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CNN Live Saturday

The Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina

Aired September 10, 2005 - 14:30   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR, CNN LIVE SATURDAY: Well, Texas is just one of the states -- one of the many states that are 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.
And now a story, perhaps, even more astounding. It's about a New Orleans resident named Johnny Parker, who not only saved himself from the deadly floodwaters, but 15 immediate family members, and he also helped rescue three other entire families. He's a real-life hero and he joins us right now in Atlanta today.

Good to see you.

JOHNNY PARKER, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: How you doing?

WHITFIELD: It's been an incredible past couple of weeks for you, beginning with the decision that you and your family made to stay in New Orleans, even though there was a mandatory evacuation order in place. Why is it that your family decided to stay?

PARKER: It was my mother, she stays in the St. Bernard Housing Project. And she didn't want to leave. And I didn't want to leave her there. Not just that but there was a lot of people that stayed in the St. Bernard Housing Project, low-income families. They don't have enough money to really get out and evacuate like most other families. They have to get out, and they don't know -- some of them live paycheck-to-paycheck. They don't know if they are going to get out, if they don't know if they're going to come back or how they're going to come back.

WHITFIELD: So, in essence it really wasn't a choice? You really had no other options but to stay. You did, however, make the decision to stay at your mother's in the projects, because you thought this brick building is going to be the safest place to be, since it already had, over time, survived Hurricane Betsy, nearly 30 years ago, more than 30 years ago. Tell me about that decision.

PARKER: Yeah, that was one of the reasons because a lot of people come and stay there, by being a brick house -- you know, brick apartments. Everybody comes there. And they had more than just my family. Other families come in there, too, the thought that was the safest place to come and try to get over this tragedy.

WHITFIELD: So, then, Johnny, the storm passes, the waters rise. What comes to mind? What are some of the things you choose to do to try to help everybody out?

PARKER: Have to come up with some type of evacuation plan to get out these projects.

WHITFIELD: What was it?

PARKER: That was to try to steal a boat, do whatever we can to get out. Once one person see that person stealing a boat to get their families out everybody thinking of the same idea. Had to come up with some type of plan.

WHITFIELD: So, out of desperation, you saw a boat, decided this is going to be the way to help folks out. You brought the boat, and then tell me how you were able to make the trips back and forth with this boat to get folks out of the water and to safety.

PARKER: Swimming, tied a rope around my waist and swam with some of them. Had some of the -- first evacuated the women and children first, to higher ground which was the 610 Interstate bridge. That's where everybody was locating. We found out that was the location where everybody was going to higher ground.

First I had to swim like two to three miles to try to find a boat. As I said, as I was on my way looking for a boat, I almost got killed, somebody threatened to shoot me.

WHITFIELD: Tell me about that. So here you are, you're getting this boat to help rescue others, and then somebody else who was also desperate in the waters, but this person told you that he couldn't swim, and so he threatened you with your life, that he wanted to take the boat.

PARKER: Right. It was a chance I was taking. I didn't know if the guy was really going to shoot me, after I get him in the boat and get him to safer ground or if he was going to let me free after I did. So that was the chance I had to take. I was thinking about my family, so I had to take a chance by getting him the boat and get him to safer ground.

WHITFIELD: At this point you had already rescued the majority of the people then with the boat?

PARKER: No, this is before I came back with the boat.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. So then how did you get everybody else to safety?

PARKER: I had to go back and swim in the dangerous waters again and try to find some other type of boat in someone's yard or somewhere to get my family out.

WHITFIELD: And that worked?

PARKER: Yes, ma'am.

WHITFIELD: All of your family members then got out. You know, the lasting legacy here of the journey, besides the fact that you got your family here to safety, now you have a pretty infected foot here. You walked here with crutches. Tell me about what you're dealing with here and how that is as a result of the infectious contaminated water.

PARKER: That's from me swimming in the water trying to save my family. And I got here, my feet were swollen up on me. And I went to the doctor. They told me it was infected and gave me some antibiotics and gave me shots and everything.

WHITFIELD: Everyone now is in the general area here in Georgia, or have people been scattered about or separated into different places of shelter?

PARKER: Yeah, the family is scattered around Shreveport, Florida, Washington. I also have some in Franklin, some in Louisiana, Baton Rouge.

WHITFIELD: Because people were air lifted to different locations?

PARKER: Yeah. Because I sort of believe they weren't doing it right. They didn't do the right type of actions, taking action in getting everybody, like as far as family wise, together and --

WHITFIELD: To stay together?

