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Mayor Renews Efforts to Repopulate New Orleans; Residents Return to Texas Cities; Gas Prices Not Seeing Jump Due to Rita; Georgia Schools Closed Due to Fuel Prices; Insurgents Strike School in Iraq; IRA Announces Disarmament

Aired September 26, 2005 - 13:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, HOST: Damage done. Rita hits hard. New views of the damage the hurricane left behind. We're live from Louisiana and Texas.
Heading home. Evacuees who left Houston get back into town. Is what happened in this Texas city changing your city's evacuation plans?

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris, in for Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Don't tell people in Cameron, Vermillion and Calcasieu parishes that Rita could have been worse. The storm that largely spared big city Houston and swamped only portions of New Orleans has obliterated, in the words of Louisiana's governor, small towns and villages in Cajun country, some of which are still under 15 feet of water.

The water is going down in Lake Charles, the city and the lake. But the city will be off limits to the vast majority of its 75,000 residents until at least October 3.

Ray Nagin wants to see more than high water and stray dogs on the streets of New Orleans two days after Rita. A week after Nagin had to suspend his repopulation schedule, the water is being pumped, the levees being patched and the return is on.

CNN's Mary Snow has the latest.

Hi, there.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Tony.

And now New Orleans is being put to the test. It has been 27 days since Hurricane Katrina hit here in New Orleans and devastated a city. The mayor, Ray Nagin, is allowing people in specified areas to start coming back in slowly. This is that program that was started last week and had to be suspended.

Some homeowners returning, seeing their homes, some for the first time since the hurricane hit. There's another area called St. Bernard's Parish. This was so hard hit officials there are allowing people to come in, see their homes and then they, most of them, will have to leave, because it is so badly destroyed. And this is one area that was recently flooded by the waters of Hurricane Rita, and not everyone is going to be able to go back into their homes.

But as for the city of New Orleans, we have been seeing some traffic jams earlier throughout the day. This as there are checkpoints set up. Only people in these designated areas will be allowed in. And they include Algiers, which is on the west bank of New Orleans, and this is an area that did not receive as much damage as others. And its infrastructure is in place, meaning running water and electricity.

And also here on the east bank of New Orleans, the Central Business District, French Quarter uptown district, the city is allowing business owners to start coming in. This as New Orleans tries to get back to normal, but there is nothing normal about this city right now.

People are being told enter at your own risk. People with families are telling to keep children out, keep elderly people out. You have to be able to be mobile. Do not bathe or drink this water. There's also a curfew in place.

But the mayor is taking a look to see how this goes and to determine when the rest of the city can come back in.

Now he suspended the program last week because of fears of flooding because the levee system had been weakened by Hurricane Katrina. And as we all know now, there had been more flooding when New Orleans felt the outer bands of Hurricane Rita on Friday. Water overtopped the levee of the industrial canal and poured into the lower Ninth Ward, reflooding it for the second time in three weeks.

The Army Corps of Engineers saying that they expect to be able to pump out water out of that region by the end of the week -- Tony.

HARRIS: Mary, quickly, the repopulation plan this time around doesn't seem to be quite as controversial as it was about this time a week ago. What gives?

SNOW: That's right. And if you remember, federal officials, most notably Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen, who's in charge of the federal efforts here, met with New Orleans' mayor last week. And they have been working together.

Yesterday, Vice Admiral Thad Allen expressed some concerns about the entire repopulation of the city. He was OK with this phase, saying certain things have to be determined before the rest of the city can come back.

But also the mayor is not really giving a strict time line on when he wants to see the rest of the city coming back, so you really have to monitor what's going on now in order to say and give the green light to the rest of the city.

HARRIS: OK. Mary Snow. We're looking at some live pictures now of folks coming back into some of the areas obviously hard hit by Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita. Live pictures now out of Louisiana, as you can see.

Boy, when people start to come back into some of these areas that you have just mentioned, Mary, they're going to find that their homes have been devastated, much of the property and much of their keep sakes have lost to the storm and the flooding and what's left is water-logged.

Live pictures in right now. And it is going to be quite a scene as folks come in and out of the city for the first time, in many cases seeing exactly what is left, what has been left by Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Katrina. Boy.

And moving on now, that high drama slow motion exodus from Houston to Galveston is playing in reverse today, except a whole lot faster and, we trust, smoother.

