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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Hurricane Katrina's Impact
Aired September 01, 2005 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone.
Tonight as his city slips further into chaos the mayor of New Orleans is out with a desperate SOS. Thousands of citizens still wait to be evacuated from an increasingly dangerous city.
Anger at the government is growing. People are dying. And tonight, just what New Orleans does not need more of -- rain. Soaked this afternoon by showers as the city's misery deepens. Elsewhere along the Gulf Coast emergency relief is arriving, but slowly. The unofficial death toll in Mississippi approaching 200.
Tonight, stunning new pictures of the damage of infrastructure, buckled railroad tracks, overturned railroad cars.
President Bush says he will visit the devastated Gulf Coast tomorrow. Congress is rushing back to Washington.
Tonight a national tragedy continues to unfold in the city of New Orleans. No food, no water, and chaos. New Orleans is just one of hundreds of distressed cities and towns along the Gulf Coast reeling from disaster and waiting for emergency help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM (voice over): It is now four days since Hurricane Katrina blasted the Gulf Coast and the situation is desperate. Louisiana's governor fears thousands are dead. Airlift rescues continues as residents beg for help from their roof tops.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, DIR., HOMELAND SECURITY: Rescue operations have continued and are continuing in full force. The Coast Guard estimates that it has rescued approximately 3,000 people, stranded in various flood areas, in particular in New Orleans and surrounding parishes. And we're going to continue to do it until we're satisfied we've identified everybody that needs to be rescued.
PILGRIM: Governor Blanco said more assistance is coming.
GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: I have just gotten word that we will be getting all the troops we need as long as we need. They will continue to pour into the state. I've asked for no less than 40,000. But if we hit the 40,000 mark and still feel like we need more we will get them.
PILGRIM: The reinforcements are needed, especially if the New Orleans convention center.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two days with no food.
PILGRIM: CNN's Chris Lawrence reports the situation is rapidly turning to anarchy.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are thousands of people just laying in the street. They have no where to go. These people are being forced to live like animals. People are dying at the convention center. We saw an older woman -- someone's mother, grandmother in a wheelchair, her dead body pushed up against the side of the convention center with a blanket over it.
People have been trampled at night. Fights break out constantly. But there's no one in charge. There's no officials saying, hey, here's our plan. It is just a complete free for all.
PILGRIM: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said this is a desperate SOS and gave convention center refugees permission to march out of the area in search of relief. At the Superdome the massive transfer of 23,000 refugees to the Houston Astrodome has started. For those who have arrived in Texas, great relief.
GLORIA COLLINS, NEW ORLEANS REFUGEE: I just know we'll be better off here, better than back there. We had nothing. Everybody was breaking into houses for other people's food that wasn't home, who evacuated.
PILGRIM: Another 25,000 people will go to the San Antonio area until they're able to return home.
In Gulfport, Mississippi, people stand and wait, roads that used to lead out, now lead to no where. New pictures show entire communities completely flattened. There is little sign of life. For those survivors still in the area, a desperate need to let their loved ones know they have survived.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. If you see my dad or hear from him, tell him I'm okay. His name is Don and lives in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Daddy, I'm okay. I'm alive. I'm standing.
PILGRIM: And from others, perhaps a message to the entire country, we are still here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Here's the extraordinary plea for help tonight from the New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin.
Nagin says, quote, "This is a desperate SOS. Right now we are out of resources at the convention center and don't anticipate enough busses. We need busses. Currently the convention center is unsanitary and unsafe and we are running out of supplies for 15,000 to 20,000 people. We are now allowing people to march. They will be marching up to the Crescent City Connection to the Westbound Expressway to find relief." The health crisis for people stuck in New Orleans is growing by the hour and Ed Lavandera joins us from the New Orleans International Airport where many of the city's sick are being taken for treatment. And doctors there say they are completely overwhelmed -- Ed?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kitty. We've seen here at the New Orleans International Airport is a scene like this, you see behind me. Helicopters coming in one after another after another. We've seen the same ones also coming in time and time again. We understand that many of these helicopters are going to a variety of places in New Orleans some of them going to pick up people at the Superdome, others are bringing people from hospitals and other shelters around the area where people had evacuated to.
Essentially many of them are being brought here, they're checked out. We've seen many critical injuries -- I'm saying injuries -- but people in critical condition. They might have already been that way before the storm even hit.
But having said that, the authorities here are using whatever they can to move people around, even using the equipment from the airport that's normally used to shuffle luggage around. This time it's being used to transport people in critical condition and also being used to herd and shepherd the people back and forth inside the terminal, where they're able to get medical attention at this point.
