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CNN Live Saturday
Hurricane Rita
Aired September 24, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY: These are live pictures we're getting in from Lake Charles, Louisiana, right now. You can see the aftermath of hurricane Rita still powerful. It's a tropical storm right now, but it's packing a powerful punch. Flooding is a big problem. This hour, state and federal officials trying, often by boat, to reach the stranded.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN SATURDAY: New video just in to CNN. The first look at the damage caused by Rita along the Texas Gulf Coast. From the CNN Center I'm Carol Lin.
BLITZER: And I'm Wolf Blitzer. Also here at the CNN Center. Welcome back to our continuing special coverage of Rita and its aftermath. We'll get to that.
First, though, here is the latest damage assessment from Rita. Water continues to rise in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Hundreds of federal troops are being sent to the city and Mayor Andy Roach is requesting the presence of U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore. The storm is slowing down, which doesn't body well for cities and towns further inland, including Little Rock, Arkansas.
LIN: Now Rita brought fire in addition to the rain. This fire in Galveston, Texas. Two fires were reported also in Houston, Texas. And in Baytown, Texas a fire at the water treatment plant have cut the drinking water supply. Overall damage is significant but not as catastrophic as feared.
BLITZER: Officials caution evacuees not to go back to their homes at least not yet. But traffic now is building on a number of major roads heading toward the region. Authorities are warning that the crisis is not yet over and they're appealing to people to stay where they are to await official word to return.
Here, the president of the United States is returning to his home state of Texas, just getting off Air Force One. He's in Austin, Texas right now, having spent the morning at the U.S. Military's Northern Command. CNN correspondent Elaine Quijano is on the scene for us. Elaine update our viewers on what the president is up to.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well the president here, Wolf, will be meeting with officials at this Texas state emergency operation center. Now, of course, President Bush has been criticized for the federal response to hurricane Katrina. And the president very mindful of that, wanting to show that this time, with hurricane Rita, he's on top of things, that he is actively engaged in leading the federal government's response. That is why we are seeing him here in Texas today, why we saw him earlier in Colorado.
He was at the U.S. Headquarters for U.S. Northern Command. It was there; the president got a firsthand look at some of the operations, as the military leading the response efforts from that end. The president also getting some detailed information, he said he spoke with Lt. General Russel Honore about the situation in Lake Charles. The president saying that teams were on the grounded to analyze the situation and also to decide what they needed to position there in response to the president, trying to show, trying to demonstrate that he is firmly in control. Of course, that criticism from Katrina still very fresh in the administration's mind. Wolf.
BLITZER: The president's itinerary after Austin is he still planning on heading over to San Antonio?
QUIJANO: That is the schedule right now, Wolf. Of course, as you know, it was yesterday that the president was originally supposed to be in San Antonio, Texas. It was there that he was to have met with some of the teams, the first responders, but at the last moment White House spokesman Scott McClelland said that the trip was canceled, because some of the first responders, many of them that the president was to have met with were going to be pre-positioned closer to the track of the actual storm itself.
White house spokesman Scott McClelland saying they did not want to slow down those efforts. At the same time, earlier in the day, the president was asked whether or not in fact his visit to Texas ahead of the storm might be getting in the way of some of the preparations. The president said firmly at that time, that he would not get in the way. And then we heard late yesterday afternoon, the president instead skipping San Antonio all together and moving directly to Colorado Springs to the headquarters of U.S. North Com.
BLITZER: So that's the president's motorcade, whisking him and his entourage away from the airport in Austin, Texas. They'll be meeting with the governor, other state leaders and local leaders, going to get a full briefing on what has happened as a result of hurricane Rita now tropical storm Rita.
Elaine Quijano thanks very much.
Carol.
LIN: Well he is going to see. The waters are still rising in parts of Louisiana. Lake Charles, for example, right now, where a mandatory curfew is going to go into effect tonight. Our Rick Sanchez has been traveling in a very special SUV, equipped with satellite equipment on hurricane one. Rick what is the situation right now in Lake Charles?
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a situation that (INAUDIBLE). Right over there (INAUDIBLE)
LIN: Hey, Rick. We're going to get back to you as soon as we can. I know it's difficult conditions out there right now. It's difficult to hear what you're saying. But the situation in Lake Charles right now is that the water is still rising. There may be damage to Interstate 10, crossing over that waterway, but nobody can actually check to see what the damage may be because the winds are still blowing severely. We'll check back with Rick Sanchez.
BLITZER: Carol those are live pictures that we're seeing. Look at the water in that Lake Charles area, the Louisiana area. That's in the western part of the state. We've been seeing that now for some time. It doesn't appear to be easing up at all.
LIN: Not at all.
