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What Went Wrong?; Hometown Search; Coming Home

Aired September 27, 2005 - 14:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BROWN, FMR. FEMA DIRECTOR: I know what I'm doing. And I think I do a pretty darn good job of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Former FEMA director Michael Brown defends himself and dishes out blame. What really went wrong in the response to Hurricane Katrina?

Under water and overwhelmed. Imagine your hometown buried in a flood. We follow one man on a heart-wrenching search for what's left.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

Temperatures rising in southern Louisiana and Texas, and so, too, are the number of dead and the amount of damage blamed on Hurricane Katrina. The death toll now stands at nine after the bodies of five people were discovered in a Beaumont, Texas, apartment. Police say they were overcome by carbon monoxide from a generator used to power fans to cool their home.

Power is steadily being restored throughout the region. Some 381,000 Texas customers, though, are still in the dark.

And barges are running again in the shipping channels with some restrictions. The Coast Guard has reopened most coastal waterways in Texas and Louisiana to tug and barge traffic during the day. Some are still closed because of the debris.

President Bush is back in the region for the seventh time this month. He's been meeting with first responders in Texas and Louisiana, getting an eagle eye view of the damage done by Hurricane Rita. Hardest hit, small, rural communities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got some priorities that we're in the process of working together to achieve. First is food and water. Second is electricity and generators moving this way. There's a rational plan to distribute the generators.

And thirdly, there's a fuel. We fully understand that it's hard to maintain order if you don't have fuel for your cars and your first responders. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, in Washington, the former director of FEMA went in front of a special congressional panel today to defend his widely criticized response to Hurricane Katrina. Michael Brown admitted that he made some mistakes, but he blamed officials in Louisiana for most of the failures.

CNN's Kimberly Osias joins us now with more -- Kim.

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, believe it or not, it is still going strong. We've been monitoring this since 10:00, and they are still at it right now.

In the hearing is Jeff Miller, Republican of Florida -- of course, Florida no stranger to hurricanes in that area -- questioning Brown right now. And yes, Kyra, the embattled former FEMA director dispensed with those apologies early on. In fact, in the first hour, squarely taking personal responsibility for some of the mistakes of Katrina.

Brown also pointed out that it's easy to, in his words, Monday morning quarterback with clear vision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: First, I failed initially to set up a series of regular briefings to the media about what FEMA was doing throughout the Gulf Coast region. Second, I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin to sit down, get over their differences and work together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: Although Brown admitted mistakes, he was quick to defend his job as well. One of two Democrats in the room, Gene Taylor of hard-hit Mississippi, fired strong criticism to Brown. Here's a little bit of that heated exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GENE TAYLOR (D), MISSISSIPPI: What part of the FEMA plan envisioned that the first responders in Hancock County and in much of the Mississippi Gulf Coast would have to loot the local grocery store and loot the local Wal-Mart in order to feed themselves, would have to loot the local Wal-Mart in order to have a change of clothes? What part of your plan was that?

BROWN: Congressman, I respectfully disagree with the premise of that question...

TAYLOR: No, sir. This is a...

BROWN: ... because there are times -- in a disaster, the last thing I'm going to do is to put equipment or manpower in place where they themselves become victims and then cannot assist the people they're there to assist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: I want to point out that Taylor is a Democrat, one of the few in the room. While some Republicans are trying to put the blame on state and local officials, Democrats say the buck stops with the administration. The responsibility, they say, lies with President Bush and Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff.

The Democrats are also calling for an independent commission to investigate tantamount to the 9/11 Commission. How much of a reality that will be, Kyra, of course, remains to be seen.

PHILLIPS: And Kimberly, real quickly, I don't mean to put you on the spot, I'm just curious, do you by chance know how much Michael Brown is making? Can we find that out, how much he's being paid as a consultant?

OSIAS: Interesting that you asked that question, Kyra. About $145,600, not to be exactly specific there. But I found that staggering. And he will be on the payroll as a consultant for another month.

PHILLIPS: Kimberly Osias, thanks so much.

Well, despite Michael Brown's recent departure, FEMA is under criticism again in the wake of Hurricane Rita. The sheriff in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, accuses the agency of moving too slowly to help victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF MICHAEL COUVILLON, VERMILION PARISH, LOUISIANA: I wish for once FEMA would cut all the red tape and expedite the supplies and the services needed for all of these people that have lost their homes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, in the region where Hurricane Rita came ashore, some small rural towns were nearly wiped off the map. CNN's Randi Kaye has a report from Creole in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. That's near the Texas border.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): We boarded our airboat and headed straight for the town of Creole in Cameron Parish. This is where Hurricane Rita made landfall.

More than 70 percent of the homes were destroyed here. Our driver, Ben Welch, is hoping his wasn't one of them.

(on camera): We haven't seen your home yet. How worried are you about whether your home... BEN WELCH, CREOLE RESIDENT: Oh, I know it's not there. It's not there. They -- my home is another -- the grove of trees down at the end, it's a ridge that runs up there. They just told us it still got about an ankle deep, mid-calf deep water on it.

