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CNN Live Saturday

Discussions of the aftermath of Rita; Bill White discusses Rita; Press conference discussing Rita

Aired September 24, 2005 - 13:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is something only they can give us. When the mayor gets that recommendation, she'll have information to make a decision.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, has there been any problems with anybody breaking in or looting, or anything like that?

MAYOR LYDA ANN THOMAS, GALVESTON, TEXAS: Where's Dave?

STEVE LEBLANC, GALVESTON CITY MANAGER: No, at this point in time, we've not had any reports of break-ins and/or thefts at all. At this point in time, I think things seem to be very safe. I do want to assure the citizens as the mayor said, curfew is still in effect.

We have all of our entire police force with us on the island, 165, 170 officers who are out working and patrolling. Your homes are safe. We will do everything in our power to assure that, and the curfew is another tool to help make sure that that happens. So I know you can't come home, but we are protecting your homes as we speak.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Given what we saw on the way out, with these people getting trapped on the roadways, is there any consideration of maybe setting up a shelter for them, given there may be a couple days before they can get to their home.

LEBLANC: I would assume they're in a shelter at this point in time, so setting up another shelter is not something we've contemplated needing to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What if they have nowhere to go in the county, I guess is the question.

THOMAS: If they're in a shelter, we need to stay there. We don't have a shelter here. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last night, it was suggested that there would be difficulties even contemplating sending out emergency responses for any reason, but obviously that happened, and that happened here kind of at the heart of the storm. How difficult was it to make the decision to actually send guys out there?

THOMAS: Before Mr. Leblanc tells you, we've said all along we have one of the best fire departments and police departments certainly in the county and in my opinion beyond, and Mr. Leblanc can tell you, they were right there and ready to go. Steve, do you want to elaborate on that? LEBLANC: Let me explain. We did say, and our plan was absolutely to not send out our staff during the height of the storm. However, what we did do was, during the height of the storm, which turned out to be not that bad, the police chief and myself toured the entire island. We determined at that point that it was not that terribly unsafe for our staff to be out if they had to go, and just coincidentally when I arrived back here at the San Luis, the report that the fire was starting to go was announced to me.

We made a decision at that time, after conferring with the firemen that they felt like they could go out and handle the fire during the high winds, which was 75 to 85, 90-mile-an-hour winds, because it was important to protect the rest of the property that was out there and could -- as you saw, all the embers were flying and blowing. They felt they could handle the situation, and they did. They did a very good job.

On top of that, we called in mutual aid from all of our sister cities, Friendswood, Dickinson, Lamark and Houston and we received ten additional units and 37 firefighters, and they came immediately and assisted us. So we felt like we could handle it. The big concern was crossing the causeway with the high winds, there was a judgment factor done at that time, and they did do it and it turned out fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was there another fire last night as well somewhere out west? It looked on the horizon like there was something glowing there.

LEBLANC: No, not to my knowledge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only thing that was responded to just to be clear, is that fire or group of fires down on the strand area?

LEBLANC: That's correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Other than the woman that was burned, any other injuries reported?

LEBLANC: We did have two firefighters who were injured fighting the fire. One was an eye injury, I understand, and the other was a small burn on the arm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But nothing else during this time.

LEBLANC: Nothing else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to be incredibly proud of those guys to get out there. It was awful out there.

LEBLANC: They were insistent that they could go out, handle the strong winds and fight the fire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have first-responders gone around to all of the residents who have remained to check on them? And also how many ultimately ended up staying at the refuge of last resort. LEBLANC: I'll answer your second question first. There were about 93 or 95 people that stayed in our refuge of last resort last night. And your first question was?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have first-responders gone around to all of the residents who have remained to see if they've checked to see if there were any injuries --

LEBLANC: To the extent that they've been able -- I say all of them? I can't answer your question directly, but we have been out and about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One final question, as for the evacuation how smoothly and well it went do you think that you have learned anything --

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY: All right. We're going to go from Galveston not far away about sixty miles to Houston, Texas to Mayor Bill White, speaking to reporters.

MAYOR BILL WHITE, HOUSTON, TEXAS: People should heed the president's request of the people of Texas and the American people not to return to their homes, their residences unless it's in accordance with instructions from local officials.

It is critical that people that are coming to provide relief to the people who have been hardest-hit by Rita, people who are coming to get our power system up in order, people who are essential medical personnel, people who are necessary for the transportation and fueling sectors, the pharmacies, the people who provide food supplies be able to get back to the areas which were voluntary or involuntary evacuated.

Citizens who are throughout this state and within this viewing area who are in a place of shelter should not be getting in their cars and returning home right now. Judge and I and others up here have been out and about throughout this region since early hours this morning.

And there is water rising within the bayous. There's not any certainly that you'll be able to get gasoline on the way back, and it's dangerous for people to stall out on the way back. But most important, people need to hold back so those emergency supply providers can get in, in the major thoroughfares of this state, the major highways to the area where that help is most needed.

