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EPA: Contaminated Floodwater Dangerous; Search for Missing Persons Continues in Gulf Coast

Aired September 07, 2005 - 14:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Once again, looking at the high flood -- the high level of floodwaters here in the City of New Orleans. And as we continue to see this throughout the city, we're getting reports in now, the EPA officially coming out and saying that initial findings from floodwaters sampling does indicate high levels of E. coli coliform bacteria, as well as lead.
Now, our Elizabeth Cohen with our medical unit had done similar testing with our medical unit, and those results did show E. coli and other bacteria, as well as lead. And now the EPA coming out and saying, yes, indeed, that no one, no one, should drink the floodwater, especially the children. Evidently, that has happened in extreme cases. Now the EPA saying there are high levels of lead and E. coli in that water.

In addition, Dr. Julie Gerberding, as you know, director of the CDC, has come out and said that people should do all that they can to avoid contact with that water, as well. She has urged anyone who had not yet evacuated that city to do so. As you know, that bacteria can cause a number of common intestinal illnesses.

In addition, the CDC coming forward, saying it's investigating four cases now of illnesses, three of them fatal, that have been caused by these bacteria infections in the intestinal tract. Of course, people with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to the bacteria, as well. Even though these cases are scattered, she says -- they also say they don't think this represents an outbreak -- but still coming forward saying, indeed, there's a problem.

The water is extremely dangerous. Obviously, don't drink it. And anyone in that area should not come in contact with that water and should evacuate that city, as the mayor is asking everyone to do so.

Well, we're hearing about the work done in New Orleans by the first responders, as well. Police, fire, medical professionals. Well, we're also hearing about the tremendous pressure that they're facing working to save people, while not knowing whether their own families are safe.

A Tulane University psychiatrist says there hasn't been enough help for the helpers, or protection for those who are helping. So he went back, ready to protect themself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. JEFFERY ROUSE, TULANE UNIV. PSYCHIATRIST: Where was the help for the helpers? And if a psychiatrist has to come in on his own with a gun and a backpack to do it, that's not a failure of an individual, that's a failure of the entire system.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And that's what you did, you came in with a gun and a backpack of medicine?

ROUSE: And a backpack of supplies for myself, including medicine, bandages, you know, scalpels, I mean, just anything I could get my hands on.

COOPER: Are you carrying a gun -- do you carry the gun with you?

ROUSE: It's right here. I was not coming back to this town without this. I was not coming back in this town checking my house without this. I have a sworn oath to help. And the last thing I want to do is hurt somebody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, hundreds of patients, doctors and nurses were trapped for days at New Orleans Charity Hospital, surrounded by waist-deep water without power, food or medical supplies. Gunfire slowed efforts to get people out.

Dr. Norm McSwain is Charity's chief of trauma. He's in Nashville at Vanderbilt University Hospital now, but he wants to get back to New Orleans to help.

And, doctor, before we talk about you going back, if you don't mind, will you just tell us what it was like to be in the hospital. And just listening to this doctor saying he had to get back, but he wasn't going back without his gun -- how dangerous did it get?

DR. NORM MCSWAIN, CHARITY HOSPITAL TRAUMA CHIEF: Well, for us it didn't get particularly dangerous, because we had the protection of our police force, our hospital police force. And that certainly provided us help. And then there was one marine sniper that came in to watch over us and that was very helpful as well.

PHILLIPS: So you didn't have to worry about looting or anybody coming in and stealing the drugs, or worrying about your patients at all from that perspective, from a criminal perspective?

MCSWAIN: On the Tulane side, we certainly knew that there were people wandering around in the parking lot and the medical school after we evacuated it. On the Charity Hospital side, I think it was a little bit more dangerous. And it's my understanding that some of the personnel had to barricade themselves in one of the upper floors and call for help with their Blackberry.

PHILLIPS: Wow. So meanwhile, on your side of Charity, you were still able to work on patients. Did you have everything you need? Were you able to maintain all the lives within your trauma center?

MCSWAIN: Well, within the trauma center, we certainly did struggle to do that, when you have reducing supplies and stuff. And that's why it was really important to get them evacuated out as soon as possible. And I went across to the Tulane side to assist in the evacuation of the Tulane Hospital and the patients who we got across the street from Charity, as well.

PHILLIPS: What about your family, sir? Are they OK?

MCSWAIN: My daughter was -- my daughter Mary left and went to her home in Gulf shores, and she was out, but then she picked me up at the airport in Lafayette and brought me up here, and has been up here in Nashville with me.