CNN's Bob Franken is our man on I-45. And Bob, how is that traffic moving today? I see it's picked up quite a bit, actually.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually I would say that you're right about it being the opposite. Instead of high drama in slow motion, this is low drama and high speed as the cars zip by.

Virtually everyone has decided to ignore the police and local officials for a phased return after the debacle that you talked about from last week. People are coming back because they want to come back, and they're not going to wait for a staggered return.

So as a result the city of Houston is beginning to look like it did just about every time before this historic evacuation. There are some problems still there, which is why officials are trying to slow things down.

The problem mainly, the lack of power for a couple of hundred thousands homes and businesses yet and intense heat that's going to make it very uncomfortable for the people who go back to those residences.

The winds from Rita, by the way, which we saw were quite formidable, are still -- not as formidable as they were, elsewhere -- still responsible for some fallen trees and some fallen power lines in places.

But at any rate, this city, of course, escaped the brunt of the storm, and the people who escaped the city now want to go back.

HARRIS: OK. CNN's Bob Franken for us on I-45. Bob, we appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, if you didn't know before, you've likely heard by now that all of those refineries around Houston and Galveston account for a quarter of the U.S. fuel supply. For the most part, they rode out the storm pretty well. But last we heard 16 were still shut down. And President Bush is very concerned. He got a briefing this morning at the Energy Department after which he briefed reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll use the strategic petroleum reserve to help the refineries with crude oil. We will continue the waivers to allow the winter blooms (ph) of fuel to be used throughout the country. We will continue to waiver that required -- to allow broader use of diesel fuel. We understand there's been a disruption in supply, and we want to make sure that we do everything that we can to help with the supply disruption.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Now for what it's worth, the markets are hugely relieved. Rita's sidestepped Refinery Row. And CNN's Ali Velshi is taking stock of all of the day's developments.

Hi, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you. You're absolutely right; they are hugely relieved. Oil is down yet further today to $64.50 a barrel. Natural gas has eased back a little bit. Heating oil is still in its same area.

But there's some sense that this thing did not hit the refineries and the oil production facilities as hard, certainly, as Katrina and as hard as some thought it might be.

Now, Tony, the issue that we're facing here is that we have learned -- all of us have become something of experts on refineries and the refining process, the Gulf Coast and how much oil and gas, natural gas is produced there.

We now know, we now understand that our demand has really bumped up against our ability to supply almost all of the energy that we use in this country.

So we are going to see perhaps some pullbacks on prices of gasoline and other fuels, but these are high prices. I mean, if it pulls back today we're talking about a national average in gasoline, unleaded gasoline, of $2.80. Tony, that's a lot higher than it was a year ago. It's a lot higher than a lot of people thought they'd be paying for things.

And you know, these refineries between these two hurricanes, as you said, 25 percent to 30 percent of the country's oil production refining capacity all in the way of these two storms makes people kind of wonder how vulnerable we are.

So that's got to be top on people's minds right now as they make decisions about how they go on in life and what they spend on and what kind of cars they buy and how they get to work. HARRIS: Yes, and Ali, the real concern was that at this time of the year we're usually putting into storage the heating oil, and that right now just isn't happening, is it?

VELSHI: Yes. Heating oil. The one thing a lot of people don't realize is that natural gas heats most of American homes.

HARRIS: yes.

VELSHI: It heats 60 percent of American homes. We're looking at some idea that it might be a colder than normal winter in the Northeast and Midwest. And you know, when you get your heating oil bill or your natural gas bill for the winter, you pay it usually a month at a time or two months at a time. It's a big bill.

HARRIS: Right.

VELSHI: And when you see a $200 increase or a $100 increase or a $300 increase, well, that's a decision that you make on the spot. Well, I guess that's not a new dishwasher or maybe it's not the new car, maybe the trip or maybe somebody's Christmas gift. That's when this all starts to play out in terms of the economy.

So the short-term view is that we'll see gas prices probably ease up and pull back a little bit, but these are high prices.

HARRIS: That's true.

VELSHI: And people don't budget for these kind of increases in major parts of their budget.

HARRIS: OK. Ali Velshi, appreciate it. Thank you, Ali. Good to see you.

