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Hurricane Survivors Returning Home to Destruction; Michael Brown Grilled on Capitol Hill; Job Fair in Georgia Geared Towards Evacuees

Aired September 27, 2005 - 14:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS: Well, the most frightening aspect of a hurricane may be when it hits. The most heartbreaking, perhaps, is when survivors return to find what's left of homes and neighborhoods, homes that have been an integral part of their lives for so many years.
As CNN's David Mattingly reports, what some are discovering in Louisiana is almost too painful to bear.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was the latest flood to hit New Orleans. For a short time, traffic crowded the interstates, as displaced residents flowed back into their neighborhoods to resume work interrupted by Hurricane Rita.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Louisiana State Police opened up the roads back into the greater New Orleans area.

MATTINGLY: In New Orleans, only people in the least affected areas were allowed to return. In some of these neighborhoods, flooding never was a problem.

But, to the east, in neighboring St. Bernard Parish, residents were allowed to return for the first time, temporarily, to visit their flood-ravaged streets and homes.

LESTER MESSA, RESIDENT OF ST. BERNARD PARISH: We have been here, what, 29 years, and never thought it would come to this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

MATTINGLY: Members of the Messa family slog through the ankle- deep muck inside their house to recover a lifetime of memories one piece at a time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't want to remember it like this. You just don't. It's heartbreaking.

MATTINGLY: And the heartache has just begun. Areas that reflooded from Hurricane Rita's storm surge will have to remain off- limits even longer. In New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward, ground zero for two levee failures, some streets remain nearly impassable.

(on camera): The only traffic coming through here right now are the helicopters. (voice-over): The noise from above is the only thing that breaks the eerie silence. Wading through the inundated and deserted neighborhoods, I found trees that are still filled with tattered clothing and rows of houses that have been smashed and shattered.

(on camera): Looking at all this water, it's almost impossible to believe that this area had actually been pumped dry by Friday. But now, because of the new flooding, all the recovery work that had been going on was for nothing. It will have to start over again.

And one thing hasn't changed. For all the residents who live here, on that day when they're finally allowed to come back to their homes, many will be coming back to find they have nothing to come back to.

(voice-over): That moment of reckoning will have to wait until the damaged levee is shored up and the water is again pumped out.

David Mattingly, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, have the many CNN correspondents covering the deinstruction in New Orleans, one brought a unique perspective to the job. Jeff Koinange is originally from Kenya and serves as our Africa correspondent. His beat is a part of the world where incredible human suffering and massive destruction, both manmade and natural, often appear to be the norm.

Jeff joins me here on set in Atlanta, actually heading back to Africa. But I'm curious, before I ask you about a couple specifics -- similarities, differences. You probably found a lot of both.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Especially driving down Convention Center Boulevard that third or fourth day, the massive sea of humanity. People yelling and screaming, people calling for help. The only difference that day was I didn't see any blue tents and United Nations peacekeepers. Everything else was like a refugee camp in a third world country. I've seen that scene so many times over, but didn't expect it to be in the U.S.

PHILLIPS: Yes, that's where the outrage comes from. So many people from overseas saying this isn't supposed to happen on American soil.

KOINANGE: Correct. And that's why the people are saying why did it take so long? And when they do the debriefing on Katrina and Rita later on, they were asked that one question. Where were you those four and half days? Why did it take so long?

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's talk about one story you did, pretty amazing stuff. You went out with the NOPD SWAT team. Jeff Winn (ph). I've known him for 10 years, I know you got to know him. The guy is amazing. He hung in there and led that SWAT team.

KOINANGE: And so little sleep, those guys. And half their homes were destroyed and they were still showing up for work, 18, 20 hour days. And working the night. They took us to a place called the Mogadishu (ph) Mile, and they called it that because it was just like Somalia. The sniper ralley, you know, people sniping at them. And they still worked day and night. Unbelievable stuff, these guys.

PHILLIPS: And I think a lot of people sort of forgot about the crime that exists in New Orleans. I mean, heavy crime, a lot of drugs, a lot of shootings, a lot of murders. And this SWAT team takes on crimes that, I mean, you just don't see in other parts of the world. So here they are were dealing with that, with little resources.

KOINANGE: Plus a natural disaster.

PHILLIPS: Unbelievable.

