO: Well, it's an interesting question, Tony. What White House officials here are saying is that really that really the president said to Secretary Chertoff, "I trust you as head of Homeland Security and I'll support the decisions you make." And so essentially it was Secretary Chertoff, they say, who initiated the move, who told the president in a private meeting here at the White House on Wednesday that he wanted to make this change. Interestingly, on Thursday, when the vice president was in the region along with the secretary, Secretary Chertoff, the vice president heard an earful from federal, state, and local officials about Michael Brown. Criticism not only about how he had done in the immediate aftermath, but also concerns about how he might do with the current effort and future efforts. So, certainly, the vice president well aware of these criticisms and concerns and when Secretary Chertoff told the vice president the vice president basically said, "Do what you have to do and don't waste any time doing it."

HARRIS: Wow. Elaine Quijano at the White House for us. Elaine, thank you.

From the Gulf Coast tragedy we see undeniable proof of the power of the human spirit from the rubble of Gulfport, Mississippi, comes a story of heroism. Next, we'll talk to three men who risked their own lives to save a 5-year-old child.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Ophelia is back to hurricane strength. I'll have a complete look at the forecast. Stay tuned CNN as we take a look at the latest headlines and a look the weather coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Three employees from Gulfport's Veterans Administration are being hailed as heroes in the hurricane. The trio came across a 5-year-old boy during the height of the storm and all lived to tell about it.

Jack Myers, let me see if I can get this right here. Jack Myers, in the red shirt.

Hi Jack.

JACK MYERS, RESCUED YOUNG BOY: How are you doing today?

HARRIS: Good, and James Ware. James is in the maroon shirt.

JAMES WARE, RESCUED YOUNG BOY: How are you James?

All right. How are you?

HARRIS: OK, and Wayne Brown join us live from Biloxi, Mississippi, with their story about Justin.

First of all, Jack, let me ask you. What are you doing? Were you getting out of town? What day are we talking about? Was this Monday or Tuesday?

MYERS: This was Monday morning, I'd say, around 10:00, something like that.

HARRIS: Monday morning.

MYERS: I hardly can member.

HARRIS: Said, you can hardily remember.

All right, so the storm, Wayne, had made landfall and what? You were just getting out of town as quickly as you could?

MYERS: No. We went back across the railroad tracks just to see how the facility was and we were coming back and James hollered my name and then he reaches in this pile of rubble and drags out the baby. I'll let James take it from there.

HARRIS: Hey, James, tell us the story.

WARE: We were on our way back across the tracks (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to a more safer place than where we were and at this time I was walking on a pile and we had rubbish probably 3-1/2 feet high. I looked down and this little kid was sitting in between the lumber and wood and stuff that we had there. I reached down and picked him up. And I immediately picked him up and I called Jack and told him and they came back to help me there and the little boy was telling me that his mother and his brother were in this house over there and he wanted to go home. I told him we couldn't take him home, we'd take him over to the bottle plant (PH) where we could clean him up and everything and we'll try to get him home later.

HARRIS: And Jack, let me ask you. What were the conditions on the ground around you as you were making this rescue?

MYERS: Well, when the storm came through and condos and everything next door and the debris and stuff had washed through the V.A., all the engineering shops, so that's when we took him back across the street. And when we get over there, we found one alive so we got back over and started, you know, hollering and screaming to try to find more people alive.

HARRIS: Yeah. And Wayne, let me ask you, I mean, as this is going on what are you thinking? I know you trying to rescue folks but are you concerned about your own safety?

WAYNE BROWN, RESCUED YOUNG BOY: We went mostly, like I said, to look at our shops and all, and kind of check them out. Jack and I went over earlier just the two of us and we went back the second time James' car had been destroyed, so we went back with him to look at his car and that's when we found the young man. But, I wasn't afraid, really, you know, just watching out for the nails in the debris and so forth and just kind of worried about our compound, our place that we worked for many, many years.

HARRIS: Do you consider yourself a hero? We sure do. BROWN: No. No I don't. Just kind of, we were in the right place at the right time to help this young feller out.

HARRIS: And Jack, have you been able to find out whether or not a connection with the rest of his family, Justin's family, has been made?

MYERS: Yeah, I'll let Wayne take that. He went to the hospital, his wife works at a hospital. I'll let you go and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that.

BROWN: Right. He was taken to Memorial Hospital where my wife works and they ended up making the connection and his aunt heard about him being at Memorial Hospital on the TV and they came, at least -- yeah, his aunt came from Florida or somewhere and that's when they made a connection, found the mom and all of that stuff where they went back and got the baby, Justin.

HARRIS: Hey, James, what kind of shape was he in? I'm sure he had to be frightened and scared. What kind of shape did you find him in?

WARE: He was in excellent shape. He's one of the bravest little boys I had ever seen. He talked to us. He told us where he lived. He told us about he had his mother, his grandmother, his grandfather and a 9-year-old brother that was in the same house with them. Other than a few scratches on him, he was in pretty good shape for to have gone through what he went through.