From here, many people are also being bussed out to other aircraft on the airport grounds here, where from here they are being flown out to like the places you mentioned, Houston, San Antonio. We spoke with some people who said they were being flown to Ft. Worth.
It is a desperate scene here. Many of the folks that we have walked inside the terminal here, have come kind of come rushing to us, asking us to put them on TV to let them know that -- they are okay, many haven't been able to speak with loved ones for days and they want to get the word out to them that even though they're in this situation, many are OK.
As far as the medical technicians and the FEMA workers who are inside the airport terminal here, they have been working round the clock to process as many of these people. Some of them have told me they never expected to see this many people, well over 1,000 that have come over -- come through here in this day alone. So they are overwhelmed.
It's hard to hear me, you can see one of the helicopters taking off now. As I mentioned it's a steady stream of people coming and going through this airport. Some are staying here for medical attention, others are being moved out of the area completely -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Ed, quick question, what is the capacity for that facility? How many people do you think they can accommodate? What are the estimates?
LAVANDERA: They can accommodate thousands. They've taken over one little section of the terminal that is being used as a hospital. The rest of the airport is where a lot of these other people are kind of pouring into. There's capacity to hold several thousand people here. It's much more than they wanted to see at any given point here, but that's just the way it is right now.
PILGRIM: We're seeing pictures of some of the people being held in the area. Now, Ed, what's your sense, it certainly is a good facility for bringing in medical supplies, and does it seem to be a place where they could turn it into a full-blown facility if they need to?
LAVANDERA: It already seems like it's turned into that. You might be able to see over my shoulder the military aircraft on the ground. We've been seeing them unload equipment and goods off of that as well. We've also been able to tell you that about 10:00 tonight, there will be a hundred National Guard military police who will be landing here at the airport.
Basically, the entire airport is being used for these types of operations only. So I described it earlier as this one commercial airport being used for flights like Southwest, Delta and that sort of thing, right now it looks like a military airfield.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Ed Lavandera. Thanks, Ed.
In Mississippi, emergency food aid is not coming soon enough to citizens and disturbing pictures tonight of starving people picking through a large pile of garbage for food.
There are more than 20,000 people still in shelters in Mississippi. Many of those shelters do not have power or air conditioning. And emergency food aid has been slow to arrive in many Mississippi communities.
The federal government is mobilizing its disaster relief from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, about 80 miles away from New Orleans and CNN's Deborah Feyerick is there -- Deborah?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, we're told that now as part of the relief effort, the government is sending the Conair 737s. Those are usually the planes that transport prisoners, now used to transport the stranded in New Orleans. We are told that they can accommodate about 130 people at a time, so that might speed up the efforts to evacuate the people in such desperate need.
The question nobody can answer is, why are none of these people getting any sort of food or water? There is a condition of lawlessness that exists right now. We're being told the governor saying that she is going to change that as of now. She's called in some 200 military police officers, they're going to be heading into New Orleans.
Hundreds more are on the way; 250 police officers, including state troopers, are also going to go in to help out the local police who have had the dual task of trying to save people, but also trying to keep the criminal element in check.
As a matter of fact, the governor saying 12,000 members of the National Guard are also going to be brought in and that should help restore order to the streets. There have been reports of rioting, SWAT teams have been responding to calls that people are trying to break into hospitals. And so they're in place as well.
The lieutenant colonel, who sort of overseas operations for the state, said part of the problem has been they simply have no place to put anybody they arrest. That's why there have so few arrests in New Orleans.
That is about to change. In his words, he said, "If we have to we will put them in handcuffs and shackles. But we are going to take control back of New Orleans."
So right now, that is the goal, that is the focus. They want to make sure that they can get their rescuers in safely. Words of one state senator, it's pretty hard to rescue people when you're being shot at -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Deborah Feyerick.
Many of the dramatic rescues we have seen in New Orleans involved helicopters from the USS Bataan, the amphibious assault ship, the only U.S. Navy ship in the area right now. Joining us now is the commander of the Bataan, Captain Nora Tyson.
Now, Captain, first of all, where are you located?
CAPT. NORA TYSON, COMMANDING OFFICER, USS BATAAN: Currently, we're about 46 miles southeast of Gulfport. We headed up this way this morning, and our helicopters have gone in to Gulfport to help with some of the disaster relief in Mississippi.
They've been operating over in New Orleans for the past couple of days, and this morning we got the call to send them up into Gulfport. So we moved the ship up closer to Gulfport and Biloxi to support the operations up here.
PILGRIM: What kind of resources do you have that you can offer to them?
TYSON: Right now, we have two MH-60 helicopters on board. And they are primarily search and rescue aircraft. And we also have four MH-53s that are primarily heavy lift and movers. They're moving people, moving supplies, water, food, anything that they can to help out in the effort.
