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Helicopters Haul Water to Fires in New Orleans

Aired September 06, 2005 - 13:33   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Live pictures right now. This is -- I mean, you talk about -- this is the advantage, I guess you could say, of having so much water right now in New Orleans. It allows the military to come in with their baskets and scoop up water and dump it on the number of fires that have been raging throughout the New Orleans area.
There was a point when we were first covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that there were no firefighters on the scene. There were fires raging everywhere, along the Mississippi, in neighborhoods. There were little small fires that were being created, even by the looters in the area, and now you're seeing a tremendous response by the military and other firefighters from the city that are able to work now and put out these blazes.

Let's listen in to the helicopter reporter for a minute as he monitors this Chinook as it brings the water in.

J.T. ALPAUGH, HELICOPTER REPORTER: See, now we've got quite a bit of fire. he's going to put it right on (INAUDIBLE). It's a good (ph) fire here. And he's going to put it right on this fire coming out of the rooftop, Trying To slide left a little bit as he maneuvers this bucket to the left. The fire is on the left side of your screen, as he maneuvers right over it. I wanted to give you a little bit of a sneak view here. Drop that right on top of that.

OK, I think he missed his mark, so this is what's call a go- around. He's going to go around and reposition. He didn't like where they -- the crew chief told him to go around, and we're going to come back for another run. He didn't want to waste that large volume of water on the wrong -- slide away. So this Chinook now going around. We're going top try to keep you in a good position here to give you a real good look.

PHILLIPS: Pretty awesome pictures right now as you're watching just one element of the military support here in the city of New Orleans, as not only are military personnel and law-enforcement personnel and rescue -- search-and-rescue teams dealing with the search-and-recovery process and dealing with the dead bodies, but just another element here, while trying to get the water out of that city, through pumps and the Army Corps of Engineers, you've got this effort going on, and that's a constant firefighting effort that's taking place.

There have been structure fires. There have been fires that have just popped up throughout the city, from people just trying to cook food and stay warm in certain parts of the city. You've seen fires break out in apartment complexes. I mean, we've seen it all. We've seen a lot of fires in the Garden District. And now in this particular neighborhood in new Orleans -- there you go, it looks like it's right on target. It's such a precise operation there as they work to take the water in those baskets and drop it where the fire is particularly raging.

Now you can see -- this has become pretty well contained. You can see -- I don't know if this is a business building or if this is, indeed, homes or apartment building. It's a large structure. It look like it might be some type of apartment or business building. But you know, the Chinook's got to come around and figure out between the wind, and the height and the speed exactly where to drop that water, and you saw them make another go-around because they didn't feel good about hitting the target. But then they came through, dropped the water and hit it right on top of the fire. Now you're seeing a Coast Guard helicopter come in right after that military Chinook, boom, and hit the fire right on target. You see the water working its way on that fire. Man, it's an arduous task. But they're working those fires by the minute.

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PHILLIPS: With so many people evacuated in so many directions, families have become separated and people have lost touch with their loved ones.

We want to check in again with CNN's Carol Lin on efforts to reunite them. Hi, Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.

We're going to have some e-mails from people who are reaching out. But I also want to let you know that there are tons of people who are offering their homes to these evacuees. When you take a look at these pictures, you can see the need. Busloads of people are arriving at Houston's Astrodome. A Red Cross volunteer told me that Houston families are adopting evacuees right on site and taking them home with them.

Also, we know that the political action group moveon.org says it has at least 100,000 beds pledged around the country. They started a site, that's hurricanehousing.org. You can sign up your house or you can find housing geographically. Also, there's a quiz to learn how you can make a good match.

But, look, we did our own research, because, you know, this can be risky business. Carefully think about how long you want to make this kind of a commitment. It could be months that these people need housing. Also, a lot of evacuees are sick and elderly or handicapped. Can you deal with those needs? And please be warned, there is no security screening. You don't know who is going to walk through your door. And there is no liability coverage. For example, if somebody ruins your house or if they refuse to leave. This is not to discourage people from offering up their homes, but to carefully consider what you can offer.

Now, we want to share some of these e-mails from these desperate viewers.

One is Terrence Anton Jones. Actually, someone is looking for Terrence Anton Jones. He's 20 years old. His birthday was May 19th, 1985. He was last seen in New Orleans. They know that he made it to Houston, but they haven't heard from him. We've got a number in case you're out there. Please, Terrence, give us an e-mail or call, let us know where you are.

