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Evacuations Taking Place All Across Louisiana and Texas

Aired September 22, 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: Evacuations taking place all across Louisiana and Texas, preparing for the worst from Hurricane Rita. Mayor Jesse Galvan of Arkansas -- or Aransas Pass, Texas, on the phone with us now.
Mayor, tell me, you have 8,200 people in your small city there of Aransas Pass. Is everybody out?

MYR. JESSE GALVAN, ARANSAS PASS, TEXAS: That is correct.

PHILLIPS: And tell me, how did the evacuation go? How did you alert everybody? And how quickly did it move?

GALVAN: We started early evacuation on Wednesday, Wednesday about 11:30, 12:00.

PHILLIPS: So, Mayor Galvan, how did you get the word out?

GALVAN: We had the city manager, and we employees going up and down the street, letting them know that it is mandatory evacuation.

PHILLIPS: And how did you get the elderly out, those with no transportation? How did you prepare for that?

GALVAN: Well, we coordinated with the school district to allow us to use their buses, and we evacuated those individuals this morning around 9:00.

PHILLIPS: Now, give us an idea where Aransas Pass is. What is it close to? What's the biggest city it's close to? Give us the demographic.

GALVAN: It's a little bit north of Corpus Christi, about 22 miles above Corpus Christi.

PHILLIPS: And made up in demographics-wise, made up mostly of retirees? Do you have a lot of young families in your city?

GALVAN: It's a mixture, mixture of retirees and the youth, the youth. We still have middle-aged people here.

PHILLIPS: So was it tough to get folks to move, or was everybody pretty much cooperative?

GALVAN: No, it was cooperative very well, and the citizens were very cooperative.

PHILLIPS: Have you been through this before, mayor?

GALVAN: Yes, I have.

PHILLIPS: When is the last time you went through this?

GALVAN: Probably about two years ago.

PHILLIPS: And were you mayor at that time?

GALVAN: No, I wasn't; I mayor pro tem.

PHILLIPS: And so if you look back at that, did you have to evacuate two years ago?

GALVAN: No, we didn't.

PHILLIPS: OK, so this is obviously quite different. What do you think you did differently here? How did you know -- is it lessons learned from a couple weeks ago that got you moving into a different direction, or obviously this is the worst hurricane to head that way, much different from two years ago, right?

GALVAN: Yes. Well, it has a lot to do with communication. As long as the lines of communication are open between the city, the city department heads, the city manager, and all work well, then, you know, it runs pretty smooth.

PHILLIPS: Mayor Jesse Galvan of the city of Aransas Pass, Texas, we wish you the best of luck, sir, thank you for your time today.

GALVAN: OK, thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, these picture only show the physical impact of Hurricane Katrina, but the economic damage continues to pile up as well. Another 103,000 victims of Katrina filed unemployment claims last week, bringing the two-week total number of hurricane-related jobless claims to 214,000. There may be relief on other fronts, as Congress approves more than $6 billion in tax breaks to help people recover.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

PHILLIPS: I just got word Hurricane Rita a category four. Dave Hennen, I'm glad you're sitting next to me. We'll talk about the science behind Hurricane Rita in a minute, but category four.

DAVE HENNEN, CORRESPONDENT: Category four, not a whole lot of difference, Kyra. I mean, We're still dealing with a very intense storm. The difference between, as Max Mayfield always puts it, being hit by a Mack truck or getting hit by a train, it's really not much of a difference. We'll still be dealing with, we think, a very intense hurricane as it hits landfall.

PHILLIPS: As we get word it's a category four, when we start talking about the Gulf loop current, now we get a little bit into the science of everything. Define Gulf loop current for us first. HENNEN: Yes, a little bit of water cooler words for you here this morning.

PHILLIPS: It sounds cool, but...

HENNEN: Yes, exactly. Not so cool for what it does, though. What it does is really take these hurricanes -- it's like the fuel and the high-octane stuff for these hurricanes to explode in development.

Let's show you our graphics. First of all, a nice picture of what we're looking at this morning. There is Hurricane Rita. Now a category four. And you can see why it's weakened a little bit, see how the eye there has filled in a little bit on the satellite. Not surprising we have seen this weakening, very rare for a hurricane to hold that type of intensity for that long. It did reach historic proportions last night, though. We, in weather, measure pressure in millibars, so it's just a number. The number you need to worry about is anything below 900 is extremely intense. We have only had three of these storms drop below that pressure.