PARKER: Stay together. And then -- they were separating them as they come. They were taking some families, children, and leaving the other ones behind. That's why a lot of kids got misplaced. They should have had another type of plan to come up with to make sure everybody was with their families, instead of have them all scattered out like they were.

WHITFIELD: And we have a phone number that we want to share with everyone. Because perhaps there are some family members who are watching you, who want to get a hold of you. Let's put that phone number up now.

What's the number? All right. We'll have to get that number. I think we have a communication problem here. You know, as to the number to contact you.

Now, there are people who are in the New Orleans area now who don't want to leave. Given what you've been through, do you understand why there are some holdouts who don't want to be removed, even by force, if it comes to that? Or do you feel like, it's of their best interests to leave?

PARKER: No, it's not that. I truly believe this, that the people that's there left in New Orleans, they have property, own property, and they've been owning property for years and they're afraid that if they leave and they'll come over and tear everything down and make over New Orleans and they're going move their property.

Some people have been in their family, it's been (ph) passed on down the line, you know, each one of them and they're firmly believe if they leave they're going to lose their property.

WHITFIELD: And then there are some who are choosing to stay because they have pets. You had a dog, throughout all of this. Have you been reunited with your dog? And what's happened?

PARKER: Yeah, they found my dog at the SPCA in Texas. And he's being airborne as we speak right now, my family, and daughter and my wife and my son are on their way to the airport right now to pick him up. They're so excited.

WHITFIELD: That is fantastic. There we go. There's the number for Johnny, for any of your friends or family members who have been separated from you during the storm, that's the number to call, 770- 745-2297.

Johnny Parker, thanks so much. And continued best wishes to you and your family in being reunited and taking care of that infection there on your leg.

PARKER: You're welcome. I'd like to give all praise and glory to God, because if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be where we are today.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, said. Thanks so much.

PARKER: You're welcome. Thank you.

ZAIN VERJEE, NEWS ANCHOR, CNN LIVE SATURDAY: Well, Hurricane Katrina has left hundreds of thousands of people without jobs, so where can these people turn for help? We're going to get some answers about that just ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERJEE: Hurricane Katrina has forced thousands of people out of work. The Congressional Budget Office says the storm could cost the U.S. more than 400,000 jobs and shave as much as a full percent off the nation's economic growth.

There is some debate over exactly how the job market and economy in general will weather the storm. Joining us now in Chicago is John Challenger, the CEO of international outplacement consulting firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Thanks for joining us.

JOHN CHALLENGER, CEO, CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS: Nice to be here, Zain.

VERJEE: People just don't want handouts, they want jobs. What's a person in a situation today who's lost their job because of what's happened in the Gulf region, what do they do?

CHALLENGER: Well, many of these people right now are migrating out to nearby regions to get some temporary employment, to get back to work, to get, you know, on the payroll. But most want to get back to New Orleans to help in the effort to make sure their property is still there, to participate in the rebuilding of this city.

VERJEE: There's been an outpouring of help from people. You know, the Louisiana Education Department, for example, is taking out ads to give teachers opportunities to go back to the classroom. There are job fairs being planned, postings at FEMA centers. But is there one place that people who need a job can go to?

CHALLENGER: Well, there's really not yet. And that's one of the keys going forward, as we move away from just the emergency relief efforts to the next stage of rebuilding this city. We have 400,000 potential workers here in this city, who can come back in, and be retrained and go to building bridges and roads and providing health care services and sanitation support and building the oil patch. We've got to get these people back to work. And there needs to be created a central site to do that, and a central administration.

VERJEE: But in the interim, between now and when they can go back, what do they do?

CHALLENGER: Well, many, you know, have got to find jobs outside the area if they want to stay on the payroll.

VERJEE: How?

CHALLENGER: That means often going to where family members live in places you've been before, getting out to some of the nearby areas, Houston, in Texas, up to Atlanta we've seen people going. Go to churches, talk with people in those communities and trade associations you've been in, as a way of getting to where the jobs are.

VERJEE: Should people go online?

CHALLENGER: Well, online is a good way. You're not going to find that certainly in New Orleans with the power out. But there are going to be places online to go. The problem is, it's so dispersed right now. You know, there are dozens of places, sites offering jobs, but there's no central site that the Department of Labor is going to have to create a central place, where all employers can list jobs, and they can get to the resumes of these people who are out of work.

VERJEE: The labor secretary, Elaine Chao, has in fact approved funding to create, I think something like 47,000 temporary jobs for workers, who have been involved in cleanup efforts and recovery efforts. What more do you think that the government needs to do, that you've not mentioned?

CHALLENGER: Well, we think they ought to create a WPA-like program. We saw that back in the Depression during the Roosevelt administration. We have a Depression here; 400,000 to 600,000 people unemployed, two-thirds unemployed is Depression.