The judge and I are asking local employers not to require people to return to work except in essential functions that I've identified, for at least Monday and Tuesday. Right now, as we speak, the school superintendents are conferring and will make an announcement within the hour concerning school closures in the area. Nobody should be rushing to get somebody back to school on Monday.

No school district will be open at that time. The superintendents are discussing the date for school opening, the time for school opening, and there will be an announcement shortly. With that, I want to turn to Judge Eckels, and we have a report on various efforts made throughout the evening and we'll close with some damage assessments.

JUDGE ECKELS: Thank you, Mayor. Again reemphasizing the mayor's comments on coming back. We've talked this morning with many of the folks in the media and around the state about the minimal damage in the region, but that is not the entire story.

Today we are already hearing reports of I-10 starting to back up as people are trying to rush back into the city and the city is not necessarily ready do accept everyone back. We know in Baytown their water and sewer systems are out. Because of some fires in Baytown so there are still places in the city where the people need to be thinking about before they come back into Houston.

Once again we want to encourage folks to wait, wait until we get better announcements, wait until we can assure them we have power in the city. We talked earlier this morning about 600,000 people in Houston without electricity. But there are also a large number of traffic intersections without electricity, which would make the traffic worse as people come in.

We are still damage assessments going through the city; the appraisal district has been working on those issues. We know that last night we had in the unincorporated areas of the community, the mayor talked this morning about the incorporated areas, 176 responses with six fires and one building collapse on Jones Road, a large number of false alarms and service calls and over 100 EMS runs that we don't have all the details on yet.

We are trying to deploy forces from Houston into the Beaumont, Port Arthur and east Texas area through Jasper and we're trying to get gasoline trucks, diesel trucks into the city to be able to service and supply people who come to town. Once again, we are encouraging folks to not rush back to Houston, to take a little time and wait until we get a chance to fully assess the damage and for those folks to fully understand what they may be coming home to and get the power back on and some other issues in their homes. Mayor.

WHITE: There is no reason to return because of fear of the security of your property I visited police stations throughout the cities. There was some isolated incidents of misconduct, people were arrested, we've reviewed the property in the city, and our law enforcement, city, county, regionally is at a high level of alert, and people's property is being watched after, and you can be -- you can be assured there's vigilance and no tolerance in the community for people who would take advantage of an evacuation.

There are two reports, perhaps more than that, three, with metro, but we had committed to give a little report on the shelters at this morning's news conference, and Colonel Noriega, if you could give a brief report on what was done in the case of the shelters and their peak populations, the shelters that were stood up, where we stand now. We do not encourage citizens to go to shelter. If there is an emergency, if you have an emergency situation, then the emergency response mechanism is in place, 911. But we're encouraging people for shelter in place. Colonel Noriega.

COLONEL NORIEGA: I want to briefly address two things. One is the semantics that are being used and the effort in the incorporated area. Judge can address, as he had a similar parallel in the unincorporated. But in the incorporate rated area, over the past 24 hours some safe zones or bunkers if you will, were established west of the projected surge flood area for the purpose of when metro or other first responders cleared the -- cleared the roadways, that there was a place to take these persons for persons who were -- had special needs was a priority as well, as well as those persons that were still in zone a of the surge flood areas, and lastly walk-ins.

These were not set up, are not established as shelters for any period of time. The entire intent of these particular locations was merely to -- as a place of last resort for safety and security of those residents that found themselves outside of their homes, and that law enforcement and others identified. These locations, 11 of them, within the city limits at peak time last night reached a total population of a little over 5,000 residents, not just residents incidentally. In some locations, there are persons from Livingston, Galveston, and other parts of the surrounding area that were brought to these locations for a safe haven.

Currently the population of these safe zones is less than 1,000. Persons returned to their homes, and again these were for immediate response, they were not -- the provisions were only water and snacks, just to hold over for a 24-hour period. Currently those locations that are schools are coordinating with Red Cross to find out now after the landfall of the storm what will occur with those persons that cannot be moved and that coordination is occurring between HISD and Red Cross.

WHITE: Emergency convoys to provide relief from the most devastated areas, to get power back up, to provide needed medical supplies in those emergency areas, emergency convoys are en route, and I just have been handed a report and been requested that people keep off those routes that are used by emergency convoys. There are people blocking their way on Interstate-71 and 10.

You will not be helping your city and your fellow citizens if you don't heed our strong request about when you come back. Judge and I and others are asking -- have asked the state and federal leadership to provide traffic control beyond our jurisdictions.

We expect that they will be making decisions soon. I'm telling the citizens who can hear this broadcast and others that may relay it throughout this state. Do not come back until word is given by local authorities. There are occasional, some local authorities within the coastal plains who have said that their city is safe and secure.