KAYE (voice over): We kept on pushing toward his neighborhood. The ride there didn't offer much hope. If Rita could do this, what were the odds Welch's house was still standing?

WELCH: My father and my grandparents always told me about what happened during Hurricane Audrey. I would imagine it, but never thought I would ever see it.

KAYE: We'd seen Cameron Parish and Creole by air, but up close, the destruction was magnified and morbid. Dead wildlife everywhere. Rabbits, pigs and cows half buried in the brush.

Some cattle looked like upside down ornaments in a marsh made by Mother Nature. Those who survived appeared wild. When a cow came running at us, Welch pulled out his gun.

WELCH: Just the trauma of all that happened and the salt water -- they don't have no fresh water to drink -- what it is, they're disoriented. And plus, the salt water makes them go out of their mind. They just -- they just don't know what to do.

KAYE: This goose appeared disoriented and thirsty. We gave him fresh water and he drank it, then tried to follow us back to our boat.

WELCH: This is downtown Creole.

KAYE: Main Street.

WELCH: Main Street, Creole, Louisiana. Watch the mud, it's going to be real slippery.

KAYE: We arrived in Creole to find Main Street destroyed. The only restaurant in town closed for business. The grocery store out of business. And the mechanic shop in need of repair.

(on camera): You see that yellow building right there? That's the Creole Post Office. It used to be over there to the right of that mailbox. But when Hurricane Rita came through, it spun it around and slammed it on the other side of the bank.

(voice over): These guys just returned from Welch's neighborhood. He's desperate for information about his home.

WELCH: They got a Baptist church right on this side. It's still up?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, not much.

WELCH: Not much?

KAYE: Search and rescue missed his home by half a mile. Welch will have to wait another day. The water is now too low, and our airboat won't make it.

(on camera): How frustrating?

WELCH: Bad. I thought I was going to get there today.

KAYE (voice over): Randi Kaye, CNN, Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And in New Orleans today, the slow painful process of resettling the city continues. An effort is under way to protect former evacuees from making ghastly discoveries as they return to their homes. Search teams are conducting new inspections of damaged homes in hopes of finding and removing any bodies before those residents return.

And a search of a different kind in nearby St. Bernard Parish. Returning evacuees are looking for mementos, sentimental souvenirs that might have survived both hurricanes. And what they're finding is that little did.

Our Soledad O'Brien has more on the homecoming that is long on bitter and short and sweet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sometimes getting in means breaking in. Rachel Kessling was eager to see the damage for herself, even though her husband, a police lieutenant, warned her how bad it was.

(on camera): So he told you, didn't he, what to expect?

RACHEL KESSLING, STORM VICTIM: Yes, he prepared me before we even came back.

O'BRIEN: What did he say?

KESSLING: That it was just all gone and not to come back. But I had to come back for peace of mind.

O'BRIEN: Why -- why peace of mind?

KESSLING: To see it for myself, just to know -- just really accepting it.

O'BRIEN (voice over): By mid afternoon, cars were lined up leaving the parish, packed with whatever people could grab. They're muddy and dirty and tired. And in spite of seeing it on TV for a month now, they are utterly shocked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's 10,000 times worse than what we thought. Just horrible.

O'BRIEN (on camera): Is there relief in coming back?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to see this place again. This is horrible. I have never seen such devastation.

O'BRIEN (voice over): It's been a tough emotional journey. Some are angry, most are just devastated.

(on camera): How you doing? It's OK. It's OK. It's all right. It's all right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty-three years gone. We've been married 43 years. Everything we've worked for -- our daughters both lost their homes.

I have four sisters, and they lost their homes. All of our friends, our neighbors. This parish is gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will never be the same.

O'BRIEN (voice over): But as we tour miles and miles of St. Bernard Parish with Sheriff Jack Stevens, it's clear there's really nothing to come back to. Every home as at least some damage, collapsed or washed out, leaning precariously or just obliterated.

Boats hang in midair, cars are perched in trees. The water is receding, and wherever it's dry or mostly dry, people have returned.

On homes near the petroleum plant, the water line is an oil line. A leak of about 250,000 gallons of oil have made homes uninhabitable and leached into the ground below as well.

Rachel Kessling hopes to save shirts that were hanging in her laundry room.

(on camera): This mud is just -- it's not to be believed. Is this mud this thick in the house?

KESSLING: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Or thicker?

It's just as thick in the house, but Rachel takes comfort in the little things she manages to pull free.

A total loss?

KESSLING: (INAUDIBLE), like my senior mug. Silly sentimental things.

O'BRIEN: Are you going to take it?

KESSLING: Yes, I did. I dug for it, but I found it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: We want to take you quick to DHS chief Michael Chertoff, a Q&A with reporters there at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: And it was concluded in mid July, I reported to the president, and the president supported our effort to go to Congress, give notification about changes we wanted to make in terms of building a preparedness capability, to do the kind of planning that I think we need to do to deal with potentially catastrophic effects.