We've got a lot more Navy assets, aviation assets, that are coming in to Pensacola right now. And they'll be coming -- some of those will be coming out to us, some of them will be staying on the beach and working on the beach. And then, of course, we've got several more Navy ships that are coming around here to join us in the next few days and some of them will be going out too. The Iwo Jima and Harry S Truman, and Shreveport, Tortuga, are some of the ships coming around to join us.
PILGRIM: All right. Not a moment too soon. Thank you for being with us this evening, Captain Nora Tyson of the USS Bataan. Thank you.
PILGRIM: Coming up, the lives of New Orleans residents at risk tonight. When will they get emergency help? We'll talk to the head of FEMA. That's coming right up.
Plus, a look at the littlest victims of Hurricane Katrina. So many affected by this killer storm have been children. We'll have a special report on that.
And gas lines, growing, charges tonight of oil company price gouging. President Bush says don't buy gas if you don't need it. Much more ahead as our coverage of this national tragedy continues. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: In Mississippi, the unofficial death toll has risen to 185. Now, dramatic video today showing the utter destruction of the town of Gulfport, Mississippi, which took a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina. Homes totally destroyed, damaged hotels, major roads totally collapsed.
In Mississippi tonight, officials say they are in urgent need of medical personnel from other states. And about 75 percent of the state is still without power. Joining us now tonight from Biloxi, Mississippi, Randi Kaye.
Randi, what's it like there?
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kitty, it is still an absolute mess here. You drive through the streets and can barely get through. Things that don't belong are now sitting on the corner. We're on the corner here, we're on the corner of what used to be Highway 90. This is a tractor that has somehow made it way over here just jammed itself into the sand. If you look around there's somebody's eyeglasses here on the road.
Over here, is a huge chunk of cement. What I'm standing on is actually a piece of the bridge from highway 10 which came from all the way over there in the distance. That should give you an idea of the destruction here. Getting around the town of Biloxi, the city here is just very, very difficult.
I want to introduce you to a couple folks who know that firsthand, Ashleigh Rogers and Andrea Jones. You have a hospice business here. Very important that you get to see your patients. What has it been like getting around this area for you?
ASHLEIGH ROGERS, HURRICANE VICTIM: We've had to stop cars, walk past the debris, power lines, to try to check on some of the patients that may have stayed, that houses have sustained damage. We're concerned for all of our patients and our nurses. We just really need to try to get through all this damage and get to them to make sure they're safe.
KAYE: You've been having to cut some of the wood out of the road to actually get there. You have been able to find out exactly how all of your patients are doing?
ROGERS: We've found out about a few. Some have left, thank goodness. One we have heard has passed on. But we don't know whether it was the hurricane or natural progression of their disease.
KAYE: What is it like for you, Andrea, to get around here and see what's happened to your city of Biloxi?
ANDREA JONES, HURRICANE VICTIM: It is absolute devastation. And it is so very difficult because you have your own grief to deal with and also trying to find these people that you care for so much. And, you know, we just pray that we will find all of our hospice patients in time.
KAYE: And what are you doing to get them medicine? These are people who have six months or less to live, as you told me. What can you do to get them medicine and make sure they can get through this time?
JONES: At this point we're not really so sure about that. We're probably going to have to start making trips out of town. I think our first priority is to find out where the patients are, so we can get them the medicine when we get it.
KAYE: And Ashleigh, do you feel like you're getting the help you need from FEMA and everybody else here on the ground, the National Guard or do you feel like they're here. And can you feel their presence in terms of getting what you need to help your patients?
ROGERS: We know that we have contacted FEMA and we already have that in preparation, so we are thankful for FEMA. The roads, it's taking some time, of course. This one is one of the ones that they're cleaning up first, but there are some where all of our patients live that is on the back burner.
KAYE: And you have a lot of patients, in a lot of different counties in this area. We wish you all the best of luck with your patients, and hopefully you will get to them and find they are all, indeed, doing well.
Kitty, that is just one of the many desperate stories coming from you tonight here in Biloxi.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Randi Kaye.
President Bush has named my next guest the principle federal officer in charge of Hurricane Katrina relief. Michael Brown the director of FEMA, he joins us from Baton Rouge.
And thanks for being with us and taking the time to actually speak to us tonight, sir.
MICHAEL BROWN, DIRECTOR, FEMA: My pleasure.
PILGRIM: Your biggest challenge and I must say everyone is saying, what is taking so long, what is the problem? BROWN: Well, let me put it in perspective. And I really want the American people to understand that this disaster is unlike any other disaster in the history of this country. It's even unlike any other hurricane disaster that I've seen over the past several years. Hurricane Katrina struck and left. That's what normally happens and we start our rescue and rebuilding efforts.