And as far as the current goes that we're talking about, here's what we're looking at. Kind of a closer look here. Into the Gulf of Mexico, basically, where you see the bright red and the oranges, that is hot water. And not only hot, but also deep. And why is deep important? Because, remember, as a hurricane moves along into the Gulf, it is churning up the water. And the water gets -- the cooler water below the surface gets pulled up to the surface. So if you have very hot, deep water, you get these storms that continue to form.

These are the wind speeds, as you see right here. Here's the track, so far, as it's moved along. So here's the track of the storm. This has gone up to its present location. And look at what happened as it moved from some cooler water here in the blue into this loop current, which is this area right here. This is where we saw the explosive development. Not only did we see this explosive development in this hurricane, but same thing in Katrina.

This loop current does not change much. The water temperature's slow to change, so this loop current, which is this area, which is actually water that's getting pushed up from the Caribbean, the very hot water down there, because you head further south, you head closer to the equator where the temperatures are warmer and that warmer water gets pushed northward just like that, and that's where you get the hot water.

And now look where the storm is going. It was expected yesterday to actually pass a little bit further to the south. See this little area right here? That is a cooler eddy. That was cooler water.

But look what happened. This may be only a brief, temporary change in the forecast intensity of Katrina going down, because look what's it's going to head into, another one of these warm eddies that may, in fact, intensify it. The good news is, as we go forward, though, as we head closer towards the coast, we're actually dealing with cooler waters. PHILLIPS: And you talk about the spring effect, right, the hot water, the cooler water. And you talk about that physics of conservation of angular momentum that you've been teaching me.

HENNEN: Right, exactly. I mean, think of this hurricane. One thing that will happen now, as we go forward is, it's like winding up a spring. You wind up that spring real tight, you're going to release some of that energy now. So what was really wound up tight is not quite as tight anymore. Some of that is going to start to fan out. So the wind field, which was very compact, the hurricane force wins only extending out 50, 60, 70 miles, are now going to begin to spread out further.

So while the hurricane is weakening, that's a little bit of a misnomer. It means the hurricane force winds are going to get to the coast a little bit sooner. And also, we are dealing with more widespread hurricane force winds.

PHILLIPS: All right. More updates and more science at 2:00. Dave Hennen, thank you.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: I challenge you to think of something less welcome in the city of New Orleans right now than storm surge and high water. But Hurricane Rita may bring exactly that. And the fragile system of levees that is barely holding back a flood as it is -- well, those levees are about to be tested again.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim is in New Orleans today. Keith, I know there are a lot of nervous people right now.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are nervous, Kyra. And that's because the weather's starting to change. You can see right now that it's really windy. And there's a sense that there's a storm coming on.

The big concern over the next couple days, Kyra, is rain. If we get a lot of rain from Hurricane Rita, that will really change the equations here in the city. That's because Hurricane Katrina has really weakened the levees from several weeks ago.

And now the Army Corps of Engineers is saying that if we get three inches of rain in a six hour period from Hurricane Rita, considering that we're on the eastern front of the storm, likely, then that will mean there would be two to four feet of flooding back in the city in the low-lying areas. That could be pretty bad.

The Army Corps of Engineers is using portable pumps to try to prepare for the onset of Hurricane Rita. They're also shoring up the levees. The mayor, as you've been reporting, is urging residents to get out. The governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, is telling residents in the southwest corner of the state to get out and head north.

And, Kyra, I know you were here just a couple days ago and you experienced the weather, as I have, here. It has, for the past couple weeks, been quite hot and humid. The good part about that, though, is that we have had very little precipitation in the city for the last few weeks. That has been a terrific thing, in terms of trying to get the water out of the city.

There's a real chance here, though, that if we do get a lot of water in a short period of time, the fate of New Orleans could change for the worse. Hopefully not.

PHILLIPS: Keith Oppenheim there in New Orleans, keeping an eye on the levees for us, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, and of course, all the military leaders there right now. I'm being told also at 3:00 Eastern time, Mayor Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, live on CNN.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Losing almost everything to a hurricane is bad enough, but one Louisiana family is determined to carry on because the challenges they face go far beyond the loss of their material possessions. Here's CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TONY NATA, EVACUEE, SON HAS CANCER: You'll be all right. Be all right.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How much can one family take? A house ripped apart...