That does not mean that you should return until word is given at the statewide level, people should heed the request, the statement made by the president of the United States just two hours ago, not to take their own initiative about coming back, but to wait word from local authorities for further damage assessment, tax assessor and collector Paul Bettencourt (ph). UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks Mayor. We've had early indications primary from the western side of the county, I would classify the damage as light. We have downed power lines, obviously downed trees in a variety of places, we have treed on homes. We have a roof caved in on the Big Lot Store on Jones Road.

We have our own subdivision on the east side of town, is flooded on the backside and the pumps are inoperative. On the eastern side we're just getting sketchy information in. Deer Park, some carports and other similar structures have been uprooted, ended up with a few houses down from where they belong, with wind damage. Much of the city remains without power.

Similar in the Memorial Heights area, the major damage area appears to be downtown in a four-block radius around J.P. Morgan Chase building, which is wind damage and collateral damage from glass being broken. We have dispatched an appraiser down there at this time. We also have a bridge closing at this point, officially closed, the bridge at Wood Forest between Sheldon and Deldale is closed, and that was in precinct two.

Commissioner Garcia's precinct. According to the district clerk Charles Bockery (ph), there will be no jury duty on Monday. Right now, they classify the damage on the western side of the county as light. I've driven it myself this morning. The damage starts inside of Highway 6, about a line at Holster to Guestner down south.

The power outages are concentrated mostly north from 290 and around 1960. At this time we don't have any other information except the public can help us out greatly if they would call 713-881-3100. That's the emergency management line here under Frank Gutierrez' direction. We have tax office people standing to take those damage assessments.

What we're going to do is plug this into an algorithm at the appraisal district. They're running on backup emergency generation right now, and we should be able to have some estimates later tonight or early in the morning. So the public would be encouraged to that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That number is ...

BETTENCOURT: Only for damage assessment for structures only, 713-881- 713-881-3100. And we also have an e-mail for print or electronic that I can give out after this. Thank you, Mayor, thank you, Judge.

WHITE: Mr. Bettencourt's report had a lot to do with outlying areas. I will tell you the power is down a lot in Houston, Texas and throughout the region as those of us have been traveling throughout the region. No we won't go through a detailed list, the most important thing for people to know is that it's not the right time to return unless you are in some of those essential -- have some of those essential jobs. Previously we had announced that it is urgent that people employed in med center institutions and other healthcare professionals, call in to report to their employers and receive some communication concerning the needs for them and their schedules. That's important.

There are other essential professional services, including the gasoline and diesel distribution systems that are essential to recovery of the community. Obviously those within the utilities are notified. Those within the public government are notified. And there will be other -- your assumption is that non-essential public services, you heard about the district court, municipal courts are going to be closed for at least Monday and Tuesday, but don't just take the initiative to return unless you're in one of those essential categories.

There will be announcements based on the ability of fuel and developments during the day. But people should not count on get metro services at the beginning of the week, wait for the announcements from the local authorities when to come back. Questions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) so obviously not everybody listening to you, the governor or the judge has to say. Short of saying (INAUDIBLE) how are you going to keep people from coming in, jamming the roads, and possibly running out of gas in the process?

WHITE: Well first, I have a lot of confidence in the good common sense of the people in this state and this region. If people haven't heard it clearly enough, they're hearing it right now, that you're endangering others if you do that. If you have a safe place to shelter.

Second, I mentioned that we have requested appropriate assistance in traffic control, but please by aware. The sheriff and Chief Hurt are right now conferring with counterparts at DPS. We still have issues to contend with in east Texas. This storm is not over. This storm is still continuing, so there are statewide resources that are stretched thin, but obviously we can't deploy sheriffs and HPD all the way to Dallas or Austin, and we've made this request of the state to assist with traffic control.

Yes, ma'am?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

WHITE: Yes, well, sure, as you all know the rainfall in this region and for that matter, you saw the same thing in New Orleans or any place struck by a hurricane, it takes a while for the water to drain downhill and into the bayou. I've been at Sims, Buffalo, Brays, Wide Oak, and many of the at tributaries to those, crossed them this morning, crossed them this afternoon. I'm going out when we conclude this conference, and they are higher than they were at 7:00 a.m. this morning.

So people shouldn't simply assume that when the eye of the storm made landfall, that the danger for flooding crests. Indeed the experience shows that the later than that. Thank goodness, even in some of those areas that experienced repetitive flooding in the northeast, in the southeast, in the southwest, along the White Oak watershed and northwest that I visited -- BLITZER: All right, the Mayor of Houston Bill White with a very, very strong appeal to all the residents of greater Houston metropolitan area, if you're safe right now, do not, do not come back. It's dangerous to come back, and they don't want congested traffic at this point when they're trying to repair the areas, a lot of power lines down.

The president of the United States has been getting a briefing at the Northern Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado. You're looking at live pictures of Air Force One, about to take the president and his entourage from Colorado to Austin, Texas, the state capitol.