What happened here is we had a disaster that continued of catastrophic proportions. The levees began to break and suddenly you have a great American urban area, the city of New Orleans, totally inundated, totally ruined, totally incapacitated.
So what we're trying to do now is to basically work in -- under conditions of urban warfare of getting as many people in to help those who are stranded, who chose not to evacuate, who chose not to leave the city, of getting aid to them as rapidly as possible.
PILGRIM: I guess the food drops and the water drops, why are they not coming more rapidly? Earlier in this broadcast we showed pictures of people picking through garbage. It's dire for many people. Is it not possible to get food and water in more quickly?
BROWN: We have food and water in. We're doing airlifts into to the Superdome, airlifts into those parishes where they have dry land, where they can actually distribute water.
But there's also a very interesting phenomenon occurring here, and that is as we continue to evacuate people out of the Superdome, we're finding more and more people coming out of the woodwork, so to speak. They are appearing in places where we didn't expect them. They're appearing in places we didn't know they existed.
We just learned almost hour by hour of a new pocket of people that have congregated somewhere. And so we have start rescuing those and moving those to an evacuation center, too. It's actually a very fascinating phenomenon that we're dealing with in New Orleans.
PILGRIM: What's your estimate on how many people are still trapped in New Orleans?
BROWN: You know, it's the question of the day. Because what we're finding is as we evacuate and more of these people becoming -- start to appear, there's no way to estimate. I think what we're discovering is that now that the storm has passed, all of those that hunkered down and decided to ride out the storm and not evacuate, are now beginning to come out of their homes. They're now beginning to move to higher ground or if the storm has -- the storm waters have receded, they're coming out of the second stories of their homes and making themselves known to us. It's like the waters have receded and suddenly people are appearing.
PILGRIM: Michael Brown, we wish you every success. Thank you for being with us tonight. Thank you.
BROWN: Thank you. PILGRIM: Coming up next, a hospital in New Orleans is under fire. Snipers attack the hospital staff trying to evacuate sick patients. We'll talk to a doctor at Charity Hospital next.
Then desperately needed supplies arrive via military transport planes to the New Orleans Airport. We'll have a live report there. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: The devastation from Hurricane Katrina has already sent gasoline prices rising around the country. Now, it could also impact prices on coffee, poultry, other products for months. Christine Romans reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This devastation from Hurricane Katrina has crippled important supply lines for America's food and building materials. It may mean higher prices at your table, perhaps for months to come; 27 percent of this country's green coffee supplies, hundreds of thousands of bags are feared spoiled in warehouses in New Orleans. Lumber on Gulfport docks, destroyed. Lumber prices, soaring. Half the world's zinc supplies are in New Orleans warehouses. Officials have not yet been able to inspect it. And 3 percent of this country's poultry production is in the hurricane zone, devastated by power outages and tornadoes.
REAR ADMIRAL JOEL WHITEHEAD, U.S. COAST GUARD: Most of the port in the Gulf remain closed.
ROMANS: Also, 14,500 miles of inland waterways feed the New Orleans port complex. Those goods cannot be unloaded or processed. Rail freight channels along Katrina's path are paralyzed. America's grain supply, first damaged by drought, now by Hurricane Katrina.
DARIN NEWSOM, DTN: Just a few weeks ago the low water levels were not allowing barges to move through the Ohio down the Mississippi. Now, that has been forgotten because now even if they could move, even if they could move on these low river levels, they have no place to go.
ROMANS: The Coast Guard report at least 100 barges submerged or run aground in the lower reaches of the river and numerous buoys, dam and channel markers have been moved or destroyed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Now, agriculture exports at the last vestige of U.S. export supremacy and that for now is paralyzed. Right now for exporters and port officials the top priority, Kitty, is finding their lost workers. Hundreds and hundreds of workers in this industry simply disappeared.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Christine Romans. The Army Corps of Engineers said it could take six months to drain all the flood water from New Orleans. Now, the Army Corps has been working nonstop to fix broken levees, also prevent greater damage to the city. Joining me on the telephone -- he's on his way to Port Allen, Louisiana, Army Corps of Engineer Action Officer Mike Zumstein. And thanks for being with us, Mike.
MICHAEL ZUMSTEIN, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS (via telephone): Thank you.
PILGRIM: Let's first talk about the water situation in New Orleans. The breach in the 17th Street Canal, that's probably the most critical thing. And how is that going?
ZUMSTEIN: OK. Some of this information is a few hours old because, obviously I am on the road, and I'm proceeding to Port Allen and communications have been bad (INAUDIBLE) since the hurricane hit.