In that program, people were paid by the government to go back in and rebuild the city, or their areas where they live. We can do that here. But the money's going to have to be funded into this program. Not just in terms of giving people relief, but paying for the jobs they do. VERJEE: How will Katrina hurt the overall job market? And the economy of this country?

CHALLENGER: Well, it looks like the country's going to weather this storm. We are seeing some of the skilled people move out to other areas. They're going to be needed back in New Orleans as things turn around. It looks as though energy prices are moderating. Interest rates probably aren't going to go up that much. So in general terms, I think this economy is going to weather the storm. We're in a very strong place in the economy. It's not going to knock us into recession.

VERJEE: John Challenger, the CEO of the international outplacement consulting firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, speaking to us in Chicago. Thank you.

CHALLENGER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: In the evacuations of hundreds of thousands of people, many families got separated. Ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY, we'll show you efforts to reunite parents with children in the aftermath of Katrina.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Tough images to see, no matter how many times you look at them.

One of the biggest concerns in the aftermath of Katrina is the number of missing children. Hundreds, if not thousands, have been separated from their families. CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia. Kathleen?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, here it's volunteers from law enforcement agencies around the country that have taken on what some would call a mission impossible. But they are making progress.

The count now is roughly 831 children who are missing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, separated from their family, separated from everyone and everything they know and love. But they've been able to reconnect 366. And that number grows every day.

And again, as I said, if we could pan around the room, these are volunteers, men and women who work for the FBI, for the DEA, for the Secret Service, law enforcement agencies around the country. And they're specially trained to deal with families in crises, as so many are right now, Fredricka. But they're making amazing progress.

WHITFIELD: That is awfully encouraging. You said 366 that they've reunited of 1,500 that are in their databases, right?

KOCH: Exactly. They're making wonderful progress. And Fredricka, what they are doing is in a way, when I was still down reporting on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, what we were trying to do, but on a very small scale. Because people were calling us, e-mailing us, we were trying to reconnect family, friends, even complete strangers with their loved ones who are missing.

But to do that, what we had to do was go back to the town Bay St. Louis, where I grew up to see what, and who, was left.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH (on camera): Mom, I'm getting ready to go over to the bay, OK?

High school is there. Whew!

Is this the main shelter here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's one of the main shelters.

KOCH: I never thought I would see the day when my high school was a shelter. But this is the perfect place. A perfect thing to turn into a shelter. The building is standing.

This is my high school. This is incredible. Are they bringing you food and water?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just brought a little water. Somebody had some gas they were going to go all the way down to Wal-Mart Saving Center and get us some.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was climbing from rooftop to rooftop, it was around 30 feet high.

KOCH: Jesus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just horrifying. I mean, I've never gone through anything like this in my entire life.

KOCH: So if go to South Beach Boulevard, I'm not going to find my house?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't think so.

KOCH: You all stay safe. Oh, it's hard.

It's hard to even recognize this place. There was a road here. You can see, it goes into the sand, and then just disappears. That's the beach road. If you follow it on around, you'll get to downtown Bay St. Louis where we had our ice cream parlor that my family ran when I was in school. You'll get to downtown Bay St. Louis.

Ya'll seen any Krugesons (ph), Trutells (ph) or Van Schultz (ph)? No? OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Sorry.

KOCH: Trutell (ph), Van Schultz (ph)? Ogdens, Kotsegans (ph)? No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know Van Schultz.

KOCH: Have you seen them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen them.

KOCH: Hallelujah! Oh, my god!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our homes are destroyed, but we're OK. We're alive. Our whole family's alive. Do you still have any family here?

KOCH: My brother's in Ocean Springs. But he and his wife, and their four kids, she works at Keesler Air Force Base. And she's head of the ICU unit. So they took them all there, but I haven't been able to see them because the phones don't work. I think they're all locked in there and they won't let anyone in or out.

Our ice cream parlor is over here. Let's see if I can get to it. This was the Sunshine Ice Cream Parlor. There's just nothing left here.

I was going to say, this is the house on South Beach Boulevard where I lived. But it's not a house anymore. This was the living room over here. My brother's room. My brother's room was back here. A place we grew up. We had so many wonderful years. It's gone.

I'm going to bring a brick back for each member of the family, seven. OK, one for each, bricks and memories. Good memories.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: And I think anyone who has survived this horrible hurricane the devastation on the U.S. Gulf Coast will agree with me that those though the loss property and homes is the difficult, the hardest is the irreplaceable loss of lives.