PHILLIPS: Well, sir, you are the director of trauma there at Charity. No doubt, you have seen some horrific things in that trauma center. How did this compare?

MCSWAIN: Well, this compared -- the horrific things that we have seen in the past, the gunshot wounds and so forth, there was always plenty of supplies, plenty of light, plenty of electricity, with x- rays, C.T. scans,, and the ability to operate on patients in a very good environment.

With this situation, we didn't have any electricity, so there was no C.T. scans, no x-rays, none of the things that we usually use to try to protect patients. Although our radiology techs were able to set up an x-ray device for us. It was very helpful. So we could get some films. But I think the important thing that all of us felt is we needed to get the patients out of the hospital as quickly as possible.

PHILLIPS: Did you...

MCSWAIN: And one night we did get -- the first night we got some gunshot wounds and took them up to University Hospital and operated on them rather than do them in the trauma center.

PHILLIPS: My gosh. And do you know what those gunshot wounds were from? What the situation was?

MCSWAIN: From a gun.

PHILLIPS: Well, yes, of course, but you know what I'm saying.

MCSWAIN: I know what you're saying.

PHILLIPS: The situation, yes. You're giving me a hard time, Doctor.

MCSWAIN: I was being a bit sarcastic. Yes, they were from guns. I do not know what the situation was, but this -- the one particular patient that I remember that had some of my trauma team operate on had gunshot wounds to the neck and abdomen, and fairly severe, involving one of the major vessels in the abdomen.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, so many people talked about the criminal activity in the city, so I was just curious if you saw firsthand, you know, how things got out of control from a criminal perspective. I mean, there was so much talk of guns being stolen and firefights going on and attacks on emergency crews. I mean, were you responding to some of those people wounded in those situations?

MCSWAIN: No, because EMS system at that particular time -- when Charity Hospital and Tulane Hospital had both become a moat, the EMS system was transporting patients to other hospitals that had functioning lights and stuff. East Jefferson and West Jefferson were getting the patients at that time.

PHILLIPS: Well, are you going to be able to get back in, sir, and help the people that are there now?

MCSWAIN: I certainly hope so. One of my initial goals before I go back is start looking for educational positions for our surgeons in training so -- because they're not going to have a hospital to work in down there for a year or so, so we've got to find them other places they can get their education. So now that we have the things stabilized, we've got a system to move EMTs back into the city for replacement, then my next goal is to look out for the surgery residents and see what I can do to get them some places for education.

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll follow your progress. And Dr. McSwain, thank you for keeping your sense of humor. I needed that today.

MCSWAIN: Thank you very much. I enjoyed it.

PHILLIPS: OK? I'll be in touch.

MCSWAIN: All right. Thanks.

PHILLIPS: Well, straight ahead, helping to reunite family members separated by Hurricane Katrina. An update on some positive progress, coming up next.

And on pet patrol, our Jeff Koinange takes us on a rescue mission to save the pets one family had to leave behind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Many of the parishes surrounding New Orleans are still mostly underwater. One helicopter crew flying over the area described it this way: "Town after town of unqualifiable destruction."

St. Bernard Parish is one such example, but researchers -- or rescuers, rather, are still finding people who survived the hurricane and its aftermath.

CNN's Gary Tuchman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It sits in ruins. St. Bernard Parish, to the east and southeast of the city of New Orleans, got outside assistance even later than New Orleans. For the most part, it was too late. People either got out, or are dead. But there are a few exceptions. Eight days after Hurricane Katrina ripped through, a rescue takes place. A woman, her neighbor, and her dog go through the flooded streets in an airboat. They were spotted frantically waving from the second floor of a flooded out house by the men in a Georgia National Guard chopper.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been flying over these houses, tree top level and stuff, and a few people have just been sticking their hands out and waving to us.

TUCHMAN: Veronica Pidoe (ph) is in good condition despite her serious arthritis and not having water for the last two days.

(on camera) We've got some water for you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

TUCHMAN: OK. I hope that tastes good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Delicious. This is better than ice cream.

TUCHMAN: I bet you it is.

(voice-over) Many people in this parish are presumed dead. It is feared that many of the missing never evacuated from a nursing home that is now under water.

Veronica Pidoe (ph) didn't realize until a couple of days ago how serious the situation is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't think the water was going to go up that high. We have an upstairs, but the water went up about 14 feet above the ceiling on the first floor.

TUCHMAN (on camera): The rescue and recovery efforts here are hampered by the fact that much of St. Bernard Parish is still under water. Emergency vehicles just can't go down most of these streets.