KOINANGE: Yes. And when everybody else left, the looters were still in town. The looters were waiting for the water to be pumped out. And that's what Jeff was telling us. They would go house to house. After the water had dried out in an area, they would go in there because they would know the house was abandoned. So they had to work day and night.

PHILLIPS: You know what, and we should make that point. Because a lot of the cops did leave, a number of them, but so many stayed. And Jeff Winn and the SWAT team and so many of those dedicated officers really pulled off some amazing missions. What do you think -- I mean, as you got to know them -- I mean, I know what drives a lot of these guys, it's an incredible commitment to their job, but what do you think it was? They just -- did they say to you I just can't leave? I mean, this is my home.

KOINANGE: This is it, absolutely. They said no matter what happens, this is where we grew up. This is what we're supposed to be doing. And Chief Eddie Compass and the rest of them, they were telling us the same things, that we're here to do our job no matter how long it takes, no matter what happens. And they hung there. They held their post. They watched the post. And I think this is what separates them from a lot of the other guys who just couldn't take it anymore.

PHILLIPS: Well, speaking of high crime, the Ninth Ward, the lower-lying area, some of the worst housing developments, you know, used to be in that area. A lot of them torn apart now. You went through there.

KOINANGE: Yes.

PHILLIPS: You saw the devastation.

KOINANGE: Oh, unbelievable. And then again, just as water was dried out, again Rita hit them. So they got a double whammy. Houses in the middle of the streets. Cars flipped over. Homes that will never have to be lived in again. They'll have to see condemned. Half those neighborhoods, if not all, in the Ninth Ward especially, will have to be condemned and start from all over again. It's going to be a tough, tough job.

PHILLIPS: How did you deal with the health and safety issues, particularly in the Ninth Ward with the high water?

KOINANGE: The good thing is, we actually had a doctor on site, a CNN doctor, so he was there, making sure that we were all obviously all inoculations, vaccinations, everything was up to date. And we had waders. For the first time -- I had covered stories like this before, I never had waders. So we had waders and you could go out into chest- high water. And that was fantastic. I mean, we made the fact that the water didn't get on us or in us.

And we waded through neighborhood after neighborhood. So took precautions. We knew the water wasn't safe, we knew there were some parts were you couldn't go, where the water was contaminated with fuel or sewage. But for the most part, if was OK, was safe and the officials told us it was safe, we would go in.

PHILLIPS: You tell us a lot about the great things that go on in Africa, but you also talk about AIDS and the poverty and some of the awful things that still exist in that -- on that continent. What is going to stick out the most in your mind after going to New Orleans and other parts of the region here in the U.S.?

KOINANGE: I'll tell you what. The spirit of giving and compassion and outpouring of love. When I landed at the airport in Atlanta, people were walking up to me and saying, what can we do to help? We knew you were in New Orleans. What can we do, as individual Americans to help? Can we adopt the children? Can we give them money -- which organizations should we give money to? And these are ordinary Americans, people who, you know, just walk the streets or take a flight here and there. But that I will never forget. Yes, Americans give a lot outside the country. But when it comes to their own, when push comes to shove, they do come through.

PHILLIPS: We have a duty. We're so lucky to be living in this country.

KOINANGE: No doubt.

PHILLIPS: All right. Jeff Koinange, on your way back to Africa. We look forward to your stories from there.

KOINANGE: Thank you. Thank you very much.

PHILLIPS: But thanks for just being a part of this and joining us to talk about it, too.

KOINANGE: Thanks very much.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Jeff.

KOINANGE: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Well, Rita's rage caught on tape. A father and a son trapped in this home as floodwaters swallow everything inside. Can you believe this video? They were able to capture this while trying to save themselves. It's an amazing story of survival you won't want to miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Neighbors helping neighbors hoping to get a fresh start. Hundreds of Georgia employers want to interview evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. They're holding a come as you are job fair at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. Our Tony Harris is there and, Tony, you said earlier, lots and lots of jobs, even folks walking out with a job as we speak.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Kyra, we hope so. That is what we're looking for. We want to meet a few people who have walked in here looking for a job and have actually walked out with a job. We haven't quite found that story yet, but we're still looking for it.

As you mentioned, just a massive job fair here. We're at the World Congress Center here in downtown Atlanta, 300 exhibiters, 10,000 jobs spread out over 200,000 square feet of exhibit space.