My understanding is that the sand bagging was to resume early this morning. I can speak of what was going on over perhaps the last 24 hours and give you a clearer picture.
PILGRIM: OK.
ZUMSTEIN: We have a contractor on-site right now who is mobilized his equipment with the intent to drive sheet pile (ph) and close off the mouth of the 17th Street Canal and also the London and New Canal.
As of last night, we had sand bags that were being put in place. We had bobcats and small dozers on-site also. We have flow coming out of the London Avenue Canal going into Lake Pontchartrain. And like I said, those are the variables that I do know.
We also have the equipment to breach -- potentially breach the levees in other parts of the parish, specifically Saint Bernard Parish, and also the Lower Ninth Ward, to eradicate the water that is in those areas.
PILGRIM: So, you basically punch holes in the levees to let it flow back out, is that correct?
ZUMSTEIN: Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.
Right now my understanding is -- and like I said, here again, and I apologize, like I said, communications are a little bit difficult, the -- I'm told that Jefferson Parish for the most part is fairly dry. So apparently not all of the cells have been inundated. The hurricane protection cells as we call them. So, you know, the timetable, therefore, will be different also.
I was told also by the -- our hydralogist, that the -- that Orleans Parish, the parish levee -- the Orleans Parish Levee port feels comfortable and that they will be able to get to their pumps fairly soon and go ahead and inspect them and ascertain what the damage level is and to bring them back on line. PILGRIM: So 22 pumps basically get this city pumped dry, and you don't know how many are functioning, right?
ZUMSTEIN: Yes, ma'am. We don't know what the actual -- we don't know, actually, if any damage has really occurred to them at all, or if this is just a matter of them needing perhaps fuel or electricity. We don't know the variables as far as what it's going to take to get them up and running again. However they do feel comfortable they can get there fairly soon.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much for taking the time to talk to us. Mike Zumstein Army Corps of Engineers. Thanks, Mike.
We're joined now by Gary Tuchman. He's in Waveland, Mississippi, which is one of the hardest hit areas of the Gulf Coast -- Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. We come to you from a hurricane one vehicle which allows us to go live while we move down the street. We've seen a lot of devastated areas while we've been here the last four days. There is no area that's more devastated than the one we're in. This is Waveland, Mississippi. This is Waveland Avenue. Everything has been knocked down on the street which is a couple of blocks from the beach. You can see wood, you can see roofs, you can see cars, you can see the most intimate of people's personal belongings.
And this street has been devastated. What I'm going to tell you is, from here, in Waveland, which is just (INAUDIBLE) to Biloxi, which is about 40 miles south -- 40 miles to the east of here, you see many neighborhoods where nothing is left standing. But what we're seeing here is an area where there were very large homes standings, many of them were mansions. And you can see couches, you can see trees (INAUDIBLE) anything that's left in tact are, basically, swimming pools. That's the only thing that we still see left in tact.
Throughout the day we've seen police officials and authorities on the scene. We did not see that at all on Tuesday or Wednesday, and this particular block right now, we see people from Orange County, Florida, who are helping out the situation here. We've seen lots of people come back to their homes very despondent at what they've seen in this part of Mississippi. Kitty, back to you.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much. Gary Tuchman in Waveland, Mississippi. Thanks, Gary.
Coming up, how the federal government and the military are responding to the crisis in the Gulf Coast.
Also, we'll have a live report from an airport in New Orleans where medical workers say the words catastrophe and disaster don't explain the scene there. We'll talk with one doctor at a hospital that had to stop evacuating patients because of sniper fire. All that and more coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PILGRIM: Refugees from New Orleans began arriving today at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. Dave Fehling is with our Houston affiliate, KHOU. And he's there with the very latest on that -- Dave.
DAVE FEHLING, KHOU REPORTER: Continuing to stream in here now some two dozen busses arriving right now. So many that the Houston paramedics have had to ask for reinforcements, because as these people get off the buses they do need medical care. And they're having an armada of ambulances come to the Astrodome to help take those folks that are in most dire medical need to nearby hospitals.
The contrast could not be greater with the conditions over at the Super Bowl (sic). Here at the Astrodome, it is air conditioning, clean cots in which to sleep. They've got showers for them. One -- actually two hot meals a day, a cold lunch. Cold drinks. So when you look around, it looks like, in some ways, game day here. People are, obviously, very relieved to be here. We don't know what the current tally is, but they're expecting that they can handle some 25,000 refugees here alone. Back to you, Kitty.
PILGRIM: Dave, how long do they expect to keep people in that facility?
