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Gulf Coast Assesses Damage from Katrina

Aired August 30, 2005 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: High wind and high water all along the Gulf Coast. Checking out the damage now, the rescue effort and the body counts. We're bringing you the latest details this afternoon on LIVE FROM.
And the devastation moves inland as tornado spin off from the hurricane. Homes and businesses are gone as we continue to track Katrina's path.

From our New York newsroom, I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Well, it's now a pinwheel of rain and storms soaking much of the eastern U.S. But it's the tropical depression's previous reincarnation as Hurricane Katrina that will be remembered for a long time to come.

The misery it left behind is far from over, though. In many places, it's just begun. Eighty percent of New Orleans is under water. And the mayor says he expects a significant loss of life. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of people are trapped in their homes, and the water is still rising.

In Mississippi, the governor says credible reports put the death toll between 50 and 80. But those figures are far from final. One million people in that state are without power.

And there are two confirmed deaths in Alabama. Three hundred and forty-five thousand people have no power.

Well, it's been a miserable few days at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, home to thousands of storm refugees. Conditions are worsening as even more people are arriving at the huge arena today.

CNN's John Zarrella reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm standing outside of our hotel on Common Street. After Katrina went by, the water here actually subsided. It was dry. But in the overnight hours, there was a breach, a breach of the levee on the lakefront. Now the water is beginning to pour into the city.

You can see this. It has all come up in the last few hours. The cars are just about submerged above their wheels. It won't be much longer before they are floating. The water is also, if we can take a look now, creeping up the sides of the buildings here. Earlier today, none of this was standing here. So it is continuing to rise.

Down in the distance there, the sandbags that surround the hotel. None of that was covered earlier today. And, in fact, even during Katrina, the water never got as high as it is.

On just about every street that you look at here in the French Quarter, near the front quarter, the business district, there is rising water. Canal Street, a block over, had some high, dry ground. But even that is beginning to go under now.

It's impossible to gauge how widespread this is, because we can only get a few blocks at a time. But clearly, everywhere that we see, everywhere that we stand, is water, and the water is rising.

John Zarrella, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: With our John Zarrella, of course, we've got a number of reporters from all our affiliates across New Orleans and other parts of the United States working these reports for us.

We want to take you now to some recent reports put together by a couple of reporters, Ed Reams and a number of other reporters from WDSU in New Orleans. This is what they just brought us moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And in New Orleans right now, after Hurricane Katrina, there is reports of looting. If you take a look at Smith and Wollensky restaurant right here, we're hoping that the storm did all this damage. All of the glass completely knocked out. The restaurant is completely exposed.

And also, if you take a look over here, they have a tree, completely knocked down and blocking Poydras Avenue right here in downtown New Orleans. Now I just showed you Smith and Wollensky. My colleague, Ed Reams, is going to show you the rest of the damage in this area.

ED REAMS, WDSU CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bruce (ph). That's the Hyatt hotel. And look, the whole right side of the building has been blown out; nearly every window in this hotel does not exist anymore.

In fact, we understand that they tried to move guests in the middle of the night last night down to the first floor, because windows were being broken by flying debris left and right.

In fact, many of the buildings along Poydras Street here in New Orleans have a lot of missing windows on the other side of the buildings. And as you can see, all this debris in the road -- there's metal, glass, every type of material you can imagine. In fact, our photographer is almost falling over debris like this, this glass, just laying in the middle of the street. There's going to be a long, long cleanup for the city over here.

In fact, take a look down here. People are taking pictures, just trying to capture the sheer devastation that this city caused in -- this hurricane caused. Let's talk to these folks. What do you think about this damage out here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that we have been very lucky. Because this definitely was a tornado that just cut across, because we felt it. We were staying at La Pavillon, and we felt the bed. My mother said, "The bed is shaking."

I said, "Yes, it is." So you can see the path it took. It was a tornado.

REAMS: Were you in town visiting? And were you aware...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I live here. I evacuated to La Pavillion. I'm local.