The lead organization has been the United Way on this job fair, and they were able to pull all this together in all of 19 days. The problem today, Kyra, has been too many job seekers, not enough jobs, 10,000 jobs, 15,000 job seekers. Folks started lining up, we understand, at 6:00 a.m. this morning to get in here.

The doors were actually closed to folks at noon today because the organizers just couldn't accommodate all the people who wanted to get in and try to find a job. That led to a certain amount of frustration, nothing too heavy -- no pushing, no shoving, but frustration nonetheless. One man who certainly has not been frustrated by his day here is Taza Valentine. Taza, nice name.

TAZA VALENTINE, NEW ORLEANS EVACUEE: Thank you.

HARRIS: Reporter: Thanks for being with us. Describe your day here.

VALENTINE: Wonderful. Fabulous. Very productive. A lot of companies, a lot of resumes have been handed out. Hopefully I'll get a lot of job interviews except for the two -- besides the two I have coming up Monday.

HARRIS: But Taza, you're not walking out of here with a job. Is that frustrating?

VALENTINE: Not at all. I'm happy. At least they know I'm here. They know my resume is out there and I have two appointments coming up Monday.

HARRIS: Are you looking for a job that's temporary or are you looking for something where you can actually stay here and put down some roots.

VALENTINE: Something very permanent. I am going to actually relocate here from New Orleans.

HARRIS: What did you do back in New Orleans?

VALENTINE: I did paralegal work and also sold timeshare.

HARRIS: And that's the kind of work you're trying to continue doing here?

VALENTINE: Yes, for the most part.

HARRIS: Good luck to you.

VALENTINE: Thank you very much.

HARRIS: Good luck to you. So, Kyra, that's the story here from the Georgia World Congress Center. Things are wrapping up in just a few minutes, actually at 4:00 Eastern time. And this is the kind of event that you certainly can imagine popping up all over the country as these evacuees, these folks able to survive Hurricane Katrina get back on their feet and start to reconnect to the infrastructure of their lives.

PHILLIPS: That's great news. And, Tony, quickly, you said that they're going to working on another job fair, is that right, because this has been so successful?

HARRIS: Yes, overwhelmed. Folks here were absolutely overwhelmed so the United Way is trying to put together another job fair. We don't have a firm date yet. They're trying to do something in October, maybe in the next couple of weeks, but they're still trying to firm up the location, trying to get the Georgia World Congress Center again because clearly this is the kind of hall, the size of hall that they need to handle all the people who need to be processed.

PHILLIPS: All right, Tony Harris, thank you so much.

And while we talk about individuals there who lost everything in New Orleans and elsewhere, getting jobs, you know, there's been one individual we've been talking about all day and that's former FEMA Director Michael Brown. He was out of a job. He's back into a job now, we're being told paid as a consultant to testify before Congress -- actually he's testifying before Congress now.

A lot of Q&A going on, heated debate about what he did wrong, what he's admitting to, the changes that need to be made. A lot of questions about whether he should even be on the payroll considering what had happened with the fallout of Hurricane Katrina and the response.

Right now some serious grilling going on with representative Gene Taylor, Democrat, Mississippi, but we want you to hear what happened a few seconds ago between the Congressman and Michael Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. GENE TAYLOR (D), MISSISSIPPI: Now, following your being recalled to Washington, what is your current employment status with FEMA? Are you currently an employee? Are you on the chart or are you a consultant? Or ...

MICHAEL BROWN, FMR. FEMA DIRECTOR: I'm a consultant to the secretary's office going through these documents, reviewing. They're starting a remedial review, a hot wash of what took place and I'm participating in that.

TAYLOR: So you're not a federal employee at this point?

BROWN: You know, I don't know. I assume I'm a federal employee because I'm a consultant and -- I know I still have ...

TAYLOR: Who signs your paycheck, the federal government?

BROWN: Yes, the federal government still signs the paycheck right now.

TAYLOR: OK. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Back live as the Q&A continues now. Let's listen in.

BROWN: I don't recall. I'd have to go back...

TAYLOR: As someone whose testimony says you are a facilitator of information and resources, that's obviously a resource, so at what time did you ask for his resource? What day?

BROWN: I didn't ask him. I asked General Landreneau, who was in charge of the National Guard.

TAYLOR: Of one state.