He'll get a briefing there and move to San Antonio. Eventually the governor of Texas we're told Tony Parry will be going from Austin to Houston himself. Right now thought I want to go to Lake Charles, Louisiana, which has been very hard hit by hurricane Rita. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our senior medical correspondent is on the scene for us. You're picking up some important information, Sanjay, what is it?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Very similar to some of the information you're hearing from Houston. The mayor of Lake Charles right now about to get on and talk about taking the mandatory evacuation seems to have worked. He wants to take it a step further and put in a mandatory curfew now from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. a mandatory curfew is going to go into effect now for Lake Charles.

He also told me to help enforce that, he has asked General Honore to come to Lake Charles and he's expected to come in the next little bit of time the mayor has informed me. The mayor has been traveling around, and I've been traveling around with the mayor seeing some of the damage through his eyes for the first time. Lake Charles, a big lake, a couple blocks away from the hospital where I was embedded last night, that lake, you know, the weather, even though the storm has passed, a significant part of the storm, that lake continues to grow and it is starting to flood some of the surrounding streets.

That situation seems to be getting worse, even though the weather itself seems to have improved somewhat. So lots of conditions that they're still concerned about especially those downed power lines in combination with those floodwaters. The mayor very concerned about this, going to talk about this mandatory curfew here just shortly.

BLITZER: I suppose the mayor is also telling residents of Lake Charles Sanjay, this is not a good time to come back and check out your property. If you are away for Lake Charles as I suspect most of the residents were, just stay way for the time being.

GUPTA: Yes it was a pretty good evacuation according to him, about 95 percent of the residents of Lake Charles evacuated. There is no power here; there is very little way to get around. We were driving around and had a hard time. Roads we had just passed, 20 minutes later, those roads were flooded.

The situation is very fluid, very dynamic, still hard to get around, lots of trees down and again those power lines, they haven't been able to address that situation in its entirety by any means, and power lines mixing with rising water. Very dangerous situation, not just difficult to get around but becoming increasingly dangerous situation here.

BLITZER: That hospital where you were embedded last night, is it full? Is it empty? What's going on there?

GUPTA: It's growing in numbers. They tried to evacuate as many patients as possible. They had patients come in last night. They had one gentleman Wolf come in with a broken leg, and it needed to be operated on, but there was no orthopedic surgeon here, so in fact a neurosurgeon had to go ahead and operate on his leg. That's the reality of what happens to a hospital in a hurricane.

You have to do what you have to do. To get things done, they did that operation under emergency generation power. More patients coming in mainly with cuts and bruises, no catastrophic injuries yet, but the mayor is hoping that won't happen, stay out of the water especially with those power lines is his message today Wolf.

BLITZER: You are a neurosurgeon and you were not that neurosurgeon that did the surgery were you Sanjay?

GUPTA: I was not that neurosurgeon, all though the neurosurgeon here is someone that I know well, and he came to me and explained the situation and we actually conferred as colleagues about that, and he decided to go ahead and do that operation. Otherwise, the man who needed the operation may have been at risk of losing his leg. That's why this neurosurgeon performed an operation on the leg last night, again something that just need to be done, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Sanjay we'll check back with you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta our senior medical correspondent.

Let's head from Lake Charles back to Houston. The Mayor Bill White is answering reporters' questions.

WHITE: As of this morning, the first conference, 16 people have been arrested. There were HPD were vigilant and they were working in force throughout the night, and highly visible in the community. And witnessed by people in the community, so we were vigilant, and we don't see the situation that so many Americans have seen for decades in other major cities. And for this I want to say to you, congratulations. And if we could there were be individuals here available for comment following this. Next availability, Judge, 5:00? Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY: All right. You've been listening to the briefing there out of Houston. When we come back with our continuing coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, we want to go to Lake Charles where some winds are still kicking up there, and they are experiencing some flooding. Our Rick Sanchez is there and Jacqui Jeras will give us an update of what this storm as hurricane Rita is now going to do as a tropical storm. Rita over land. We will be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: On I-10, sandwiched between the cities of Houston, Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana sits the city of Lake Charles, Louisiana population 70,000. They've been experiencing some pretty significant winds still from Rita. Our correspondent Rick Sanchez is there along with photographer Mark Biello. And let's begin with you, Rick, what are you seeing?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the winds in fact are so strong, Fred, that I'm going to show you, I-10, you were just talking about. Go ahead, Chris, if you could, give her a shot. That's the bridge that crosses you into the city of Lake Charles and constitutionally goes over the area of the lake itself. It has been shut down.

The reason it's shut down is because of what you mentioned a moment ago. The winds are too strong. A vehicle already jackknifed up there when he was trying to get across last night. Even what seems to be down here tropical storm winds, up there you can get hurricane- force gusts. The real concern for folks here at Lake Charles and actually goes over the area of the lake itself, Lake Charles. It has been shot down and the reason is it is shut down is because of you mentioned a moment ago Fred.