FEHLING: They say they don't want to do it for very long. They're being very forthright about that. This is clearly just temporary. They want it to be days or weeks not months.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much. Dave Fehling from Houston. Thanks, Dave.
Well we have -- we have a desperate dangerous situation tonight at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Doctors were trying to evacuate patients, when snipers began shooting at them. And I'm joined now by the chief resident of neurosurgery at Charity Hospital, Dr. Michael Bellew. And Dr. Sanjay Gupta is also joining us. He is CNN's senior medical correspondent. Dr. Bellew, tell us what the situation was and why you think someone might have been shooting?
DR. MICHAEL BELLEW, NEUROSURGERY RESIDENT: We have no idea why they're shooting, of any kind. The situation we've been without power for days. Our main generator failed early in the course, so we have a few back up generators, but for the most part, the hospital has been without electricity. And that included patients on ventilators. There were times where the nurses and respiratory therapists had to do double duty, bagging the patients just to keep them alive. We have some minimal capabilities now, but our priority was to try to get these patients out. We have patients out of the hospital, but not to safety yet. A few have, by private mechanisms, gone off to outside hospitals. But we evacuated the majority of the ICU patients today, and my understanding is that they're actually still across the street at the helicopter pad waiting to be picked up, without any electricity, again, being bagged to try to keep them alive until they can be picked up.
PILGRIM: Explain that procedure for us doctor. Not many people are familiar with that. BELLEW: Sure. The bagging you're talking about?
PILGRIM: Yes, please.
BELLEW: Okay. Essentially, the patients are so ill they're unable to breathe on their own. And so we have s which breathe for them. Of course, requiring electricity. In a situation where you don't have any, they have mechanisms -- these bags allow you to squeeze air into the patient's lungs to deliver oxygen and take out the waste product, the carbon dioxide. But, you know, that requires someone continuously squeezing the bag in and out just like the patient's lungs would be doing, had -- if they were healthy.
PILGRIM: Basically breathing for that person. Are you totally without power at this point?
BELLEW: Like I said we have a few minimal backup generators, but for days we've been walking around the hospital with flashlights and rounding by flashlights. The nurses been taking care of the patients by flashlight.
PILGRIM: How long do you think, and I hate to ask, but how long do you think you can hold out?
BELLEW: I mean, really, for the patient's sake, really they need to be evacuated immediately. The ICU patients are in that process, and I guess the sniper situation may be why they're still waiting for the helicopters to come in. That I'm not sure, because we don't have any communication with that group.
But, you know, we still have 200 patients in this hospital, from what I understand, our sister hospital down the street, University Hospital, has 500 patients. Many of them needing care that they just can't get. Dialysis machines that would filter the blood like the kidneys are supposed to do. You know, babies, neonatal patients in the intensive care unit, all waiting to be rescued. The conditions are such that it's very dangerous for the patients.
You know, we're exposed to the elements, and the windows in all the units are broken out or just open to try to reduce the temperatures. The nurses are, you know, sitting there fanning the patients. You know, just about all the patients have fevers. Our toilets are overflowing there, you know, filled with stool and urine, and the smell, if you can imagine, is so bad, you know, many of us had gagged and some people even threw up. It's pretty rough.
PILGRIM: Thank you...
BELLEW: So for the patients, in other words, they need to get out, you know, now. You know, the longer they stay here, the more they're exposed to these things, and then, you know, you also worry about cross-contamination. You know, many of the sick patients have, you know, drug -- antibiotic-resistant germs, and you know, we have really minimal methods to, you know, wash our hands. We have sanitary antibacterial lotion, we wear gloves, but you know, there's really no situation -- it's not a good situation from that standpoint. PILGRIM: Dr. Bellew, we sympathize with you enormously, and your patients are very lucky to have someone like you with them. Thank you for joining us this evening, Dr. Michael Bellew. Thank you.
BELLEW: Thank you very much for trying to help us get our patients to a place where I think...
PILGRIM: That was Dr. Michael Bellew.
Congress returning early from its vacation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The senators are expected to convene as early as tonight for a special session. The House of Representatives will meet tomorrow. And meanwhile, the White House has enlisted former Presidents Bush and Clinton to raise money for the victims of the hurricane. Suzanne Malveaux reports from the White House -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kitty, they were so successful when it came to tsunami relief, raising about $1 billion or so. President Bush of course enlisting his father as well as the help of former President Clinton in this private relief effort. The president of course also dealing with the economic impact of this, meeting with the Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, his economic team, also asking Congress for that $10.5 billion emergency aid package.