REAMS: Do you -- why did you decide to ride out this storm, considering that this is the worst that this city has ever seen?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good feeling. I don't know. I live in Charlemagne (ph), so we evacuated here. So I don't know how we figure out, you know. They say it's flooded. And I don't know. But we stayed.

REAMS: Do you think the city's going to take awhile to recover from this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely. Yes. At the pace that we work, yes. We need help. Definitely.

REAMS: OK, thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

REAMS: So you can see, lots of cleanup. Actually, Travers, you know, take a look inside here.

TRAVERS MACKEL, WDSU CORRESPONDENT: This is Smith and Wollensky right here. I hate to even touch this, but you can look right into the restaurant, right here, the glass completely blown out. This is the restaurant right here. Look at the damage it did, just to this one block here of downtown New Orleans.

REAMS: I think a lot of us will be checking throughout the city of New Orleans. I mean, almost -- you can't even drive a block without seeing some -- some major damage and twisted metal and folks almost just walking around in awe of the power of this storm.

MACKEL: You know, we were talking about, as we were driving on i-10, which is very difficult to navigate at this point. In fact, you have cars on the westbound side going east and westbound. Now, when people come back into New Orleans -- there's no way they're going to be able to get back into the greater New Orleans area at this time. But when they come back, it's going to -- as you said, they're going to be in awe. Their jaws are going to hit the floor when they see the damage done.

REAMS: Right. A lot of flooding around the area. A lot of people won't even be able to get into the city until the flooding -- floodwaters recede. Of course, we'll be checking on this damage throughout this city and bring this to you throughout the day.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And thank to our reports there from WDSU in New Orleans.

Well, a visitor from California captured the extent of Hurricane Katrina's fury in Biloxi on video. Take a look at this. This is the view from the fourth floor of a parking garage near the ocean. Below, you can see the water rising. It carried entire trees, shrubs, and other debris all across town.

And the man that shot the video says that he came to Biloxi to experience the effects of a hurricane firsthand. He admits he got more than he bargained for.

Now back to New Orleans and a rising threat, literally. Water is covering most of the city, even streets that were relatively clear after the storm. And the level continues to creep up. Here's why.

Most of the New Orleans -- as you know, lies famously below sea level. You can actually see the city's bowl shape in this cross- section right here. But some of the levees and pump protecting the Big Easy from the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain have failed. And that's highly unusual.

Tulane Hospital is surrounded now with six feet of water, we're told. And officials are considering evacuating the facility's 1,000 patients that are in there right now.

And there's yet more destruction to report in the Big Easy. The hurricane destroyed Interstate 10's twin span bridge over Lake Pontchartrain. It connected -- or, rather it connects New Orleans with Slidell and the Gulf Coast.

President Bush is cutting short his vacation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The White House says that he will return to Washington tomorrow, two days earlier than planned. He was in California today to address Navy sailors and World War II veterans. The president took time out of his speech to ask Americans to get involved with the hurricane relief effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We know that many are anxious to return to their homes. It's not possible at this moment.

Right now, our priorities are on saving lives. And we are still in the midst of search and rescue operations. I urge everyone in the affected areas to continue to follow instructions from state and local authorities.

The federal, state and local governments are working side by side to do all we can to help people get back on their feet. And we have got a lot of work to do. Our teams and equipment are in place. And we're beginning to move in the help that people need.

Americans who wish to help can call 1-800-HELP-NOW. Or log on to RedCross.org. Or get in touch with the Salvation Army. The good folks in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama and other affected areas are going to need the help and compassion and prayers of our fellow citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the remnants of Hurricane Katrina are causing more misery for more people today. You know that. We've been talking about it all day.

Meteorologist Chad Myers tracking the system from the CNN Weather Center. A lot people wondering, what's next, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it has been downgraded to a depression, Kyra, now 35 miles per hour. And in fact, many of the reports that I can find are around 30 miles per hour.

But to be honest, a lot of the weather reporting stations have been knocked offline, either by a wind gust or lightning strike or whatever it might be.