So what does a hurricane in Louisiana have to do with snow days in Georgia? Once again, it comes down to gas. School kids are thrilled, parents not so much by a decision by Georgia's governor to use a couple of snow days to close the schools, park the buses and save a few 100,000 gallons of fuel. More on that from reporter Rebekka Schramm of CNN affiliate WGCL in Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REBEKKA SCHRAMM, WGCL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Juwana Anderson (ph) normally would be working right now, but not today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was an inconvenience for me having to take off today. And then by me taking off my neighbors will take off, too, and everybody will miss work. So I took their kids last night, and I ended up with nine kids at my house.

SCHRAMM: Lucky for her she can take them to the Colyer Park Rec Center (ph). In fact, recreation centers across the city of Atlanta are opening their doors to Atlanta school children for free.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be open from 8 to 8 today and tomorrow. SCHRAMM: This morning Governor Sonny Purdue appeared on the "CBS Early Show," defending his decision to close Georgia schools. Moments before he told CBS 46 even thought Hurricane Rita wasn't as bad as predicted, he still feels his decision to keep school buses parked was the right thing to do to conserve half a million gallons of diesel fuel.

GOV. SONNY PURDUE (R), GEORGIA: Obviously, it's an inconvenience. And I understand that. And it's a sacrifice. And it really is about conservation.

SCHRAMM: It's too much of a sacrifice for some. Two moms brought their kids to the state capitol for a teach-in protest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want our children to keep learning. We don't want them to take a break from learning just because gasoline is expensive. So a group and I said, "Let's bring them down to the capitol and we'll learn about civics. We'll learn about politics."

SCHRAMM: You won't hear any protests from these kids, though.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm glad. I'm real glad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS (voice-over): Later on LIVE FROM...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The waves are coming through the back door.

HARRIS: ... riding out Hurricane Rita. A Louisiana man captures the horror on camera as the water rushes through his home.

Also ahead, helping the victims. Will towns hit hard by Rita be left on their own since people gave so many donations to victims of Katrina?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: We want to take you back now to Chalmette, Louisiana, and give you a look at folks returning to their homes in that area of Louisiana. As you see, folks are returning to what we would expect after a hurricane of Category 3 has rolled through the area. Just a lot of devastation.

And looking down now as people are sort of surveying the damage and what's left, walking around and trying to figure out where you go from here.

This is an area that, you know, folks may or may not have federal flood insurance. Most folks in this area would probably be carrying some kind of hurricane insurance, but a lot of folks in this area are going to have FEMA as sort of a last resort to get their lives back together, for them to get their families back on their feet again.

As this picture winds out we can take a look at the area that -- a wider view of that area.

And the good news there, of course, is that the streets are dry. The water for the most part has receded. You do see a lot of damage. Not sure how high the water actually rose in these areas, but you see an overturned vehicle there and with that shot alone you get a sense of what happens in a storm of this magnitude. It's either the wind or the floodwaters that just take vehicles and just flip them, toss them around like toys, trees snapped like match sticks.

Just a wider view now of the city. Chalmette, Louisiana. And its people are starting to get back into the area and take a look at the homes and what is left as they pick up the pieces of their lives. We'll continue to monitor the situation there in Louisiana.

Terrorists in disguise create more bloodshed in Iraq as U.S. forces set hundreds free in a good will gesture. With the latest, CNN's Aneesh Raman, standing by in the heart of Baghdad.

Hi, Aneesh.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, good afternoon.

It was a brutal attack today south of the Iraqi capital near the town of Iskandariyah (ph). Insurgents there, disguised as Iraqi police, entered an elementary school in the predominantly Shiah area just as the kids were leaving.

They took about six of the teachers into a separate classroom, opened fire, killing them all. Tony, it's rare that we see teachers really the subject of this type of attack. It's usually police and government officials.

It's worth noting, though, that in this southern province of Babel (ph) back in February, a massive suicide bombing took place outside a school and killed over 100 people, including a number of children.

Meanwhile, today in the Iraqi capital a suicide car bomb detonating at a checkpoint in the eastern part of the city, a checkpoint that was near a number of government officials. At least seven people were killed, upwards of 30 others wounded.

Five of the dead, Tony, we're told, were Iraqi police recruits who were in line to join the police academy. A majority of the wounded worked at Iraq's oil ministry. They were in a bus essentially driving by as this explosion took place.

Now to combat this violence, to present another image out of Iraq, the U.S. military today, at the behest of the Iraqi government, releasing some 500 detainees from Abu Ghraib prison. They'll do another 500 released later this week.

It comes just ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that begins on October 15. Meant as a sign of good will.