And that is the wind, they are too strong. There was already a vehicle up there that jack knifed one large 18-wheeler when he was trying to get across last night. Police are figuring it is just to dangerous to let people go up that high, because when you get up that high even if what seems down here to be tropical storm winds that we are feeling right now. Up there you could get hurricane force gusts, so the wind is still whipping through here quiet strong.

But the real concern for folks here at Lake Charles is the water levels that continue to rise. Just in the time that we have been sitting here on the banks of Lake Charles as you get into this perimeter around I-10 off of Harrah's Casino, we've seen the water levels continue to rise. Now if they do so and some are saying it will be threat another four feet that will cause serious flooding in this town.

Let me show you what's been going on over the course of the last several hours, as the daylight has sprung up. I'm going to get out of your way and I'm going to let Chris show you some of the boats. We've counted 32 boats that last night before the storm came were moored or docked or anchored somewhere on this lake and have now ended up being pushed by the wind, literally ripped off their moorings, ripped off their anchor lines and are not crashed up against this jetty and dock next to the bridge.

All those boats are absolutely ruined, as you can see for yourself, and it's obviously a situation where perhaps many of the people that owned those boats didn't have the time to tie them down or simply underestimated the strength of this storm. The thing that we are going to be watching now is the water levels. Will they rise, and if they rise how much flooding will they cause here at Lake Charles? Fred back to you.

WHITFIELD: And Rick what about the proximity to some of the homes in relation to where you are positioned there on Lake Charles?

SANCHEZ: Sure, we've already checked on some of those areas. In the low-lying areas many of the homes are already flooded, but most of that flooding is what some residents call usual flooding. Something they usually see when they have big storms here. Of course, it's more severe than that, the big floods they're concerned about is the ones that would come over the lake that would actually get area around downtown and some of those larger homes in that area as well.

We are also being told that there are areas we haven't had a chance to check out south of town, where there may be severe flooding as well. We just haven't had a chance to get there. There's also a town west of here that I'm told not because of flooding, but because of the winds was structurally devastated. We are hoping to get there for our next shot and hoping to bring you some information from there Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rick, I know Chris is shooting for you right now, but you've also been accompanied by our photographer Mark Biello, who was able to bring us some equally extraordinary pictures a bit earlier of the lake. And Mark, if you're with us right now, I think you're on the line with us. Describe for me what you were able to watch, the evolution of the deterioration of winds and water conditions there along the lake?

MARK BIELLO, CNN PHOTOGRAPHER: Yeah, we are not too far from Rick's location at this time we're on the other side of the I-10 bridge. Basically the waves have not died down at all here. They're still sustained and continuing. The rain comes and goes in bands so we're not -- at this point we're not getting a lot of rain. These wind gusts and storm surge water is still rising and starting to come over onto the underpass road that we're standing right now.

A lot of the casinos that are along the river, most of their parking lots and first levels have been flooded, and there's some riverboats that are still tied up in front of these casinos. Those folks still in place at that time, however, the small merchant craft and personal boats of residents have broken loose and are pinned up against this railroad track as Rick has reported.

WHITFIELD: All right. Mark Biello photographer as well as correspondent Rick Sanchez, thanks so much for your reporting out of Lake Charles.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Pretty amazing pictures that we're getting. It is amazing that we are getting those live pictures from Lake Charles coming in, given the pretty bad weather that's unfolding right now. These pictures coming in live via videophone. Thanks to our team out there.

Let's get the latest forecast on this hurricane. Jacqui Jeras joining us from the CNN Hurricane Center. What is the latest Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well it's probably a tropical storm, actually right now Wolf. But we won't get the official numbers in from the National Hurricane Center until the top of the hour, but the 11:00 Eastern, 10:00 Central Time advisory had it was 75 miles per hour winds, that makes it a very weak category 1, almost a tropical storm as it is.

And it has been weakening since that time; it's tough to get some of the wind estimates, because a lot of the observing sites have been down. In the Lake Charles area, though, we're estimating they're probably still on occasions seeing winds sustained for a minute or two at tropical storm strength and certainly seeing gusts within that neighborhood.

The worst of the winds though kind of right around the center of the circulation, and that is well inland now, mainly roughly estimating, maybe a 100 miles north, about halfway up where Texas and Louisiana meet. Right around this neighborhood. There you see Shreveport, here's Nacogdoches, so it's in between those two areas, it is moving almost due north right now and expected to gently start to slide off to the east.

It is also going to be slowing down in forward speed unfortunately, and that's when we'll start to worry about the inland flooding. There have been a number the tornado warnings issued with some of these squall lines that have been pushing through parts of Louisiana, also into Mississippi, and then we've got another little feeder band over here into Alabama, even into the Pan handle's of Florida.

Some storms are going to be heading into Mobile area shortly, so we're seeing in updates on our tornado watches. So that threat is going to be ongoing throughout the day for today.