BLITZER: All right we will get back to Rick Sanchez. He is on the scene for us. Sanjay Gupta is there as well. We will get back to Lake Charles. Very, very severely hit area of Louisiana.
The number one priority in Vermilion Parish in Louisiana is rescuing people who are trapped in their homes. Emergency workers are being inundated with calls from people who didn't evacuate as Rita approached. One serious problem, rescue crews are following up on false reports from people who say loved ones are trapped when in fact they are trying to confirm that they actually got out. Hurricane Rita wreaked far less damage then feared among much of the Texas vulnerable coast. CNN's Rob Marciano rode out the storm in Beaumont, that is an oil-refining town about 30 miles from where Rita stormed ashore. He filed this report a short time ago.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still getting some wind and rain here in Beaumont, Texas. But the big storm obviously came in last night with wind gusts over 100 miles an hour. There is some wind damage but the big storm surge that we feared did not materialize. Because the storm came in mostly on the Louisiana side of the border. Storm surge was expected from the Naches River that is right behind me, it flows through Beaumont here. And if the storm came into the west of Beaumont then we would have had a 20-foot storm surge over my head would have flooded the entire downtown.
What did they do to prepare for that? They put the emergency vehicles on a navy cargo ship. When they finally unloaded all those vehicles and they are out to return some calls that were made throughout the night and through this morning. Some injures reported yes, a few fires as well. The damage has been limited mostly to trees downed, power lines downed.
There have been some structures that have been damaged, poorly made structures damaged. A gas station pretty much torn apart, ripped some flags, American flags ripped apart as well. And one telling sign, a funeral home damage. The clock outside the funeral home stopped at five minutes to 3:00 in the morning, right about when hurricane Rita came roaring onshore. That's the latest from Beaumont, Texas. I'm Rob Marciano, CNN.
LIN: Now at least Rita is losing much of its punt. So lets see where the storm is right now. Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras standing by right now in the Hurricane Center. Jacqui what's the word? Where is Rita? JAQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well Rita is just off to the west of Shreveport, Louisiana now, right near the state line here between Texas and Louisiana. Still a tropical storm at this time. Now this was downgraded an hour ago with maximum winds now at 65 miles per hour. A far cry from the 120 mile per hour winds it had as a category 3 making landfall, 2:30 local time just to the east of Sabine Pass, right near the state border here between Texas and Louisiana as it came on ashore.
We're expecting additional weakening throughout the day today. But there are still a number of threats that we're going to have to deal with. Inland flooding is our primary concern across the Arklatex Region; 10 to 24 inches of rain will be possible over the next several days. The threat of tornadoes willing ongoing across much of Louisiana and Mississippi. And still having to deal with the storm surge. Particularly across the Louisiana coast four to six feet above the average tide. That will be subsiding very slowly through out the day for today.
It is moving up to the north, very steadily, about 12 miles per hour. It will start to curve around to the east a bit. And that's when it will start to slow down very significantly. And that's why we're expecting such a threat of rainfall in this area. There you can see the position here on Sunday morning, Monday morning, then Tuesday morning into parts of Mississippi. Some of the models have it kind of looping around in this area for a number of days. But there's a huge storm system that's across the upper Midwest right now. And we're hoping that's going to pick up the storm and drive it to the north and east, maybe 24 to 48 hours from now. So we're hoping it will get in that flow.
Tornado watches in effect across much of Louisiana, extending up into central parts of Arkansas, much of Mississippi. And you can you see kind of clipping the Mobile/Pensacola areas as the temperatures heat up this afternoon. We'll watch for the increased tornado threat. Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Jacqui Jeras. We will get back with you.
New Orleans was spared the brunt of the storm. But water once again is pouring into the city. Lets go straight to CNN's Mary Snow she is on the scene for us with more. Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we are at the scene right now of one of two places where water overtopped a temporary levee. We'll pan over. And if you can see the space, this gave way yesterday when water started moving in. And this puddle was not here, if you can see beyond that, there's a parking lot. We're told that was filled with water, it just came pouring in. And what crews are doing right now, they're working to shore up this area so they can build a road so to speak to the levee. This is the industrial canal levee. There were two spots where water overtopped. These crews are expected to be working round the clock.
Now, the other part of the levee where water overtopped is one that we've been seeing since yesterday. That's where water has been pouring into the lower Ninth Ward. Water has been as much as eight feet high. That's an area that was absolutely devastated by Katrina. About an hour ago, military choppers started taking off. And what they are doing is dropping those huge sandbags, trying to shore up that part of the levee that had been breached and trying to reinforce it. Once they're able to do that, they'll be able to pump the water out. This is a situation that's being monitored very closely by the Army Corps of Engineers. They are saying that yesterday, flooding and the developments yesterday of these levees has set them back about two to three weeks. This, as they had just pumped out all that water. So these crews here expected to be working round the clock. Wolf.