But here it is the right now. To the southwest of Paducah here, going to be traveling on up over Cincinnati, and then right into Erie, Pennsylvania, and then to Ontario and Quebec.

Now, this is not part of the hurricane itself. This is just the depression. Literally, this is only, at this point, only really just moisture left over. Yes, there is some rain. Yes, there is some clouds. But there isn't that devastating wind that has been affecting all of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama and Louisiana.

But look how far this storm spreads. There's rain all the way from Boston. All the way from Maine, and really, almost Newfoundland, right on back into Tennessee with this storm.

We'll take you to a couple of radar spots. Here's Indianapolis. In fact, they even have a live camera from Indianapolis, WTHR, showing you the low cloud cover. Some airport delays with some of these storms, because the planes have to fly around many of these. They're a little bit too high in some spots for the planes to get through them. Thanks to our affiliate there, you can obviously see the wet, gray day Indianapolis having.

In fact, though, for Cincinnati, just got an e-mail. This is actually helping down by Cincinnati's -- the Lufkin Field (ph). There's actually -- that's a leak in one of the tanker cars there, and this is actually helping keep that tanker car cool. So that's kind of an odd situation on how Mother Nature can help sometimes.

Farther down to the south, rain showers all the way down into parts of Atlanta, into Charlotte, Columbia. Some of the showers could be severe today. You see the box here, tornado watch boxes. Two hundred tornado warnings yesterday. Only officially nine on the ground. But there will be some tornado warnings today, for sure.

Now we have our Rob Marciano down in Biloxi, Mississippi. Rob, what do you have this morning? This afternoon, I guess, now.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Now this afternoon, Chad, this is where the storm surge was the greatest, at least in Biloxi. Tons of debris everywhere. The video that Kyra showed just a few minutes ago highlighted just how powerful the ocean, or at least in this case, the Gulf of Mexico, can be, when you get one of these storms roaring up just to the west of here.

So we've estimated, judging from that video and some water marks that right here the storm surge probably was 19 or 20 feet, and in low-lying areas, even more than that.

So you see some of the damage. This is Highway 90. This is really the main strip in Biloxi, at least where the hotels and the casinos are. I mean, this is just littered with debris. There's an ambulance trying to get through, driving around a roof that has been carried off whatever structure and plopped down right on U.S. Highway 90.

Lots of debris in the road. Lots of mud that's been carried back as the storm surge recedes.

Rick Spraggens (ph), come on in here, Rick. You told me your story earlier about what happened to your home. Why don't you tell it to our viewers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we had to evacuate from where we are, over on the Point, which is the lowest point here in Biloxi. And it's -- all the houses are gone. Four or five of them on top of each other in the middle of the road. I can't even get to my house. We ended up staying over on the Back Bay, over by Keesler (ph). And basically, every house there is washed away, as well.

MARCIANO: now for folks that don't know, I mean, Keesler (ph) is, I don't know, probably two or three miles inland. But they got a storm surge also?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's on the edge of the Back Bay. And they're probably, possibly about as low as this here. And I know the Camille mark came up to the edge of the road, where the house that we ended up staying in, the water surge just came up to about here. And their living room sets at about 19 feet above sea level. So that surge was definitely high.

MARCIANO: So it's possible that the east winds, before the storm even came, probably have piled up some of that water?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct. And you know, we watched houses just disappear, you know, the water level get up over the roof. And then when the water receded, the houses just weren't there anymore.

MARCIANO: And where exactly in relation to that were you, in that storm?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About 20 feet across the street from it. Yes.

MARCIANO: How -- what were you feeling when the storm was going on? Were you scared?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I was a little scared. But I was more scared for the people -- we had a couple elderly couples there with us. And we were staying in a reinforced concrete house, including the ceiling. And the water just busted through the doors and the windows. And we ended up having to put them in a little raft and just try to keep them afloat.

And there were some people down the street that, an elderly couple, that I tried to get out and help, but I couldn't -- I couldn't find them. I couldn't get inside their house. It was just rubble.