BROWN: Yes. And I also spoke to -- and if he is listening, I apologize, I don't remember his name, but I also spoke to the adjutant general in Mississippi.

TAYLOR: What's the name of the chief of naval operations?

Did you at any time in all this, as someone who prides himself on...

BROWN: No, because I spoke...

TAYLOR: ... being the facilitator of information and help, since you only have 2,000 employees, and since they had a sizable contingent in south Mississippi, did you speak to him? And when did you speak to him?

BROWN: No. Instead, I spoke to the commander at NORTHCOM, and I spoke to Deputy Secretary England. I didn't need to speak to the naval commander. TAYLOR: So when did you speak to Deputy Secretary England?

(CROSSTALK)

TAYLOR: After the storm, that you spoke to him...

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: I had an e-mail from Secretary England, I believe on Monday, as a matter of fact.

TAYLOR: OK. And it was in regard to what?

BROWN: What they were doing and what they were providing.

TAYLOR: And what were you asking of him as someone who is a facilitator of other people's...

BROWN: He had already offered. He was already offering.

TAYLOR: I know he's offering, so what did you ask for? BROWN: We asked for the Bataan, that was already moving up the Gulf Coast. I think at that time, or maybe the next day, we asked for the USS Comfort. And there was a third ship, whose name I don't recall right now.

TAYLOR: In the coordination of other people's assets that you make reference to, how well was the Comfort used?

BROWN: I think it was misused.

TAYLOR: Why?

BROWN: The state of Mississippi put a request in for the USS Comfort for medical purposes.

For those in the public who don't understand, the Comfort is basically a hospital ship, provides medical care.

The state of Mississippi made a request for the USS Comfort for medical purposes. That request was then withdrawn, because they no longer needed it. Mississippi had a need for housing. So I made the rational decision that if we could put a cruise ship that was not being utilized, in the Port of Houston, in Mississippi, which is obviously better used for housing, could even move the Comfort to New Orleans.

TAYLOR: Are you aware in your capacity of a facilitator of other people's assets that the state of Mississippi would not certify the Comfort, which is good enough to patch up Marines and soldiers who suffer the most horrible of wounds?

The state of Mississippi had never certified the Comfort as a state-recognized hospital. And therefore people who were picked up by the ambulance -- remember, the bridges between the coastal counties are gone, so if you are hurt in Jackson County, the assets in Gulfport or Biloxi are no longer available to you.

Were you aware that those people could not be delivered to the Comfort? I would think as the coordinator of all these events that maybe you would have been aware of that, maybe you would have picked up the phone to Governor Barbour or someone and said, "We've got this great asset here, why aren't you using it?" Why didn't that happen?

BROWN: Because they no longer needed it. I was informed that the state of Mississippi no longer needed the USS Comfort because they had the hospitals open and they would rather take people to the hospitals than to the ship.

TAYLOR: I was informed last Friday...

BROWN: You and I have a difference of opinion.

TAYLOR: ... by the head of American Medical Response that they were told they could not deliver the patients there and that in frustration the doctors off the Comfort went into town and started practicing medicine literally on street corners or anyplace they could just to feel that they were doing something.

I would think, in your capacity as the federal emergency management association, you could have done a little bit better than that. BROWN: Well, first, I would think that you would know it's the Federal Emergency Management Agency and not an association, that we're an agency of the federal government.

And second of all, that decision about what to do with the USS Comfort was made by me on the day that I was sent back to Washington, D.C. So what occurred after that, I have no knowledge of, Congressman.

TAYLOR: Don't you think it would have made sense to follow up and see that that asset that you asked for was being used properly?

BROWN: Congressman, I just told you that I did that. And I made a rational decision, because based on the information that was given to me, the state of Mississippi -- the state of Mississippi, who is the one who is the responder in this incident, said they no longer needed the USS Comfort. So I made a rational decision to move the Comfort to New Orleans and to move a cruise ship into Pascagoula.

After I left, that decision was apparently overruled or changed.

TAYLOR: All right.

In the lessons learned department, you said earlier that we should not be in the business of providing gasoline. If you saw the paper last week, you saw people pushing their vehicles down the highway in Texas in the stalled traffic for fear of running out of fuel. That made you aware of a heck of a lot of people who could have and would have left south Mississippi, gone and stayed with relatives, if fuel had only been available for them.