BLITZER: A quick question, Mary. These are areas that were severely flooded the first time around; these are not new flooded areas.
SNOW: That is correct. These are areas that were flooded the first time around. We did hear from the Army Corps of Engineers that there was one area that had been flooded by Hurricane Rita that, had not been flooded by Katrina. The extent of that flooding was not quite -- they weren't quite sure of how extensive it was. But they did report there was one area that had seen flooding that had not three weeks ago.
BLITZER: Mary Snow reporting from New Orleans. Mary thank you very much. Carol.
LIN: All Right Wolf. Right now in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Federal Emergency Management Agency briefing about to get under way. Also, we're are going to be hearing from Louisiana's Governor Kathleen Blanco as they give the situation on the ground as it stands right now. Let's listen in.
DON JACKSON, FEMA: Also, with us today, I would like to introduce them now, General William Grizolli, deputy director of the U.S Army's Katrina Task Force. And he'll be available for questions. General Landruno who is the general for the Louisiana National Guard. General Landruno will also be available for questions. Secretary Landruno who is secretary of the Wildlife and Fisheries for the state of Louisiana. Colonel Henry Whitehouse, head of the Louisiana State Police is with us today. Whitehorse, I'm sorry. Whitehorn, my mistake. Sorry Colonel. And he's got a gun. Uh-huh.
Colonel Jeff Smith, deputy director of Emergency Preparedness with the Louisiana office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. Following statements by the governor and Admiral Allen and Mr. Kerr, we will take your questions. And now I would like to introduce Governor Blanco.
GOVERNOR KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: Good afternoon. All through the night and early this morning we've been monitoring the situation in southwest Louisiana as well as in the New Orleans region. Reports are still coming in from the field. We have been struck with another very strong hurricane, and south Louisiana has been dealt a harsh blow. In fact, all of Louisiana has been dealt a harsh blow. Southwest Louisiana has certainly been assaulted by hurricane Rita. Southeast Louisiana is taking on water, 41 of 64 parishes have lost electrical power, and 700,000 people have no power. As I speak, lead forces of task force Rita are beginning to move into the storm area. Our forces are responding with boats and heavy equipment. Air support will fly when the winds die down. General Landruno and Colonel Whitehorn and Secretary Landruno are here to answer your questions about their operations if you have any.
Our efforts to keep a communications network up have paid off. We are getting reports and requests for help from all regions of the primary -- especially the high impact areas, where we have been very concerned and knew that those communications' networks would be put in jeopardy. As a matter of fact, I talked to Mayor Randy Roach of Lake Charles. He asks that citizens do not plan to return to Lake Charles for at least 48 hours. They need two days to get the situation under control. They have structural damage, he reports. There are trees blocking streets all over the city. Water is rising and the winds are still strong. He says, please do not make plans to return for at least 48 hours. And stay posted; listen for further reports as to when it would be considered safe and appropriate to return to that area.
Cameron Parish, our reports tell us, has five feet of water from Gibbstown Bridge to the coast. Vermilion Bay is rising. And there are rising waters in Iberia Parish, in Vermilion (ph) Parish and Saint Mary Parish. We've already seen what the edges of this storm did to New Orleans proper. And to southeast Louisiana. I've been monitoring the situation regarding the levees in and around that particular area. In St. Bernard, Jefferson and Terrebaun parishes, we're very concerned about the strength of the levees. Based on what I heard today, I'm very concerned about what the storm surge is doing and what the high tide, which is coinciding with this storm is doing to our levee situation.
While we continue to monitor the situation, we're watching the Harvey Canal and, again, the levees in Terrebaun Parish seem to be jeopardized. We're concerned about rising water. And we want everyone who lives in that area to be making arrangements to be on high alert, to pay a lot of attention to what's going on and not put yourselves in jeopardy.
While we were very well prepared, we thought, for Rita, we did keep a lot of personnel and equipment in the Katrina-stricken areas. We have a lot of people who can help with rescue efforts. Hopefully to try to stabilize the situation. Now, in the last event we had a lot of citizen rescuers. I'm urging citizen rescuers to be very careful about launching boats before the winds die down. It's very dangerous to do that. And you need to be very careful because you will be one that has to be rescued if indeed you go out too quickly. Rita has compounded Louisiana pain and we're hurting from the west side to the east side and parts in between.
Rita's significant destruction reaches from Lake Charles but it also goes into north Louisiana. It's all along our western and central Gulf Coast. She setback the work of repairing New Orleans undoubtedly. But we're beginning to regroup, we'll re-gather our forces and we will focus once again on rebuilding. Rita has complicated our situation, but I would ask that the response to Rita not be further complicated. I think we need to keep things as simple as possible. So I'm asking that we combine the response effort to both storms into one effort. And I mean that administratively.