One of the people who I was looking for, one of our neighbors, was found dead in the rubble of their home Tuesday. So those who survived, who at least have their lives left are the most fortunate, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Kathleen, how courageous that was of you to go back to Bay St. Louis and kind of relive those memories, and see a lot of it in rubble now.

Now that you're back in the Washington, D.C. area, how are you able to communicate with some of those friends that you were able to see there while you were touring the area?

KOCH: Well, as anyone knows that's been down there, communication is very, very difficult right now. I am reaching some friends by cell phones. Some even have satellite phones. E-mail is getting through occasionally. I'm still helping work with some of my friends who are trying now, most of them have found their family members. We only have the one unfortunate loss up to this point.

But I'm helping them make decisions about, is it safe to leave their family members there who survived. Should they try to get them out of the area, because life there on the Gulf Coast is going to be very difficult for months to come.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kathleen Koch, thanks so much. And also now trying to get the word out to help reunite children with their parents there at the Center for Missing & Exploited Children there in Alexandria, Virginia. We saw the web site people can go to if they have information. Thanks so much, Kathleen.

VERJEE: Well, rescue efforts are continuing in New Orleans. Although, officially the focus is on body recovery. Teams are going house-to-house, doing grid-by-grid searches, searching for any bodies, as well as anyone who may be alive still.

Allen Carter is with the St. Bernard Fire Department in New Orleans. He joins us now to tell us about the first time that someone has actually been able to enter the St. Bernard Parish.

Thank you for being with us. What have you soon?

ALLEN CARTER, DIST. CHIEF, ST. BERNARD FIRE DEPT.: What do we see? Havoc. They've got boats on the roads, boats in the trees, cars under houses, houses on top of houses. It's just a mess down here.

VERJEE: Are you searching for anyone who is alive there? Give us a sense of how your teams are operating.

CARTER: Well, we are -- we have the marine amphibious units down here. We had to cross water and climb on the land because the bridge is out. And right now, we're looking for anybody who's alive down here.

VERJEE: How are you going to do that given all the challenges and the obstacles that you're confronted with right now?

CARTER: Well, we're driving these units on the road as far as we can go, and once we can't go no further, we've got infantry that's going door-to-door and marking the houses that they search, and wherever they find somebody, we bring them back up to the front end of the parish.

VERJEE: Have you been able to find anyone yet, or have you just got there and you're starting to look?

CARTER: We just got here about a half hour ago. And we just started to search right now. I'm not in contact with the other two units, but the one that I'm with, we haven't found nobody yet.

VERJEE: Can you describe the area specifically that you're in? Which are some of the first houses that you're looking at, or through? Anything that is potentially identifying?

CARTER: Well, it's kind of hard. I've been down here my whole life, and I know most of the people in this area, because I'm from this area. But you have a hard time even realizing where the houses were, because all they are now is bricks laying on the ground. For the most part, the houses are gone.

VERJEE: How many people per team?

CARTER: Say again?

VERJEE: How many of you each comprise of a team?

CARTER: Probably about 30.

VERJEE: How long do you anticipate you'll stay here for?

CARTER: I'll be here for the duration because I live down here. But we'll be searching this area probably until about 3:00 this evening. And if we don't complete it, we'll be back in the morning.

VERJEE: Are you worried about the water, the toxic levels of the water?

CARTER: Well, down in this end of the parish, we are outside the levee district, so the water is out because the tide is out. Normally, where the houses are, the water generally doesn't come up this high. So it's pretty much clean water down here, because the tide's been regulating down here.

VERJEE: Are you equipped with emergency supplies? Not only for yourselves, but should you find anyone alive, do you have food and water?

CARTER: Yes, ma'am, we have medics onboard, and we have food, water all the supplies we need. The military's taking care of that part.

VERJEE: Are you directly in contact with the military while you're there?

CARTER: Yes, ma'am. I have some drivers -- I'm a guide for the military because I live down here. And I'm looking at some of them right now.

VERJEE: This is an area you said you grew up in. How hard is it to see what you're seeing now? What are you thinking?

CARTER: Well, I mean, it's like I was telling those sailors, I've been down here for 48 years. And mostly the people that I know, I don't even know where they're at today. I can't get in touch with them. Our phone lines are down. The 504 area code, it don't even work no more. So the only people that I have any contact with is the people that are calling from outside the 504 area. And that's not many.

VERJEE: Allen Carter with the St. Bernard Fire Department in New Orleans, the first time anyone's been into the area that he's just stepped into -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And in a few moments, about an hour's drive, on a good day, outside of that area, we're expecting a briefing coming from FEMA out of Baton Rouge. We'll be bringing that to you live when it happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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