HARRIS: Got a sense of -- whoever wants to take this -- you got a sense of satisfaction, do you have that of having stepped in and, you know, saved a little boy's life?

BROWN: Oh, yeah.

MYERS: Yeah.

WARE: We never thought about, you know, being heroes or anything like that. It was just -- we were just glad that we were in the place that we were at the time to save this little boy.

HARRIS: Well, right place, right time, that's for sure for little Justin. James, Wayne, Jack, you're heroes in our book. Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us.

BROWN: Thank you.

WARE: Thank you.

MYERS: Thank you.

HARRIS: We will never able to say that Hollywood turned its head to the Gulf Coast tragedy, that's for sure. The stars shined brightly last night. Highlights from a fundraiser seen around the world.

Plus, where is Ophelia? Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is tracking that hurricane. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

My name's Estelle Ogein (PH) and I'm with Child Protective Services and we're asking the public for their help in trying to locate the parents of Saquine (PH) Williams who's a little 18-month- old girl we have in foster care and then we have a little boy, maybe two or three years old. And we're calling him "David," but he's been with us since last Friday and we have no idea where their parents are. We know that they came to us from the Superdome, and we're hoping that the parents will contact us. We just want to let them know that their kids are OK, that they're with us, but they need to be back home with their families.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Hello and thanks for watching. We're coming to you live from Houston, Texas, where the Astrodome, one of the main shelters here, is located. You know, when people here about these survivors, and that's what they are, survivors of Hurricane Katrina it seems like everyone wants to help because so many people come out here, including, you know, Bill Cosby, Vanessa Williams, celebrities and common people all want to lend a hand. Well, last night celebrities came out in full force. CNN's Sibila Vargas has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight we call upon the soul spirit and the compassion of the American people.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): America's top entertainers came out to support Katrina relief efforts in a trio of high profile fundraisers. The Shelter from a Storm Concert simulcast on all six of the nation's broadcast networks and numerous cable outlooks, took a somber but hopeful tone.

Highlights include the surprising pairing of Mary Jane Blige and U2 and Louisiana-flavored songs from Foo Fighters and Paul Simon and a few songs with a very gospel-like feel, especially Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" with new lyrics.

KANYE WEST, SINGER: If I didn't know where my family was. If I had to lose my home, if I had to stay in the Superdome.

VARGAS: Like 2001's tribute to heroes 9/11 telethon, Hollywood's biggest names manned the phones as viewers were encouraged to make donations to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army. Queen Latifah and Steve Harvey hosted the SOS, Saving Ourselves telethon on Black Entertainment Television. It gave voice to the suffering of hurricane victims, many of whom were African American.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our telethon, these are our people. We got to hit these phones. We got to take care of our people. VARGAS: Political figures including Senator Barack Obama and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made taped appearances and former President Bill Clinton phoned in. While Patty Labelle and Jill Scott sang songs echoing the plight of Katrina's victims.

Tim McGraw kicked off CBS's Fashion Rocks which included performances by Destinies' Child.

Sibila Vargas, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And let's get the latest coordinates on Hurricane Ophelia. Upstairs to CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider.

Hi, Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: Hi Tony. Well, Ophelia is still a couple hundred miles away from the shoreline. And it's still moving to the north- northeast at about three miles an hour. That means it's moving away from the U.S. mainland. Unfortunately that's not the plan for Ophelia. This storm will come to an abrupt halt eventually. Sometime tonight, into the early morning of tomorrow, turn around and head back towards the coastline.

Now, because of this development we're expecting the National Hurricane Center in Miami to post a hurricane watch, meaning hurricane force conditions are expected within the next 36 hours from the Savannah River, which divides South Carolina and Georgia up to Cape Lookout which is in North Carolina.

So, that's where we're watching somewhere in the vicinity, actually, for landfall, eventually, sometime on Monday or Tuesday, but since the storm has not made its turn yet, the track still remains a little tricky.

Now, here's what we're expecting as we project into the future. You can see pretty wide cone of uncertainty as well. Possibly somewhere in the vicinity of Myrtle Beach, but again, a little early to say, but once this storm comes onshore and it's likely at this point, according to latest advisory, to come on as a Category one strength hurricane, it will weaken eventually to an area of low pressure.

This is not a situation like Katrina where the storm maintains itself as hurricane status too long once it's on land. Because it is coming in weaker we expect it to weaken. But, it's still going to be a powerful storm that will have damaging winds and very heavy rain. So, we'll be watching Ophelia very, very closely -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Bonnie, thank you.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

HARRIS: Many children have been separated from their parents because of Katrina. When we come back, we take you live to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Plus this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESIREE DUFRENE, 911 DISPATCHER: I hope their families understand that we tried.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Emergency operators on the phone when Katrina came ashore. We'll be right back.

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