Here is the forecast track, there's that northerly track and then just kind of drifting off to the east. And this is really when it is going to be slowing down. We have some uncertainty, because there are a number of different things going on in the atmosphere here, that either is going to hopefully pick it up after three to five days. Otherwise it's going to sit here we think.

That's where the real heavy rainfall threat is going to be, expecting on average to see 8 to 12 inches within the tight path of the storm, but some isolated amounts could get much heavier than that, in fact even as much as a foot to two feet of rain is going to be possible.

This is our computer animation forecast, and these purple areas where we're expecting five inches plus of rainfall, and then we'll see 3 to 5 in some of these orange areas right there, so that is going to be our big focus now that the storm is weakening, we'll going to worry about the inland flooding. I just want to tell people ahead of time start thinking out there; you don't drive through any water when you can't tell how deep it is.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Excellent advice from Jacqui Jeras. Jacqui thank you very much.

Hundreds of active-duty soldiers are being sent to Louisiana to aid in search and rescue efforts right now, and as a precautionary move mortuary teams are being redirected from New Orleans to Ft. Sam Houston that is in San Antonio, Texas. President Bush is also heading to San Antonio later today. We saw Air Force One leaving Colorado Springs just a little while ago. Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre all ready at ft. Sam Houston, he is getting the latest from the U.S. Military, which as we know is doing a very important job right now. What's the latest Jamie?

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, at this point commanders here are still trying to get a handle on exactly the amount of damage that they're dealing with. They have a tremendous number of assets propositioned and predeployed.

We're told that some search and rescue helicopters are actually in the air, but generally the high winds are keeping some of the helicopters at bay. In fact General Bob Clark, Lt. General Clark who is that head of joint task force Rita hoping to take a firsthand inspection tour of the damage, hasn't been able to do that yet, again because of the winds over the areas that have most of the effect.

There are truckloads of supplies that have been pre-positioned. There are almost 200 helicopters you could count those on ships at sea, including the USS Iwo Jima and some of the support ships that will be moving in behind the hurricane, at this point they really trying to get a real firm handle on the assessment. They have these joint task force Rita assessment teams going in.

General Clark has been on the phone and videoconferences all day with the Pentagon, with President Bush, who has you said will be here a bit later today, and also his counter part General Honore in Louisiana, in order to coordinate the response.

But at this point, they feel like they've made all the preparations, that they've mobilized all the assets they think will need to support local and state governments, but they don't have a good handle yet on just how big the problem will be. They're hoping for the best, they think they've prepared for the worst. Wolf.

BLITZER: So Lt. General Clark is Lt. General Russel Honore, his counterpart, how do they divide up their responsibilities?

MCINTYRE: Well on a map, theoretically, because General Clark is the commanding general of the 5th army, he would take from Texas over and General Honore would take over Louisiana but in practicality that may not be the best way to divide things, so one of the things they were today was really sorting out who it made sense to take responsibility for which areas. It might not be right along the state line, so it looks some of Louisiana may also fall under General Clark, but again that's the kind of coordination they've been working on this morning. They're trying to make sure that nobody accuses of U.S. military of being flat-footed in responding to the needs of the local and state government, who still remain the first-responders, though this big debate is going on whether the military should play a larger role in the initial stages.

BLITZER: All right. Jamie thank you very much. Jamie McIntyre our senior Pentagon correspondent on the scene for us. Fred.

WHITFIELD: Now, out of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Mayor Randy Roach is on the telephone with us now. Mr. Mayor thanks so much for being with us. You're implementing a dusk to dawn curfew, is that an indication of how many people are still in the Lake Charles area?

MAYOR RANDY ROACH, LAKE CHARLES, LA: Well, we don't think we have that many people in the area, but we are concerned that whoever may have stayed in the area would be at risk, and certainly that would hamper our rescue efforts that we have already implemented this morning. And as we speak we have members of our public works department, our police department, and fire department working together as teams to go through neighborhoods to canvass areas.

We're still getting the effects of the storm and still have been a storm surge come through, but we've identified areas that we feel that our employees can move through, and they're certainly anxious to get out there and help, so that is what we are doing now. But we need that curfew in effect so we make sure that effort will continue and that we focus on people first.

WHITFIELD: What are some of the your greatest concerns if you were not to implement the curfew and the few folks who have decided to stay, what kind of behaviors are you anticipating that you also fear?

ROACH: It's not so much that we fear it's just that it complicates things. If you have people out on the streets, virtually all of the power in the city has been -- not devastated, but been put out of commission, so we can't really control traffic, we can't control intersections, and to have people out on the streets or driving from place to place, or whatever they would be doing, would complicate and put their safety at risk, and would certainly complicate the efforts of our rescue personnel.

WHITFIELD: Mr. Mayor, you have invited General Russel Honore, who's in charge of the military relief and response effort to the hurricane to come to your city. Is he going to fulfill your request? And if so, what will be the capacity that he is going to be fulfilling?