MARCIANO: Your home destroyed now? What's your plan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got family all around. And maybe they're seeing this and know I'm OK. But I can't get out and call anybody. There's no way to let everybody know that, you know, I'm OK. But we're fine. Everybody lost everything, but we're, I guess, pretty resilient. You know, we're going to make it and possibly move away from here. I don't know.

MARCIANO: We appreciate you telling your story. So sorry for the loss of your home. Best of luck to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, thank you.

MARCIANO: Just one of many stories that we're hearing here in Biloxi, Kyra. Can't -- they can't even make calls out. You know, water supplies are limited. The Red Cross, you know, they say, ideally, you need to be self-sufficient for, like, 96 hours before -- you know, before FEMA and the Red Cross can get their massive nationwide effort in here.

And you know, by that time, Chad, it could be a week. So the first few days of this kind of situation is when it's the most desperate. And you can see that in the eyes of some of the survivors.

MYERS: Yes. And just to the west of you now, word coming in that Pops Ferry Bridge (ph) is not usable anymore either. So you're going to have to go around farther even to get there, which was a direct route. No longer a direct route available. So Rob, I know it's difficult.

Hurricanes are at one point fun. Then they become scary. And now -- now it's just saddening. And I've been there and I wish you the best. Stay safe. There's a lot of nails out there. Be careful where you're walking -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Chad, you say you've been there. I've been there a number of times, too. It's amazing just seeing the terrain now. I mean, that's such a popular tourist area and a great place to get away to.

All right, Chad, thank you so much. And you saw the report there from Rob Marciano. Obviously, so many people need help in this area. And emergency management agencies are ready to help you, if you do need them. And here's the hotline numbers, the various hotline numbers.

In Alabama, the number is 1-800-843-0699. In Mississippi, you can dial 800-222-MEMA. And in Louisiana, you can call 225-925-7500. Now, those numbers will get you in touch with the state's homeland security and emergency preparedness unit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, the lucky ones are rescued.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have any ailments, broken bones?

PHILLIPS: While others may be lost forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hold her hand tight as I could, and she told me, "You can't hold me." She said, "Take care of the kids. And the grandkids."

PHILLIPS: The awful aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We're getting new information and new video all the time.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can hear people yelling for help. You can hear the dogs yelping, all of them stranded, all of them hoping someone will come.

PHILLIPS: Helpless people and their pets wait for help. We'll check in on the Gulf Coast's four legged friends and try to find out how they're doing, as well.

And the landmarks of...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Our Hurricane Katrina coverage continues. The aftermath is what we're talking about today. And you'll remember within the past two days we talked about New Orleans and the New Orleans mayor coming forward, saying that he wanted everybody to evacuate that city. And those that couldn't leave were to go to the Superdome. Of course, the famous dome there in New Orleans, where the Saints play and a number of other athletic events take place and concerts and various events.

Well, thousands and thousands of people lined up to get inside that Superdome. They were to bring three to five days worth of food and clothing just to survive there.

We haven't really had a good chance to get inside and see how those are doing, those individuals that are still in there. But of course, a number of reporters in New Orleans have been working that angle for us.

And just to sort of give viewers a sense of what it looks like, this is the latest video. And we got it from our affiliate, WDSU. These are the thousands and thousands of refugees that took shelter inside the dome and made it their home. And will continue to make it their home, who knows how long? Many of these people lost their homes completely.

So let's talk more about what people are going through. Actually, you just saw a scuffle there. You can just imagine, this is not easy for people. And there's probably a bit of chaotic times for those that are living inside the dome right now, the Superdome.

But let's get right to an anchor and a correspondent there, in New Orleans. She actually joins us by phone. But for the record, I want to say not only is she a reporter and anchor in New Orleans, but she's one of my best friends. And I actually tried to get in touch with her within the past day.

And Susie, I hope you can hear me, Susan Roesgen, because it's fate that's bringing us together now by phone.

SUSAN ROESGEN, WGNO CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Can you hear me OK?

ROESGEN: Yes, Kyra, can you hear me?

