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Big Easy Underwater
Aired September 26, 2002 - 13:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Parts of New Orleans are under water, as residents in the Big Easy are under pressure. Tropical Storm Isidore is dumping water on southern Louisiana and causing widespread flooding. More than a foot of rain has fallen in some spots, but, there is a bit of good news. Isidore is expected to get weaker as the day wears on.
CNN's Jeff Flock is on duty, drenched, in New Orleans.
Hi -- Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kyra, I think I'm drying out right now, because the rainfall has quit, and really what we've got now is a lot of wind and wind-driven water, though. So, water continues to be a problem, but not so much from the rain.
This not the Atlantic Ocean, or the Gulf even. This is Lake Pontchartrain, which is off to my right here, and perhaps you can see the last back end of this storm is driving the water up onto the roadway here. I'm standing actually what is the middle of Louisiana Route 11, which is shut off to here. It's cut off also on the other side, which is down in Slidell. That's part of the reason -- and maybe you saw over my shoulder there -- the breakers that are washing over this road.
I also want to show you downtown New Orleans, because that's also a scene as well. You know, it started yesterday. The rain actually started two days ago, but the flooding part really started to get into it yesterday. You know, they are below sea level. Once that pump system, which does about a half an inch an hour, is overwhelmed, the water has nowhere go but in the city streets, and that's what happened yesterday.
Some people abandoning cars, people that -- we were actually on Interstate 10 for a time, and wound up going westbound in the eastbound lanes, or I guess it was eastbound in the westbound lanes. But whatever, we turned around and tried to getting the heck out of there, rather than, you know, be stuck in a traffic jam and perhaps have that water come up and inundate cars, which it did to a lot of people.
And that's, Kyra, what we're doing at the moment. It has inundated State Route 11 here, and it's washing right through us here. And it's going to probably continue to do so, because the wind continues to blow. But I do feel it lessening some from earlier today, so I think clearly the worst is over. PHILLIPS: Well, Jeff, also, not only has it been a problem for folks wanting to drive back and forth in this area and other parts of New Orleans, but what about the sewage? I remember that always being a problem, too, when things got backed up.
FLOCK: Boy, you said it. You know, not only that, and it's the sewage problem, it's the debris. And you know, you see it here -- I don't know if you're able to see what it's like -- but there's all sorts of debris here. There's, you know, the tires and bottles and all kinds of stuff. It's -- you know, it's going to be a heck of a mess. And you see back in there, all of that, you know -- not good stuff that will have to probably be cleaned up at some point.
So, you know, when something like this happens, there is a cleanup that comes after it, even when it's not a tremendously serious storm -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. And, Jeff, that's not your news rig behind you, is it?
FLOCK: No, that was someone who was not too smart about trying to drive through this washed-out area.
PHILLIPS: All right, Jeff Flock in New Orleans -- thanks, Jeff. Glad it's drying off today.
FLOCK: Thanks, Kyra.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired September 26, 2002 - 13:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Parts of New Orleans are under water, as residents in the Big Easy are under pressure. Tropical Storm Isidore is dumping water on southern Louisiana and causing widespread flooding. More than a foot of rain has fallen in some spots, but, there is a bit of good news. Isidore is expected to get weaker as the day wears on.
CNN's Jeff Flock is on duty, drenched, in New Orleans.
Hi -- Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kyra, I think I'm drying out right now, because the rainfall has quit, and really what we've got now is a lot of wind and wind-driven water, though. So, water continues to be a problem, but not so much from the rain.
This not the Atlantic Ocean, or the Gulf even. This is Lake Pontchartrain, which is off to my right here, and perhaps you can see the last back end of this storm is driving the water up onto the roadway here. I'm standing actually what is the middle of Louisiana Route 11, which is shut off to here. It's cut off also on the other side, which is down in Slidell. That's part of the reason -- and maybe you saw over my shoulder there -- the breakers that are washing over this road.
I also want to show you downtown New Orleans, because that's also a scene as well. You know, it started yesterday. The rain actually started two days ago, but the flooding part really started to get into it yesterday. You know, they are below sea level. Once that pump system, which does about a half an inch an hour, is overwhelmed, the water has nowhere go but in the city streets, and that's what happened yesterday.
Some people abandoning cars, people that -- we were actually on Interstate 10 for a time, and wound up going westbound in the eastbound lanes, or I guess it was eastbound in the westbound lanes. But whatever, we turned around and tried to getting the heck out of there, rather than, you know, be stuck in a traffic jam and perhaps have that water come up and inundate cars, which it did to a lot of people.
And that's, Kyra, what we're doing at the moment. It has inundated State Route 11 here, and it's washing right through us here. And it's going to probably continue to do so, because the wind continues to blow. But I do feel it lessening some from earlier today, so I think clearly the worst is over. PHILLIPS: Well, Jeff, also, not only has it been a problem for folks wanting to drive back and forth in this area and other parts of New Orleans, but what about the sewage? I remember that always being a problem, too, when things got backed up.
FLOCK: Boy, you said it. You know, not only that, and it's the sewage problem, it's the debris. And you know, you see it here -- I don't know if you're able to see what it's like -- but there's all sorts of debris here. There's, you know, the tires and bottles and all kinds of stuff. It's -- you know, it's going to be a heck of a mess. And you see back in there, all of that, you know -- not good stuff that will have to probably be cleaned up at some point.
So, you know, when something like this happens, there is a cleanup that comes after it, even when it's not a tremendously serious storm -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. And, Jeff, that's not your news rig behind you, is it?
FLOCK: No, that was someone who was not too smart about trying to drive through this washed-out area.
PHILLIPS: All right, Jeff Flock in New Orleans -- thanks, Jeff. Glad it's drying off today.
FLOCK: Thanks, Kyra.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