Also, Patricia Herbert is trying to find her mother, Ethel Anna Herbert of New Orleans. She's 82 years old. She was airlifted back on August 31st by a FEMA doctor and two Army men from the Louisiana Superdome, but nobody has any more information about her.

And, also, really interesting case. Curan Wright is trying to be reunited with his uncle, who is a famous flame thrower in New Orleans, Don Littlejohn, the American mime and firemaster. These two were reunited back in 2000. They hadn't seen each other in 29 years, and now our viewer says that his father said they were on a boat and they only had $50 before the hurricane struck.

So, please if you have any information on these people, e-mail us at hurricanevictims@CNN.com. Also, at our Web site, CNN.com/helpcenter, everything you need to know. Including if you want to offer up housing, there are several links there for you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Carol, thank you so much.

Well, we still have a lot more ahead on LIVE FROM, including a closer look at the man the mayor of New Orleans calls that John Wayne dude. Lieutenant General Russel Honore earning no end of respect, as he takes charge of a city in crisis.

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PHILLIPS: Live pictures once again out of New Orleans. The military continuing its firefighting efforts there, taking advantage of those high waters. Loading it up in the baskets and dropping it with absolute precision on various fires that are sprouting up in a number of neighborhoods, homes and buildings. We'll continue to fire -- or cover, rather, all the efforts, including those firefighting efforts.

Well, some call him -- actually, a lot of people call him the "Ragin' Cajun," and the mayor of New Orleans compares him to John Wayne. Everybody knows Lieutenant General Russel Honore is in charge.

Our Barbara Starr is with him in New Orleans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three days after the hurricane had struck, it was clear the Cavalry really had arrived. Lieutenant General Russel Honore was there to take charge. The least textbook, least P.C. military leader one could imagine. Perhaps, exactly the right man for this impossible job.

He is seemingly everywhere, 20 hours a day. Imagine a three star Army general waving in helicopters on relief missions, constantly on the phone issuing orders, meeting with his planners at the Superdome. This is something you never see a general do.

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE: Get those goddamn weapons down! Put those weapons down, damn it.

STARR: No nonsense, no patience, no interest in playing the blame game about those who responded first to the hurricane.

HONORE: That's B.S. I will take that on behalf of every first responder down there. It's B.S.

STARR: Technically, the military is here, just to assist state and local officials. The reality, on the streets of New Orleans, General Honore is filling the leadership vacuum. One example, a late- night meeting with the Mayor Ray Nagin.

NAGIN: How do you recommend we handle this?

HONORE: I think we try to get a public message out on the radio and you tell the governor, the buses need to be there early in the morning.

STARR: Through sheer force of will, the general has pushed things forward.

(on camera): Sixty-thousand people have now been evacuated from here, at the Superdome, and at the convention center. Now, Phase 2 of the military assistance operation is taking shape.

(voice-over): Systematically, now, under Honore's central command, thousands of troops are now beginning to move through the streets of New Orleans and surrounding parishes, providing food, water, and rescue for thousands still believed to be trapped.

Honore also is preparing his troops for the worst kind of soldiers' work, where Americans must recover the bodies of fallen Americans.

HONORE: Then the next run at this is to take a look at going house to house and building to building, will have to be done.

STARR: This very plain-spoken man who says exactly what he thinks, warns all of this could be the toughest part of the disaster.

HONORE: It's a potential to be bad.

STARR: But this tough-talking general has only compassion for the people of this city. He stops to help stranded mothers and babies.

HONORE: Hey, tiger. Hey, tiger, let's go.

STARR: It's all so personal to this Louisiana native. He has a cousin here still unaccounted for. A daughter in New Orleans, displaced to Florida, and he worries about Mississippi soldiers he trained last year and sent to Iraq.

HONORE: I told them when they left, we'll take care of their families, and we're gonna do that.

STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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PHILLIPS: Live pictures once again as we continue to monitor those firefighting efforts. And take a look. This is something everybody's been waiting to see, water getting pumped out of the city of New Orleans. Finally working on that levee.

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PHILLIPS: Well, coming up in the second hour of LIVE FROM, thousands of children displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Where will they go to school? We expect to hear from the president about that next hour. A live briefing from the Pentagon is also ahead in just a few moments.

LIVE FROM is back right after this.

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