The president today specifically acknowledged this temporary disruption in the oil supply, the nation's oil supply, because of the hurricane, and he issued -- and actually urged people to conserve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH: Steps were taken that will help address the problem of availability, but it's not going to solve it. Americans should be prudent in the use of energy during the course of the next few weeks. Don't buy gas if you don't need it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, Kitty, I also had an opportunity to speak with both President Clinton as well as President H.W. Bush about the criticism of this administration. Many say that they had moved just too slowly. But both of those presidents today defended this administration's actions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe the administration is doing the right thing, and I believe they did -- or have acted in a timely fashion. And I understand the people being critical. It happens all the time. And I understand some people wanting to make, you know, a little difficulty by criticizing the president and the team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Kitty, tomorrow, President Bush travels to the damaged region, of course Alabama, Mississippi, as well as New Orleans. He'll chopper overhead. He is also expected to be on the ground to see it firsthand -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much, Suzanne Malveaux. Thanks, Suzanne.
Still ahead, I'll speak with one science editor who warned this hurricane disaster in New Orleans, he warned about it back in 2001. He's our guest when we return.
Also, with fuel shortages, soaring gas prices, are we facing an energy crisis? We'll have a special report on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: My next guest is the author of an article in 2001 in "Scientific American," predicting a hurricane disaster in New Orleans, and he said: "New Orleans is a disaster waiting to happen, and a direct hit is inevitable." And now many are asking why his warnings were not heeded, and if the disaster could have been prevented.
Joining me now is Mark Fischetti. He's contributing editor at "Scientific American" magazine.
Hey, Mark, I want to read a quote that you told us a little earlier today. You said, "on Sunday night, I felt sick because I was aware of what could happen, and I thought to myself, people don't really understand what's coming. What a horrible feeling." Why don't you think people really understood the magnitude of what was happening?
MARK FISCHETTI, "SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN": I think there's been a lot of prediction about hurricanes hitting New Orleans, but it hasn't had a direct hit, so, you know, it's human nature to think, well, we got away with it, we'll get away with it again.
PILGRIM: What about prevention? What do you think we should have done and what should we do now?
FISCHETTI: In 1998, there was a plan put together, scientists, engineers, local, state politicians finally came together and basically agreed on a plan to protect New Orleans. It was a lot of money. It would have been a $14 billion effort, but it essentially would have safeguarded the whole city, and rebuilt the Delta at the same time. Too much for one state. They went to the federal government, and essentially weren't heard.
PILGRIM: Yeah, $14 billion, basically rebuilding the barrier islands and some sea gates, is that right? That's the prescription?
FISCHETTI: Right. The three main measures would be to rebuild the marshland, the Delta south of New Orleans, to cut down the sea surge from a hurricane coming from the south. Also rebuild the barrier islands. This could all be done naturally, by the way, by letting the Mississippi flow out that way. And then finally, right, the Gulf flows up into Lake Pontchartrain, this huge lake right north of the city, and the storm surge flows into the Gulf, and the -- from the Gulf into the lake. The lake threatens to flow over into the city.
So these gates, the channel that connects the lake and the Gulf is actually fairly small. The gates could close off if a storm were coming. Those very gates are actually in place in the Netherlands, to keep back the North Sea. So it's something certainly doable.
PILGRIM: Very viable. Well, thanks for explaining it to us. Mark Fischetti. Thank you, Mark.
FISCHETTI: You're welcome.
PILGRIM: The disaster on the Gulf Coast has caused gas prices across the country to soar. Prices for a gallon of gas have topped $6 in some areas, and now the Bush administration is taking steps to speed up the movement of crude oil and refined products across the country. Bill Tucker reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Faced with tight supply, low inventories and panicked motorists, President Bush took action for the second day in a row to get refined petroleum products to market.
GEORGE W. BUSH: Under current law, shipping between American ports can only take place on American ships. And there are currently not enough American ships to move the oil and gasoline where it's needed.
TUCKER: The law prohibiting that has been waived, and all three major pipelines moving refined products and crude are now partially up and running. The Colonial and the Plantation lines, which supply gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil to the South, Southeast, mid-Atlantic and Northeast, are making limited deliveries. The Capline pipeline, which supplies crude to refineries in the Midwest, offering limited service.
None of this came a minute too soon for the airline industry, which currently has a week and a half to two weeks worth of fuel available.
JAMES MAY, AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION: I'm trying to walk the line between making sure I'm not an alarmist and expressing some very serious reservations that we have, that we need to get this supply back on line as quickly as possible.
TUCKER: But there is bad news as well. Originally, reports were that eight refineries were shut down. That number is now 10, and it is not certain when the more badly damaged refineries will be back up and producing.
ROGER DIWAN, PFC ENERGY: You have a significant amount of refining capacity down, and that happened at a time when stocks were already low. And that capacity you have lost for a good month, at least.