We must have a unified recovery effort, one that will restore and repair the entire Louisiana coast from Calcasieu to Orleans to St. Tammany. In order to simplify this administrative process I've mentioned to Admiral Allen, that we'd like to treat hurricane Rita's response and hurricane Katrina's response as one event. It would just save us on a bureaucratic nightmare that could come about if trying to parse what happened in what event. Especially in southeast Louisiana.
Katrina destroyed communities and scattered 1.3 million of our people across the state and the nation. And Rita has added to that total. We are just beginning to assess the damage to the communities in the southwest. We know there will be more long-term evacuees. So this situation has compounded our need for quicker action. Even more families today are wondering what their plight will be. Restoring our coast means caring for our people. Now, that is going to be our first and most important mandate.
We must meet their immediate needs of housing and connecting them to all available benefits like education, child care, transportation and health care. We have a more urgent need for quicker housing solutions than before. We need to help our people rebuild lives, restore communities and train them for the jobs that will be demanded. We want to help those who are out of state come home. We have to be comprehensive and focused and our efforts have to be clear and coordinated. We have tremendous offers of aid and the number of programs that are presenting themselves are staggering. We'll be organizing ourselves into a unit that will effectively address all of this.
Our people will need help cutting red tape. Now each family needs help navigating the maze of organizations offering assistance. We do have FEMA and other federal agencies. There are state agencies. There are private foundations. There are national and international organizations that are there to help. But sometimes there are so many different ways of getting help, it becomes confusing. So the one thing we're trying to do now is establish a network that alleviates this confusion. Louisiana citizens are rightly frustrated and concerned. So I want our people to know that I am creating the family recovery corps, the corps will provide a cadre of Louisiana workers trained to know what benefits are available and how families can access those benefits.
We're going to have people trained to help our families who are from the impacted areas of both Rita and Katrina. They will connect benefits to families and families from all walks of life, no matter where you are, whether you're in a shelter, staying with in-laws, renting in another state, staying with friends, staying with family. It doesn't matter. There is help for everyone. We will get everyone this help. Our family liaisons will work to cut the red tape. They will navigate the various bureaucracies. They will provide our families with the benefits need and deserve. Hopefully we'll do that more quickly and efficiently than we know -- than the situation we've been dealing with. Two days ago Rita approached. As Rita approached, I wrote to President Bush and I asked him to give me help to create the family recovery corps.
This unified group of Louisianians will help unify Louisiana families to their needs, no matter where they are and no matter what their walk in life. I've asked them to make all hurricane relief funds and programs available to our families through the recovery corps. This innovative plan will not be easy. Nothing has been easy in dealing with the hurricane events. It will certainly not be inexpensive but it will help focus on our recovery efforts. The damage Rita leaves behind makes approving this plan even more pressing. And I will urge President Bush, again, to speed its approval. I think that he will welcome this idea.
We are all working together as a team. We just need to make our teamwork efficiently for our people. Our people are the ones that are now suffering even more. And we're going to try to make sense out of them. Sense out of this for them. God bless you all. Thank you.
REAR ADM. THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD: Good afternoon. Throughout the night and into the morning, a combined federal effort between the federal resources that work under the principle federal officer and the DOD forces under General Honore have put out a united front. Getting out at first light to begin to assess damage, moving to the areas that were affected by hurricane Rita and make preparations to assist those in need. General Honore forward deployed to Lafayette Louisiana with forces of the 82nd Airborne with him and the National Guard. They are moving at this point into the impacted areas, primarily in Cameron and Calcasieu and are assessing what needs to be done.
At the same time, we reserved forces back in New Orleans for the issues we were dealing with there with the overtopping of the levees. General Grosolli (ph) is here and can comment on that later. We have conducted a hasty search through the flooded areas of New Orleans. It's the same type of search we did after the initial flooding to look for people that might be on rooftops or in need of help. It doesn't look like there's a significant population remaining in the flooded areas, but nonetheless, we are taking a good look at New Orleans to make sure there's nobody that needs help.
In the last 24 hours, we had one person come forward and voluntary offer to leave the city. We're aware of no other evacuees at this time. At first light this morning, six coast guard helicopters capable of flying in the weather that was out there got airborne to do airborne surveillance of the levee system in and around New Orleans and fly down the coast to make sure there were no issues related to the waterways or anything that might need search and rescue support out there. Those assessments continue throughout the morning, I've consulted with General Honore. He and I were both part of a briefing from the U.S. Northern Command for the president this morning.