Since you kind of came and visited but left quickly you may not be aware that when the electricity goes down, so do the fuel pumps. So even if it's in the tank at the station, it's not being available to the public.

In the wake of all this, do you think it would be prudent for FEMA to rethink its position on delivering fuel to people, to help them evacuate, to help them run the generators, so that they don't have to become a burden on the citizens of this country?

BROWN: No, I do not, because I don't think that it's a wise policy decision to supply every man, woman and child or family with five gallons of gasoline, which is a dangerous commodity to begin with. And if we do it beforehand, we preposition it, it's going to wash away in floodwaters or it's going to be taken to a shelter. I just think that's a bad idea.

TAYLOR: So we got you to where you think...

PHILLIPS: Back and forth continues right now between Congressman Gene Taylor, Democrat, Mississippi. He lost his home, actually, in Bay St. Louis. Grilling former FEMA director Michael Brown right now. As you know, Michael Brown, being paid by the government as a consultant to explain before Congress here what went wrong with regard to Congress, and response to Hurricane Katrina. As you can imagine, it's a very controversial issue, position right now. But the back and forth continues, and we're following it.

Also straight ahead, fast and furious. A home overcome by rapidly rising water in an area where the storm surge was most severe. The amazing video. The father and son actually shot this video while trying to get out of their home. It's incredible stuff. You won't want to miss it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, you always hear that a majority of deaths during hurricanes are caused by flooding and storm surge. Well, you're about to see why. A Louisiana resident had his camera rolling as floodwaters poured into his home, putting him and his father in immediate danger.

CNN's Anderson Cooper has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At around 5:00 a.m., Cliff Choate woke up thinking that Hurricane Rita had left him and his dad, Boyd, unscathed.

CLIFF CHOATE, RITA SURVIVOR: I got up, I looked in the back yard and it looked like the yard was moving. So I ran in the house to tell my dad that the water was coming.

BOYD CHOATE, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: Ooh, it's up to the windows. We can wait down here until either the door busts or whatever, you know? If the door busts, we're going to have to get up there. There isn't really a whole lot they can do for us, son. C. CHOATE: We tried to get everything we could in the attic, stuff to break the ceiling open with and food, water, stuff like that, and the camera.

B. CHOATE: It's starting to come back in at the door. We've got major damage.

COOPER: Despite the rapidly raising water, Cliff and Boyd remained remarkably calm.

C. CHOATE: The rain picked up. The water was already 4 feet in the house, 4 and a half feet. And then the waves just started pounding the house.

B. CHOATE: After it gets up a ways, it's going to bust those windows.

C. CHOATE: At about that time, my uncle called and said they were having boats ready, people trying to come in.

B. CHOATE: Haven't seen any snakes yet.

C. CHOATE: The house was breaking apart, so I made a decision. I crawled to the north side of the house and took my shotgun and blew the wall out. Just in case it fell, we didn't want to be in the attic. I jumped out the window, and I swam across the road, to the neighbor's house and got a boat, I mean -- and as I was swimming across Highway 82 in about 6 feet of water, the Coast Guard helicopter was coming over. And I was like, "Man, that's good news."

COOPER: The Coast Guard choppers were rescuing dozens of stranded residents in Vermilion Parish, but Cliff had a boat and thought he and his dad would be OK.

C. CHOATE: I had the boat started, and we were in good shape then. So I went to pick up my dad.

COOPER: They weren't sure where to go. Every place they looked was flooded. That's when their problems really began.

C. CHOATE: We were just trying to get north, anywhere, to where we could walk or, you know, anything. Just to save fuel, we turned the motor off, and we started floating. And I was like, "Man, Dad, the boat's leaning." So I ran to the back of the boat, and I opened the hood, and the engine was almost under water. So I grabbed a trash can and I started -- anything that could go wrong was going wrong -- I started bailing it out, bailing it out, as fast as I could.

We were sinking right there. So we turned the motor back on, and we got up against a tree, I finally got the water back down. I was like, "Dad, we need to turn around and go, try to make it in." When we turned around, the boat ran out of diesel. So, by that time, the helicopter was coming back around. I flagged them down, and they came and picked us up. That was all there was to it.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: Incredible story of survival. Well, that wraps up this Tuesday edition of LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Now Wolf Blitzer is live in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

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