TUCKER: The experts say we've probably lost a million and a half barrels of production a day for an indefinite period of time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: Which unfortunately means it will continue to cost more to fill up your car or your truck, and it will cost more to heat your home.
Supply is not short. It is, however, tight. And, Kitty, this may sound terribly trite, but the best thing that people can do is not panic, and simply drive less and conserve. It will cost them less money in the end.
PILGRIM: Very sensible. Thanks very much, Bill Tucker.
Well, still to come, a look at one of the most vulnerable groups of victims in Hurricane Katrina. We'll have a special report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Tonight, a look at the most vulnerable victims of hurricane Katrina: the children. Now thousands of them were left completely defenseless in this horrific tragedy. Lisa Sylvester has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the pictures, it's hard to miss them: the children waiting for help. They have been lifted off roof tops, their parents have carried them to safety, others waded through water. The youngest victims of Hurricane Katrina. Outside the New Orleans Convention Center, without water or food, some seem oblivious to their plight. Others, all too aware.
CROWD: We want help!
SYLVESTER: They have been exposed to destruction and death. Their parents are powerless to make it better.
SUZANNE BRONHEIM, UNIV. CTR. FOR CHILD & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: For children, feeling secure and safe is, you know, very important. And now, all the things that anchor them in the world and make them feel safe are gone: their house, their neighborhood, their friends, relatives, other people. They're going to strange places. This is very disorienting, and it's those tangible things in life that make them feel safe.
SYLVESTER: Even the children that escaped the city face a long- term impact. Sick infants and toddlers were air lifted to hospitals in other states. But it wasn't an easy trip for some. Robin Norwood's son, Nash, has leukemia.
ROBIN NORWOOD, SON HAS LEUKEMIA: They had to evacuate us upstairs because shooting was taking place at the helicopters that were trying to take our children to safety. And I mean, we felt pretty much like we were hostages.
SYLVESTER: A life-changing event for the children.
ROBIN GURWITCH, AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION: When something like this happens, our sense of safety and security is shaken. And what we're looking for is to regain any semblance of control, any semblance that the world can right itself again.
SYLVESTER: But it could be months for these children before their world feels right again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: Mental health experts advise parents with children in the shelters to try to maintain as much of a routine as possible, for instance, telling their kids bedtime stories at night. And perhaps most importantly, as difficult as it is, to try to stay calm, because children are looking to their parents for strength -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much, Lisa Sylvester.
Well, still ahead how the military is supporting the relief efforts of the victim of Hurricane Katrina. We'll talk with General David Grange about that. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PILGRIM: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says there are nearly 3,000 National Guard troops in New Orleans tonight, thousands more on the way to Louisiana and Mississippi. Well, joining me now for more on the military response to this disaster is General David Grange. Thanks for being with us.
You know, much discussion about how slow the mobilization was. What's your view, general?
GEN. DAVID GRANGE, (RET) CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think they're moving pretty fast. It doesn't seem that way if you're one in a disaster situation, but you remember you have to pick National Guardsmen and women out of the private sector, out of their jobs, assemble them, transport them, brief them up in the situation, and deploy them into an area in many cases not by vehicle, but by boat or helicopter or other means because of the water problems. So it's not easy to do.
But it's critical that the more you have on the ground early on, of course the more rule of law you have in the area and you can protect citizens from those that wish to do them harm, and regrettably we have that.
PILGRIM: As more military move in will we get a situation that stabilizes? Do they have the special skills to take charge of this situation?
GRANGE: I believe so. Many of the National Guardsmen are military police, or have engineering skills. Those type of things that are critical in a situation like this. And I believe you have up to 20,000 guardsmen by tonight. PILGRIM: Are we impacted at all by the Iraq situation and the number of people who are available?
GRANGE: Any additional mission given to the armed forces today with the war on terrorism, with operations ongoing, with the numbers we have in Iraq and Afghanistan, absolutely. These are unplanned contingencies that continue to stress the force. And that's why the force has to always be larger than what you have initially employed on your radar screen. You have to plan for the unexpected. And this is a great example of that.
PILGRIM: One last question, do you think we have enough facilities on the ground now in your assessment?
GRANGE: Not at all. The assessments are being put in by FEMA, by the Corps of Engineers and many others to take care of actually refugees from America right now. More needs to be done and it's happening.
PILGRIM: All right. Thanks very much, General David Grange. Thanks for joining us this evening, general.
Well, that is our broadcast for this evening. Stay with CNN for continuing coverage of Hurricane Katrina. We turn now to Anderson Cooper live in Waveland, Mississippi -- Anderson.
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