You look under the water, and you see schools of small fish in the streets, which is quite interesting considering the fact this isn't just water; this is also oil.

(voice-over) Oil covers virtually everything in St. Bernard, apparently leaking from a refinery. The odor is overwhelming. So is the burden for local law enforcement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only sheriff's department in the state of Louisiana right now that's totally homeless. All deputies lost everything they had.

TUCHMAN: The clean-up is now underway, even as the rescues and rescue attempts continue.

Gary Tuchman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE) (WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Relief in the form of reunion. We're working to bring family members separated by Katrina back together again. Carol Lin, of course, has been following that -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we have a real hero story. A senior citizen who saved the life of a 95-year-old man. That story after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: CNN is continuing its mission to reunite people who have lost track of family members and friends due to Hurricane Katrina.

Carol Lin is at CNN Victims and Relief Desk with the latest. Pretty amazing story, Carol, coming up.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's great. And we tracked this one through our e-mail system. And we also just spoke with a nursing assistant, a senior citizen who risked her life to care for her patient.

Anita Douglas (ph) had cared for 95-year-old Charlie Korn for the last six years in New Orleans, but never under conditions like what you're about to see. Floodwaters were rising, so she and her husband carried Mr. Korn to safety, and then, she and her family spent the night on the streets caring for her patient, who is wheelchair-bound. Then they ended up at the convention center when the chaos broke out in New Orleans. Anita Douglas never left Charlie Korn's side. His family says Anita and her family are the true heroes in this disaster.

Now, the family of a missing nun is desperate to know what happened to her. Sister Marie Anunciata Boucree is 83 years old. She actually lives in New York, but was visiting New Orleans when Katrina hit. The sister is confined to a wheelchair. Her family thinks they saw her at the Superdome in a CNN report.

Now, I've said to watch our air. You might see your family. So more good news to report about a missing 93-year-old grandmother, Mary Tolliver. her granddaughter thought she saw Mary in a CNN report, so she froze -- you know, she did a freeze frame of the shot of the 93- year-old outside the New Orleans Convention Center. You can see her there with her hand up to her face. This was her first confirmation her grandmother was OK. And then she had no way to find her. Well, now we can tell you that Mary Tolliver has been located. Her son is right now on his way to pick her up from a nursing home in Gonzalez, Louisiana.

All good news around to report, Kyra. And, of course, we're depending on our viewers out there to let us know if you have seen some of the missing people we've been putting on the air. And we're very grateful for all the messages.

PHILLIPS: Good news. Carol, thank you so much. Well, returning to rescue storm victims that had no choice but to stay behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I know, I know. Y'all alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Few precious pets back on dry ground. That's next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And this just into CNN, these pictures and this information. Evidently a car bomb in Basra, Iraq. We're being told that this car bomb in the center of Iraq's second city here of Basra has killed at least ten people, and injuring at least 17 people. The late evening blast was a bit of a shock for this mainly Shiite southern city, which has been relatively calm compared to the regions further north right now.

According to a spokesperson on a British Armed Forces patrol in that city, he said that it appears to have been a large vehicle bomb explosion just right in the center of Basra. Not a suicide bomb at this point, but a car bomb, right here in Basra, Iraq.

You know, covering -- the last time that we covered something, of course, out of Iraq that was -- that was of a large nature of those dead, of course, was that stampede that took place after prayer in a mosque. And things have been pretty calm since then, considering the constant activity in Iraq and the constant war on terrorism that continues with troops over there.

And now we're getting word in that a vehicle bomb -- we haven't heard of this in this part of the area for quite some time -- but now reports in from Basra. And these pictures -- here's the car actually right here, car bomb killing at least ten people and injuring 17 others.

Once again, it happened late in the evening in Iraq. It was a big surprise for this mainly Shiite southern city. It had been very calm in this area for such a long time, especially compared to other regions further north, in other parts of Iraq. But a vehicle bomb exploding here in the center of Basra.

All right. We're going to continue to bring you more information of this explosion, coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM." We're working information now and getting more in. It looks like that this explosion didn't happen far from an emergency center. Now I'm being told this explosion -- so you can see, emergency crews responding.

These are pictures now, I'm being told, of people that were injured in that explosion. And they're being brought in into this emergency center in Basra. Now, your first shots there from the videotape of the individuals that have been injured and killed in that vehicle explosion.

We'll have more on that car bomb, in Basra, Iraq, that happened late in the evening there, not long ago, in "THE SITUATION ROOM," coming up.

Well, I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Wolf Blitzer takes over now, live in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

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