I've consulted with Rear Admiral Larry Harreth. Who is the PFO that has been designated for the response to hurricane Rita in Texas? I've also talked with Admiral Bob Duncan the district commander this morning. We are unified in our approach. The assessments are coming in. And as we identify where we need to have search and rescue assets, we are deploying those assets. Over 400 urban search and rescue first responders have been deployed and are moving out as needed in shallow boats and other high-water vehicles that are needed to get into those communities.
We will continue to do that as soon as weather permits. And we don't drive units away from operational response. I will make an assessment of the coast line myself to make sure that I have a firsthand view of what's going on. We have a coordinated search and rescue plan between JTF Katrina and JTF Rita regarding off shore support. There have been search and rescue grids set up. We are combing efforts.
In regards to (INAUDIBLE) efforts inside of Louisiana at the direction of Secretary Chertoff and the president, I have been designated as the federal coordinator for both hurricane Rita and hurricane Katrina within the state of Louisiana, thereby, unifying the federal portion of the response in Louisiana and unifying the effort in relation to the state, federal and local authorities.
We will continue to leap forward. We have a lot of troops out there. I can tell you that General Honore and I are joined at the hip, as are our forces. We'll be glad to answer questions when we're done. Thank you.
LIN: All right. You've been hearing the latest federal and local response out of the state of Louisiana. A briefing out of Baton Rouge. Where we just heard from Rear Admiral Thad Allen who is talking about the air reconnaissance of the New Orleans area as they take a look at the damage to the levees and also to see whether there's anybody still stuck in homes.
Kathleen Blanco, the governor of Louisiana also putting forth a plan to offer up a family recovery course, which she's talking about, help for families to try to cut through the red tape to rebuild because of hurricane Rita. The rebuilding process in New Orleans alone could be three weeks delayed. So a lot of work still needs to be done. The governor asking for patience, as we take a look at the pictures throughout that briefing on your screen. The latest pictures along the Gulf Coast. Wolf, this is not over yet.
BLITZER: By no means is it over yet. But it could have been according to all these officials, federal officials, state officials, local officials, a whole lot worse. We're continuing to get the impact. We're standing by, by the way, to hear from the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin. He's expected to have a briefing momentarily. We'll bring that to you live as well. As you know, New Orleans suffering a second round of flooding, this time as a result of hurricane Rita. There are lots of concerns as well about the state of America's oil refineries following Rita's landfall. We'll get an update on what that means. The state of the oil refineries and the possible impact on our pocketbooks. All that coming up as our special coverage continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LIN: Welcome back to our special coverage. There is a positive sign for Port Arthur, Texas. Many worried that the levee system would be no match for Rita, but today there is word that the levees there held. But many streets in the heart of town are still under several feet of water. Our John King, right now, on the telephone in Port Arthur.
John, what are you looking at?
JOHN KING CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, I call it a bittersweet day, I guess. You're absolutely right. At this time yesterday, the mayor evacuated, police department evacuated, and the fire department evacuated. They were afraid at that point that the storm was coming straight at them and they were worried if that the storm surge would create such pressure on the lake and the canal that the water would rush over, much as it happened in New Orleans. We were out at the levee late last night just before the hurricane came in to check it out and we made it back through the street flooding today, we could find it out there in a little round about way to be able to get out there. But, the levee held, the water was not that high and so there is isolated flooding in the city, pretty substantial, mostly three to four feet in some areas. In a few homes we found waist deep water, seven feet in one low-lying underpass, but it was all caused by the storm surge and heavy rain.
The levee did not give in. No batter rushed in. So, there is significant debris, roofs ripped off buildings, fronts ripped off store fronts, power lines down, a post office we as, destroyed, the power is out. A lot of people have no running water or telephone. There's still a significant challenge facing the city of Port Arthur. But based on the experience of Katrina they actually think in the long run, despite the pain, they're about to go through, and are going through already, they came out it better than many thought they would just 24 hours ago, Carol.
LIN: You bet. All right, John King on the phone from Port Arthur. Right now -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Carol. A big concern for people across the nation today, the condition of coastal oil refineries, energy, officials say, most of them escaped major damage. Does that mean motorists around the country will not see a Rita-induced spike in gas prices? Let's check that out. CNN's Ali Velshi standing by in New York -- Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Wolf, we've been talking to a lot of people this morning, let's just clarify, it is actually too early to tell whether there's any damage, but because the anticipation had been that Rita would be a stronger storm, there is speculation that the -- many of the refineries are safe. Now, we knew there were 15 refineries shut down in anticipation of Rita. Only seven appear to have been in the actual path and we're going to show you, there's sort of a cluster of them around there. Port Arthur as some of them, it's got. Motiva's 773,000 barrel a day, Motiva, Valero, Total Petrochemicals. Beaumont nearby has about 400,000 barrels a day. West Lake has a ConocoPhillips refinery. Lake Charles, which is in some danger because of all the flooding there, refineries don't operate well with flooding.