T. NATA: Waves was splashing everything around.

COHEN (on camera): And that's all mold?

T. NATA: That's all mold.

COHEN (voice-over): Winds so strong, waves so high, the swing set landed across the street. Most of what the Nata family owns is in the front yard. While Robin and Tony, Sr. survey the damage to their home in Slidell, Louisiana, 6-year-old Tony, Jr. has to stay in the car. All that mold could be toxic...

ROBIN NATA, EVACUEE, SON HAS CANCER: Give momma a hug.

COHEN: ... to a child with cancer. Tony has leukemia. Three months ago, it looked like he was in remission. Then doctors found cancer in the membranes surrounding his brain. He has a 50-50 chance of surviving.

(on camera): How do you keep going?

R. NATA: You have to. You have to. It's about our kids. It's our life.

COHEN (voice-over): Tuesday, it seemed like Tony was doing pretty well, all ready for another round of chemo. But then bad news.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wait for the transfusion. You will be admitted for a short stay.

COHEN: Tony's too sick to get his chemo right now. He has to leave the clinic and go to the hospital to get a transfusion of blood platelets.

R. NATA: I know they say things happen for a reason and, you know, you're only given what you can handle, but it's tough. It's tough.

COHEN: Between trips to the doctor, Robin and Tony face a difficult choice -- save the house they love or move to someplace safer.

T. NATA: I beg for anybody or anything to help me with the answers because they're not coming. They're not coming at all.

COHEN: In the end, little Tony may make the decision.

T. NATA, JR.: Yes, we ate great fish.

COHEN (on camera): You catch fish this big?

(voice-over): Like generations before him, Tony lives for this marsh, this canal. Fishing is his favorite pastime, his only pastime, really, since he's too sick to do sports or even go to school. So his parents plan on rebuilding their house, cleaning it so even Tony, with his damaged immune system, can live here.

T. NATA: It has to be perfect and I want it to be perfect and it will be perfect for him.

COHEN: Perhaps it's hoping against hope.

T. NATA: I know we all have to become stronger after something like this and dealing with little Tony, his situation, you have to become stronger. That's the only way we're going to survive.

COHEN: Hope right now is the most precious thing Robin and Tony have, the key to saving their house and to saving their son.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Slidell, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We told you a little while ago about the Houston Airport. It was all jammed up because workers weren't showing up to work today. We talked with Rick Sanchez. Now John Zarrella on the phone at the airport there. John, what's going on? JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the airport is certainly -- can be described only one word, bedlam. Departing flights -- we talked to some people who were saying that they literally can't get on flights, they're stuck here in Houston, trying to get out. Every flight to every city is booked. People are trying to get on flights to anywhere, to get out of Houston.

The lines at the security checkpoint are just an absolute mob scene. It's just swamped everywhere. Now, I know the reports of TSA and workers who may not have shown up today at the airport. We have seen the TSA workers. There are some there. Whether it's the same complement or number that there would normally be, at least here at terminal C where we are, we did see the TSA workers checking people in.

But, again, it is absolutely bedlam there. And I'm sure no matter what the normal complement of people would be, that wouldn't be enough to handle the volume of people who are trying to get out of Houston -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: I wonder if these TSA workers evacuated early, if a number of people there operating the airport evacuated early. Do you know, John?

ZARRELLA, Well, I know one thing, that as we pulled up on our flight out of Ft. Lauderdale to the gate, we actually had to wait for about ten minutes to get to the gate because the pilot came on and said the staffing of the ramp workers is down.

There weren't enough ramp workers, so we had to wait for them to get someone to bring the jet way up in order for all of us to deplane. So certainly this storm, and what may be transpiring in the next 24 to 36 hours, has cut down apparently on the number of employees who have shown up for work here, no question.

PHILLIPS: All right, John Zarrella there at the Houston Airport. A lot of workers not there, definitely not enough people there to handle the flow, flights delays -- obviously, a lot of people try to get out of that area. Just an lesson learned, hit the road if indeed it's safe. Back roads, of course, is what the mayor and other leaders have been saying.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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