PHILLIPS: Yes. It's great to hear your voice. First of all, tell me how you're doing. Obviously, you live right there in the beautiful Garden District. Are you OK? Is your home OK? And then I really want to know what's going on with all those inside the Superdome also.

ROESGEN: Yes. Let me tell you what's going on. I was not able to get home. I tried last night to check out my area. Too many downed trees, way too much broken glass.

I am now at the television station, where we have been feeding CNN video, as much as we could, right before the storm and just as it was coming over. Now we are unable to feed you the latest video, but I have just come back. I walked to Superdome.

Kyra, this area is completely surrounded by water. The freshest information is there is a football-sized -- a football field -- a football-field-sized breach in the Seventeenth Street Canal. That's one of the levees around the city of New Orleans, and that is now flooding downtown New Orleans.

Yesterday on CNN we brought you that video of those long lines of people try to get into the on-ramp there at the Superdome. That onramp is now under water. I just spoke to police Captain Marlon Defillo with the NOPD, and he says they're using 3,000 sandbags to try to fill that breach in the levee, which is several miles from here. So you can imagine how much water is coming through that area.

City Hall, where the mayor is right now, Kyra, is surrounded by water. They're going to try to get the mayor out and get him to a command post here at the Superdome.

What I want to tell you about the Superdome is that you're right; it is chaotic to a point. But the tension is extremely high. The toilets are overflowing. There is no power. It is ungodly hot in there. And there have -- they have brought several people in with injuries. This is now the place to bring the people that they're plucking off the rooftops.

And you have between 24 and 30,000 people in the dome who want to get out, even though they realize there's no place to go to.

The people that they're bringing into the Superdome now have broken legs, broken arms, and worse than that, I just, 10 minutes ago, talked to two eyewitnesses who saw a man jump to his death. They say he appeared to be acting normally. He was playing a game of dominos on the second level, in the second level bleachers in the stadium inside the dome, when he calmly got up. He asked two people on the floor below to watch out and then he jumped to his death -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh, Susan. So what's being done then to keep the peace? I saw in the video a couple flashes of some military uniforms. Is it a combination of military and police in there, trying to keep things calm?

And, also, what's your sense of could there be more jumpers? I mean, are people getting so frustrated, so hot, and so depressed, because of what they're dealing with, that now we're seeing people commit suicide, or do you think this one individual was sort of a unique situation?

ROESGEN: He may indeed be a unique situation. I don't want to say that it is so out of control in there that people are -- you know, that everyone is in that frame of mind. Mostly, they are upset. They're saying tell President Bush we need some help. Obviously, federal help is on the way.

Captain Marlon Defillo with the New Orleans Police says they're waiting for federal help. They know it's on the way, especially to shut off that breach in the 17th Street Canal.

But you've got a lot of people here who can't go anywhere. They all ask me, "Can I use your cell phone? Can you call somebody for me? Can you call my mother? Can you call my father? I've got six little children, my nephews and nieces. Last I heard, the water was rising. Can you help?"

And I say, "I can't help." I have a Verizon cell phone. Apparently, the Verizon tower is down. I'm only able to talk to you now because I'm in one of the last areas where there's a functioning phone line. You cannot even make a local call in New Orleans to find out what's going on.

I just happened to see the police captain walking through the waist-deep water outside the Super Dome and got an interview with him. And then I've got my boots and my waders on, and we're walking around, trying to get whatever information we can.

PHILLIPS: Susan, I remember when you and I covered Opal years ago. I mean, this just doesn't even come close to what we saw and dealt with then.

Susie, will you keep us updated and let us know how things are going inside the Superdome there and just keep us posted on other people that you're talking to and update us?

ROESGEN: You bet. I'll get back to you. If -- God willing and the phones still work, I'll be back.

PHILLIPS: All right. Susie, thank you so much. That's Susan Roesgen with WGNO there in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Well, for the past 36 hours or so, our reporters have been witness to the raw and utter devastation that Katrina has caused. And it can't help but affect you. Jeanne Meserve talks about the emotional toll now that it's taken on her and her crew.

We're going to hear from Jeanne Meserve right after the quick break. I apologize.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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