ROACH: Well, already one of the generals from -- I don't know if it's Louisiana National Guard or army reserve, I'm not sure, I just met one of the generals, General Fritz here just a few minutes ago, so he's already on the ground and already working with the office of emergency preparedness on plans and a systematic way to respond. I believe that General Honore is coming in to see how he can assist with the resources that he has but again I'd like to emphasize to those who may be listening or who are from this area. That we are fortunate to an extent that we have not had the catastrophic damage that some people associate with, as far as Gulfport or that area. We've had extensive wind damage and some very serious flooding in some areas of the city where people are not accustomed to seeing, but we don't have the catastrophic damage, we have extensive power outage, extensive what we call and some pretty substantial, severe wind damage, but not the catastrophic situation that perhaps many people associate with when they look at the Gulfport, Waveland, Mississippi areas.

WHITFIELD: All right. Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach, thank you very much. Continued best luck on the aftermath recovery efforts of Rita.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Let's go right to Fred to Austin, Texas, Steve McCraw of the Texas Homeland Security Department is speaking to reporters.

STEVE MCCRAW, TEXAS HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT: We've been working on it for the last 24 hours in terms of getting fuel back into these locations, but we're confident as the gridlock occurs, it will slow down the process in terms of getting these tankers into the area, and we may not experience not just gridlock but also people running out of gas and having to leave their vehicles on the side of the road. I think that's it. I have to get back. I appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

BLITZER: All right. Steve McCraw, he is with the Texas Homeland Security Department, echoing what we heard from the mayor of Houston just a little while ago, Bill White and other local and state authorities, this is not a good time to go back home.

You might be watching this program, you might be watching other news programs suggesting that the damage to Houston and Galveston, other areas have not -- the damage has not been as severe as many have feared, but still authorities don't want you rushing getting on the highways, getting on the expressways, because that could complicate the relief and recovery efforts.

We're just getting this in, official word as anticipated, that hurricane Rita is now tropical storm Rita, as it moves inland, it certainly is weakening, but don't be under the impression that it's over by any means. This still is a tropical storm and it is a slow- moving tropical storm. Jacqui Jeras of the CNN Hurricane Center is joining us. Explain to our viewers, Jacqui what this means, downgraded from a hurricane category 1 to a tropical storm.

JERAS: Well there's not a whole heck of a lot of difference actually. Winds were 75 miles per the last advisory, they're down to 65 miles per hour, but it is significantly weaker, and will continue to weaken throughout the day for today, the damage not nearly as extensive as the tropical storm, but those winds still extend out about 140 miles from the center of the storm, so that's 280 miles across, so still breezy conditions, enough to cause maybe some larger tree limbs to come down, potentially cause some power outages, it is going to throw around your lawn furniture a little bit, and garbage cans, things that aren't anchored down that you may have outside.

It's continuing to push on up to the north. It will continue to move in a northerly direction, we think, and then it will start to slow down, and that's when we're really going to be focusing on some of this inland flooding. As it continues to weaken that means that storm surge we've been seeing in the Lake Charles area and all across the coast of Louisiana, that's going to start to subside now, so the stronger the winds, the higher the surge is, now that's weakening, that surge should continue to go down maybe three to six feet for the next cupping of hours and drop down later on for tonight. Wolf.

BLITZER: So what about people who live further inland, like at Shreveport, Louisiana for example and even further north, Little Rock, Arkansas what should they be bracing for?

JERAS: Well they should be bracing for gusty winds. Shreveport needs to worry about it more than you do in Little Rock. Also both of those cities need to worry about potential very heavy rain over the next as many as five days from now. We're expecting general amounts to be somewhere between 5 and 15 inches. I know that's a big range, but when you get into some of these feeder bands and heavier storms as they move through, one spot could get five, and another as much as 15 inches. We're looking at the possibility of a few locales of getting between one and two feet of rain overall.

BLITZER: Jacqui Jeras thanks for that information.

Just to recap, hurricane Rita now tropical storm Rita as it moves inland. is moving inland now. We're going to go back to Galveston when we come back and get an update on what is going on in that barrier island.

Also at the top of the hour, we're expecting to hear from the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco. We'll bring her remarks to you live. Much more of our special coverage after this.

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WHITFIELD: Rita now over land and downgraded to a tropical storm with sustained winds of about 65 miles per hour. Still, it may pose a significant threat to the areas along the border of Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, but for now, Galveston, Texas, is almost breathing a sigh of relief. At first they were in the bull's-eye zone. It appears they avoided the brunt of the storm as a hurricane.

Our Sean Callebs is there. We have heard a little bit earlier. Sean some of the assessments from the mayor there saying a bit of damage, still they don't want people to make their way back, because that would pose a significant threat to the folks who were trying to assess the damage there.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Without question, Fredricka. That's really the big news at this point. This is an island of some 60,000 people. They saw what happened in the New Orleans area, they saw Rita churning off the coast here in the Gulf of Mexico, and a huge percentage of people, the mayor says something like 95 percent of the people heeded the mandatory evacuation.