But, we have heard the companies that they don't know. They haven't been into those places. But what's interesting Wolf, is that tomorrow, there will be an unusual session of New York mercantile trading of oil. Oil will trade on Sunday earlier than normal and one analyst we're just spoken to says that's going to be the thing to look for. Those are the pipelines that have been affected by Katrina. One of them, the Colonial that goes from Texas to the northeast is in fact reported to be safe, no damage there.
If the price of oil, and that's what the last year, the price of oil has looked like, if the price of oil, natural gas and gasoline stabilizes in trading tomorrow, the analysts we spoke to says it's the end of worries for consumers, at least for the time being -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And that's the operative phrase, at least for the time being.
VELSHI: Yeah.
BLITZER: Ali, thank you very much. We'll be checking back with you -- Carol.
LIN: Any moment we're going to be hearing from the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, the latest in a news conference. And also you're going to get the latest on the situation in Houston, Texas. Houston was spared the worst of Rita, but the governor of Texas is begging, pleading for people not to come back just yet to give authorities 48 hours. Right now, let's hear from the latest from the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin as he gets ready to address reporters.
RAY NAGIN, MAYOR OF NEW ORLEANS: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the press. We're here for an update of the status of the city of New Orleans as it relates to the aftermath of two hurricanes, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.
I'll touch on Rita first. I flew over the city about two hours ago in a helicopter and then went down and personally inspected the lower ninth ward area. As most of you know, the lower ninth ward was the area that was most affected with this event, this water that ranges anywhere from four to 12 feet. I did see some structures where the water was as high as their roof, which is similar to Katrina.
The Industrial Canal, we flew over that, inspected it. There's still water seeping through and flowing into the lower ninth ward. The flooding seems to be contained, if you will, in the lower ninth ward area and we're not seeing it of significant area in any other part of the city.
I viewed all the breaches as it relates to the 17th Street Canal, the London Avenue Canal and others and they all seem to be holding up fairly well. The 17th Street Canal, the waters are at levels which are not concerning, as well as the London Avenue Canal. So, that seems to be holding out.
Most parts of the city are relatively dry with the exception of what looks like rain water, which ranges anywhere from 12 to 18 inches, maybe as high as 24 inches in some very sparse areas. And that's primarily due to rain water. As most of you know, the Army Corps of Engineers put some sheets at the 17th Street Canal and at the London Canal. Those sheets of protection are still in place. They basically protected us from any lakes surge as it relates to the storm. The sheets are designed from the Army Corps can be removed in six to eight hours, once the lake subsides and the corps and myself are monitoring that and we'll let you guys know exactly what's going on.
my way back from visiting the lower ninth ward, I was listening to the radio and there was a bit of information -- misinformation that was out there and I just want to make sure that everybody and the public understands clearly. There was a councilman in Lakeview, basically saying that the pumps work and that all the city had to do was to restart them. But let me just clarify for the public, with the sheets in place, they are basically blocking the London Avenue Canal and the 17th Street Canals and any pumping that would be done in those areas would go into those particular canals. So, there's no place to pump them right now. And the Corps of Engineer and I, we made the decision that it was more important to protect against storm surge than to really protect as much against the rain that was coming and we felt with a six-to-eight hour window that removing the sheets, that we could remove them very quickly and not cause any major flooding.
So, I just want to emphasize to everyone, especially governmental leaders, please, please, do not, you know, send information out to the public unless you are fully armed with the facts. It's very counterproductive and those statements tend to create panic. We have enough rumors that we deal with on a daily basis. And we'd really appreciate it if everyone would be fully briefed before they start making public statements. We have daily briefings in Baton Rouge, also here, we have situation reports that we release on a daily basis. So everyone has access to accurate information and we would hope that they would abide by that and be fully armored before they make any statements.
What's next, ladies and gentlemen? Now that the storm is past us, we're still monitoring levee systems very closely. They're still not as strong as we'd like them to be, but they seem to be holding up and as soon as the water starts to subside, we should feel much better.
As it relates to re-entry, which I'm sure you'll give me questions on in a minute, we still are looking to start our re-entry process. We wanted to monitor the levees over the next couple of days to make sure that everything goes according to plan, that the sheets are removed and the pumping stations start up again. We also have had discussions with Entergy, the local energy company, and Dan Packer is here, he'll give you an update. And the water situation, Marcia Saint Martin has briefed me on the water situation and the sewer situation. We seem to be on schedule. We are just delayed maybe three to five days as far as what we had originally thought we would do.