We're told, though, by the military that all of these detainees are low level. None of them involved in suspected bombings or kidnappings or torture. It's worth noting, though, that the Iraqi government, as well as American officials hope signs like this can help spur turnout in the referendum to take place on the Iraqi constitution set, Tony, for October 15.

HARRIS: Aneesh, more coalition forces on the ground. More Iraqi troops online and yet, Aneesh, the violence continues unabated.

RAMAN: It does. And that is the key. Everyone has said all along that these political benchmarks -- we're now just days away from the next one, October 15, are essential to bringing stability to Iraq.

But as we go closer to it, from the president himself down to Iraqi officials, they said expect a spike in the violence. The key, though, that we're looking for is not just the turnout on October 15, whether we see something similar to January, but how the vote takes place.

The government has been in between both trying to get this constitution passed but also trying to make sure that Sunnis are on board. The Sunnis, of course, make up a majority of Iraq's domestic insurgents.

So if this referendum passes by a slim margin and we don't see Sunnis on board with this document, it could potentially lead to an increase in violence. So a very precarious situation, a complex one here on the ground as we approach that election day, Tony.

HARRIS: We always seem to say that. Aneesh Raman in Baghdad for us. Aneesh, thank you.

Well, some of the bulletproof vests used by U.S. troops, police, perhaps even President Bush himself may not be as effective as they should. Federal investigators are focusing on a Michigan company, Second Chance Body Armor. Apparently material used in its vests deteriorates over time, making them less effective. A company whistleblower says the president's Secret Service detail bought some of the vests. Investigators want to know whether the company concealed the defects.

Guilty, the verdict for a major figure in al Qaeda, one linked to 9/11. Imad Yarkas was convicted in Spain today along with 17 other alleged Islamic militants. Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 74,000 years. Yarkas received 27 years, 12 for being the leader of al Qaeda in Spain, another 15 for conspiracy in the 9/11 attacks.

The Irish Republican Army is no longer armed. That declaration from the man who's overseeing what has been a private process, one he emphasizes does not signal the IRA's defeat.

CNN's Nic Robertson on the scene in Belfast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The key issue that's been plaguing the peace process here has been the IRA decommissioning, as they say here, or disarming itself of its weapons.

And a report that has just been handed to the British and Irish governments here by the head of the organization that was -- that was designed to oversee the decommissioning of and disbandment of terrorists groups has handed that report to the British and Irish governments.

That report is expected to say that the IRA has put beyond use all its weapons. And that's believed to be several tons of the high explosives Semtex, up to about 1,000 automatic weapons, heavy machineguns, light machineguns, hand grenades and some -- some high velocity sniper rifles, as well.

It is significant because for the last seven years since the 1998 -- 1998 peace agreement was signed, the IRA and the other terror groups here, disarming themselves has been the stumbling block for the power sharing government here in Northern Ireland. The expected announcement today is expected to give an impetus to deal with the stalled peace process.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Take a look at this. This is what happens when more than a million people try to get out of town. The Texas size traffic jam spawned by Hurricane Rita, it has emergency planners in other cities thinking, "Are we ready for the next disaster"? We'll talk about it ahead on LIVE FROM.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: And now in the news, closing arguments expected soon in the case of Private Lynndie England. A jury of five Army officers could begin deliberations today in England's court-martial. The 22- year-old West Virginia is charged with seven counts of conspiracy and abuse in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 11 years.

A frightening scene in Queens New York, as an SUV slams into a group of teens about to take part in a parade. New York police say beauty pageant contestants were waiting to march when the driver accidentally hit the gas. Two girls suffered broken bones and three others sustained minor injuries. Police say it was an accident and haven't charged the driver.

Heavy winds and high seas as a powerful typhoon slams into a resort island south of China. The storm was packing winds of up 125 miles per hour when it hit Hainan Island. Two people were killed, home collapsed and crops of rice, rubber and bananas were swamped. Last week, the same storm system triggered massive rainfall in the Philippines and killed at least 18 people.

And now let's take you to live pictures now from outside of the White House there in Washington, D.C., of the anti-war protests. These protests began over the weekend, as you also know. And as you also know, you can see they are continuing at this hour right now.

The group United for Peace and Justice is the sort of umbrella group organizing the protest. Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq last year, is among the marchers. Again, live pictures from just outside of the White House as the anti-war protests that began over the weekend continue this afternoon.

(STOCK REPORT)

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