Police officers say it could have been much higher than that. Regardless, it's still basically a ghost town right now, in fact it is a very breezy, almost balmy day here right now on new Barrier island. I know that authorities are still out trying to get a damage assessment. Last night at the height of the storm, a restaurant on 23rd street, an area called the Strand, some shops lost, some things of that nature. Basically just collapsed. There are pictures of bricks all over the area. That is just some of the damage.

A major concern here, still 75 percent of this island is without electricity at this hour, and there are downed power lines virtually all over the place. That's a big concern. That's one of the reasons that authorities don't want anybody to come back to this island. In fact they are stopping anybody from returning to this island, only essential personnel, emergency officials as well as those who work for the power company, the gas company, are going to be allowed back in for the foreseeable future.

The mayor said it would probably be at least Tuesday before government offices began operating fully. At the height of the storm last night, a scary situation for firefighters. They were rushed to 19th Street near the bayside area, two structures fully engulfed, and a third suffered significantly damage. Two of those of those were just destroyed. Authorities are trying to determine exactly what caused this fire.

They talked about a woman who lived over the top of a bail bonds building, she suffered burns over 20 percent of her body, there's some speculation it could have been sparked by a cigarette, smoking, something of that nature, but it's still a little to premature for fire officials to do any serious forensic work at this time.

No one knows when the power is going to be returned. It may be frustrating for a lot of these people who left the island to get around, but it will be some time before they're allowed back in. But is going to be sometime before the people are allowed back in. The mayor says they're doing that for the citizens' safety, and also so the city can get up and operating and again it cleaned up. Still, you're right, Fredricka, this island breathing a sigh of relief. This is the one that skirted them, not the one that hit them head on.

WHITFIELD: Thankfully. All right. Sawn Callebs thanks so much.

BLITZER: Of course, the concern is for all the people displaced by Rita, but there are those who can't speak for themselves. As we saw in the aftermath of Katrina, many pets were left behind.

WHITFIELD: Yes that is a tough choice that a lot of folks have to make. "American Morning" anchor Miles O'Brien was in Lumberton, Texas earlier today speaking with anchor Soledad O'BRIEN. When he and his producer, Dana Garrett found a dog, scared and shaking, but now safe. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: This was an outbuilding, a storage facility. In this building were some dogs that had to be saved or evacuated, and I think there is a dog in here. Dana Garrett is our producer. She is going to help me out here. Oh there is a puppy in there. Come here, sweetie. This building came down around him. Fortunately he was in this kennel.

Let's get him out of here. Oh, he's all wet. Here we go. There he is, there you go. Don't let him go. He's OK, just scared and wet. This is one of the kinds of scenes that you see. You remember the scenes in New Orleans, he's scared, but I think he's OK. That kennel actually saved him, because there was a big hunk of a stud on top of him, then all this conduit. We might have a mascot here, Soledad, but this is all part of the assessing. He's shaking, poor guy.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He looks OK. But hey Miles, give us the shot of the dog again. Why would the put a dog in an outbuilding during a hurricane?

M. O'BRIEN: Well, that's a very good question. I'm going to ask the chief that later, but I think they just didn't have a place to put them. These were people who evacuated, they couldn't evacuate with their animals, put them in a kennel inside the building. Some of them must have gotten out. I don't know what happened, but this one got left behind. He's going to be OK, he is just a sweetie, and I think it's a case where, you know, they couldn't have anticipated this whole building coming down. You know, it's not the sturdiest but nevertheless.

S. O'BRIEN: Did you see evidence of other animals there? I mean is he the only one or is there -- or could there be other dogs?

M. O'BRIEN: It is interesting. See there is a kennel here, look at this one over here; it looks like the cage got bent. I think he probably got out, I wonder if he's loose. I don't know what happened with this one. I'll bet that one was empty. I think they were able to get some of the dogs out actually is what happened. After it went down and I think he might have been overlooked in the darkness, in the rain. Because he wasn't making a lot of noise. But I -- after we say good bye, I'm going to go double check through here to make sure there is not another one in here.

S. O'BRIEN: How did you know he was in there? Could you hear him? Was he yelping?

M. O'BRIEN: I saw him, he was ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I walked over here and I heard him yelping and crying and I couldn't believe that there was still a pet here. And so I saw him just shaking and went inside to the police and I said you know is there anybody that can come out and save this dog and they said you know - the guy at the phone said I'm the only one here. There is nothing I can do. So I came and got you.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Well we will take care of the dog. I promise you that. One way or another, I'm sure that somebody knows who he belongs to and we will make sure that the dog gets back to his rightful owners. Because I'm sure they will be coming back before to long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So glad to have a happy ending of that pet rescued.

BLITZER: Good work Dana and Miles. They saved that little dog. They can bring that dog to Washington. They say you want a good friend, get a dog.

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