We had thought that the sewer system was impacted as it relates to this storm, because there is a pumping station that is near the flooding areas in the lower ninth. But Marcia is telling me that that station is OK and we should be able to be OK as it relates to our sewer system.
So, it's my intentions, if everything goes well today and tomorrow, to re-energize the reentry plan that we had in place, starting as early as Monday and maybe as late as Tuesday with just Algiers and the business community. We will do that, stop, assess, make sure that everything is going smoothly before we start to repopulate in other areas in the targeted zip codes we outlined previously. And we will hopefully go in the same order we had previously. And so with this, I'll stop and I'll let Mr. Dan Packer give you an update on exactly where the electricity stands.
DAN PACKER, ENTERGY: Good afternoon. Thought I might give an overall update on Rita. When it comes to our total service territory, which includes 80 percent of Louisiana, about 50 percent of Mississippi, part of Texas and almost all of Arkansas. As of now, if you include the 200 or so thousand customers that are out in the south -- east Louisiana, including New Orleans, we have a total of about 800,000 that are out right now. That includes most of our Texas territory and west of -- the western part of Louisiana. We still don't have a total assessment yet because the winds are still high. We haven't been able to get out and take a look. Rita did have an effect inside Orleans Parish in Algiers, we're out right now about 13,000 customers. Which is minimal compared to where we were and we think we'll get them back pretty quick.
Uptown, we have some oak trees that caused us some problems in those places that we are had re-energized, including the Claiborne Street Station for fresh water, big oak tree took down several poles. We'll have that back up within the hour and we'll still be having our -- we'll still be on track for getting our fresh water back.
We still have, for us, the biggest thing is making sure that we continue the restoration effort. I know many of you know that Entergy New Orleans, which is the subsidiary -- which is the New Orleans subsidiary of Entergy Corp filed bankruptcy -- a bankruptcy petition yesterday with the Eastern Court of Louisiana which is a New Orleans court that's now domiciled in Baton Rouge and petitions will be heard sometime Monday...
LIN: Saying that the levees are holding around New Orleans. That they're going to be monitoring the situation over the next couple of days. Parts of New Orleans did flood, but for the most part, things looked pretty good. The wet areas appear to be just rain water that is starting to recede. He did say, though, Mayor Ray Nagin, that the plan is to start, once they assess the situation thoroughly, that the plan may be to start having people come back to the Algiers neighborhood as soon as Monday or Tuesday. And that once those people are back, that they can assess the situation, see how it's going, see whether power can be fully restored around the city.
Very interesting though because this runs contrary to what the federal government is trying to do. The federal government wants to hold off on people coming back, thinking that it may complicate the rebuilding process. There's simply not enough reliable power and water running through the city of New Orleans.
Now, coming up, the situation is still very serious in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The waters are still rising there. We've been showing you the latest pictures from our special camera. On scene right now, we're going to hear from a woman who is weathering out the storm, a serious situation for this woman, when we come back.
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LIN: All right. Right now we want to get the latest on what is happening with Rita. Rita is no longer a hurricane but still extremely dangerous. Jacqui Jeras now reporting in from the Hurricane Center -- Jacqui.
JERAS: Yeah Carol, we still have a couple of threats we need to deal with. We've the threat of tornadoes in Louisiana Mississippi, we still have storm surge we're having to deal with across the Louisiana coast and then we're worried about some the flooding as the rains come down very, very heavy, the center of rotation here, the center of the storm basically near the Shreveport area once again and that's where some of the strongest of winds are. There's Shreveport and you can see these stronger thunderstorms are going to be gusting around 40, 50 miles-per-hour. I'm having a hard time to find any winds a cross Louisiana or Texas that are tropical storm strength sustained, that's 39-miles-per-hour or more. But, we're seeing several gusts, beyond that, reporting about 48-miles-per-hour for your gust in Shreveport in this hour.
The rainfall amounts starting to add up to, and it's coming down around an inch or two per hour in some of these heavier bands. The forecast track keeping it on the northerly direction, expecting it to stay that way throughout the rest of the afternoon and much of the evening. Then starting to drift on to the east and kind of turning around parts of Arkansas and heading over towards Mississippi. And you can you see the forecast time periods here, how much the storm begins to slow down and when it moves slowly, you know, that means it's going to just sit there and dump a lot of heavy rain and that's why we're expecting to see anywhere between 12 and 24 inches in some isolated locations.
Tornado watch remains in effect across much of eastern Louisiana into central parts of Arkansas throughout much of Mississippi and kind of clipping into southern parts of Alabama and into the Florida Panhandle, even though you're not in a watch over there towards Pensacola, heading towards Destin; do be aware, some of the feeder bands are moving on through. And don't be surprised if you get a tornado warning. You need to take it seriously. We haven't seen much ground troops so far, but we could see a tornado out these at any time.
Here are the watches that are in effect, the warnings in the dark green and then watches for northern Louisiana into parts of Arkansas for that heavy rain over the next three to five days potentially -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Jacqui. We'll be checking back with you.
We're getting some important video in right now. I want to show our viewers. Tanker trucks have now arrived at gas stations in the Houston -- the greater Houston metropolitan area. They're filling up these gas stations, so in turn the gas stations can start filling up these cars. As you know, there have been long lines. The lines probably are going to get longer now that people are going to start returning to their homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. We'll watch the gasoline situation in Houston and elsewhere in this area.
But, I want to go right now to Lake Charles, Louisiana. That's been a hard-hit area. You've been seeing some of the live footage we've been bringing in from Lake Charles. Linda Pruhomme is on the phone from us. I spoke with her yesterday. She decided to ride out the storm in Lake Charles.
Linda, if you can hear me, what was it like?
LINDA PRUHOMME, LAKE CHARLES RESIDENT: It was like nothing I've ever been through before. The winds were just absolutely astonishing. We lost power about 8:30 last night, telephone, everything. And it was just -- from there, it was total darkness. And I kept trying to flash the light outside to Watch for the water. Couldn't see any and found out that we were stranded here, they sent a policeman over and he just basically told us that we had to stay where we were, that, you know, there was nothing else we could do. So, at that point, we knew that we had to use our own resources if we were going to, you know, stay alive. And so that's what we did and we just did everything -- moved everything out of the way and started moving everything up into the attic and prepared ourselves to get up there if the need came.
BLITZER: Did the water start flooding your home?
PRUHOMME: Oh, actually, we did not get the water. I was very astonished about that. The water didn't come in our neighborhood that much. Now, the streets were a little bit flooded this morning when daylight came. But the trees were down everywhere, power lines. This is in the historical district. A lot of big oak trees and beautiful area, and it is just total devastation.
BLITZER: That pounding wind, how much damage did it create for your home?
PRUHOMME: Well, I had a window that blew out. It knocked the post that supports my front porch, it knocked that down. Basically that's just about it. My house is an old house, and it's withstood hurricanes before and I could feel it every once in a while quiver a little bit when the winds would hit it really hard. But I praise god that it stayed intact. The houses around me, though, did suffer a lot of damage. And -- so, it's just really a devastating -- I'm just -- I just can't believe it.
BLITZER: Well, when we spoke yesterday, correct me if I'm wrong, you told me you were going to ride out the storm with a friend. So, you were not alone, is that right?
PRUHOMME: No. I had two of my co-workers and my husband was here. And so we all rode it out together.
BLITZER: And how scared were you?
PRUHOMME: Oh, we were scared. Believe me, we were devastated. We were just like, oh, when the window blew out, that's when I really started panicking because I just started walking through my house and praying through every room for god to just put a calming hand upon our household and protect us.
BLITZER: I've spoken with people who have managed to survive hurricanes along the lines that you have and they've told me they will never ever try that again. In fact, many of them have said to me over the years they would leave the area, whether Florida or elsewhere, because they just don't want to be in that situation ever again. They were that scared. Are you feeling like that right now?
PRUHOMME: Oh, most definitely. I did...
BLITZER: Will you leave Lake Charles?
PRUHOMME: I'm sorry?
BLITZER: Are you going to leave Lake Charles?
PRUHOMME: Am I going to leave it?
BLITZER: Yes.
PRUHOMME: No. I will remain in the area because I work here and I will stay here, because it's just -- I've been here for nearly 40 years and it is home, you know, but I've always lived in the area. I'm basically from about 30 miles north of here, I grew up. And so we've -- you know, we've dealt with hurricanes all my life, but never -- I've never had to ride one out basically on my own instincts before.
BLITZER: Well, we're glad you did, Linda. We're glad your friends did. Good luck to you. Good luck to everyone in Lake Charles. It's been an awful experience.
PRUHOMME: It has.
BLITZER: But I'm sure you're happy it's over with right now.
PRUHOMME: Yes. We're still having quite strong winds ,right now. That's what I'm concerned about, right now. Is that I don't know if these winds are going to continue to bring water into my area, because I'm only like about three or four miles away from Lake Charles, from the lake itself. And so...
BLITZER: All right, let's hope for the best, Linda. I will stay in constant touch with you. Thank you very much.
Quite a story -- Carol.
LIN: Brave woman. I think lesson learned the next time she'll leave when a hurricane comes right to her door. But remarkable and great that she's still alive.
We have much more in our special coverage, in fact, we're going to be hearing from an area where rescues are underway right now, right after a break.
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