We submitted some legislation to Congress. And all of this activity was undertaken in the latter part of July.

At that point we were racing the clock. We need to recruit people. We're in the process of doing that. The law requires us to get money appropriated for this. That's been pursued very vigorously.

And I want to say, Congress was very supportive of this. I met personally with leading members of Congress. They endorsed it. They have been moving quickly on the appropriations front.

So, from the governmental side, in terms of addressing the issue of preparedness and planning, I have nothing but praise for the strong effort and support I've gotten.

We were simply racing the clock. And the reality is that building the kind of preparedness that we need is an ongoing process. We're better than we were on September 11th. But, as I said in July, we're not yet where we need to be.

And so my mission is to make sure we continue to build as quickly as possible to maximize our preparedness and our capabilities for all hazards.

QUESTION: Looking at what happened, there was something, even though you were racing against the clock, but there was thing that you could have put your fist on (inaudible) pushed yourself and how you've pushed yourself -- what would it have been?

CHERTOFF: We're going to go through a lessons-learned process and I'm sure we're all going to, with the benefit of hindsight, identify things that need to be improved.

One thing I do want to say is this -- and it was driven home to me again today by my visit here, as well as my experience in Rita and all of my other experiences -- Katrina was, by any measure, an exceptional set of catastrophes.

Even as you compare it to Andrew, which was a Category 5, and as you compare it to the devastation in Mississippi alone -- which I think was explained to me here. The death toll in Mississippi, putting aside Louisiana, is probably the greatest we have had in many, many years.

Even if you look at Rita, which came on as a Cat 5 and then a Cat 4, they still, in comparison to what was done with the assault on New Orleans and the subsequent flooding, really are diminished by comparison.

This was an overwhelming challenge. I think Rita makes clear how difficult it is to evacuate even days in advance.

So I come at this again with a sense of humility. In the face of the very worst nature has to throw at us, we really feel our constraints. But still, we always work to move heaven and earth to mitigate the damage to respond as quickly as possible.

And we're going to take the lessons-learned in Katrina and Rita and continue to build on that.

QUESTION: Secretary Chertoff, immediately after Katrina hit, of course, Michael Brown came under a lot of criticism for failing to act quickly enough. Knight Ridder newspapers subsequently reported that whatever powers were needed, whether Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin had cooperated, that you had sufficient power to have initiated sooner action yourself.

QUESTION: If you had that power, why didn't you just assert it?

CHERTOFF: Well, let me explain -- and again, we're going to go through a long lessons learned process. But just so you understand. The authority within the federal government, so far as it exists, was triggered when the president in advance of the hurricane -- a couple of days in advance -- declared the state of emergency. That released the ability to provide whatever was necessary in support of state and local officials.

There's no lack of power, lack of authority. The president flipped the switch. And it was then for those to -- people in the field who were operating, who were dealing with the emergency, to do what they needed to do.

Again, I mean, I think it's -- without putting in perspective the nature of this challenge it's impossible to appreciate exactly what was faced. The hurricane itself, a category 4, coming on as a category 4, as you can see from Mississippi, was a huge event. In and of itself very challenging.

The break in the levee which flooded the city, I think largely overnight, was really second.

I think everybody involved was dealing with a tremendous challenge. There's no doubt we will be able to think of things we might do in the future that might make things better quicker, might anticipate different kinds of things. But I think that you cannot fairly appreciate what everyone was facing without beginning and ending with the very extraordinary challenge presented by the storm and the subsequent floods.

QUESTION: Today Michael Brown testified earlier...

CHERTOFF: I actually called on this young woman first. I'm going to go with her first.

QUESTION: Michael Brown has called Louisiana dysfunctional and essentially has criticized their response. How do you feel about that? Do you agree? CHERTOFF: I don't want to be repetitive, but I always want to make sure that I'm always being understood in context. The challenge of the storm was unprecedented. It was a double challenge.

As I say, we are conducting a lessons learned exercise. I'm quite sure the state and local government is too. We're going to have to assess, as we go through the process, what we can do to make things better in the future.

Michael Brown was asked to testify. He gave his perspective based upon on his experiences. I think he's -- you know, he speaks for himself, and he's entitled to his point of view. I don't have anything -- you know to add to it.

QUESTION: Today he testified that after the Pam exercise that he requested additional money and that the money that was requested was taken out of the budget by Homeland Security. How do you -- is that a proper assessment by him?

CHERTOFF: I think he is talking about the '05 budget.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CHERTOFF: Right. I was not here at the time. I can't tell you from my personal knowledge what was requested and what wasn't. I am quite sure we will go back and look at the whole issue of what was requested, and it will be made public at an appropriate time.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... the resources that needed to respond to the crisis.

CHERTOFF: I will make two points. First of all, I believe, in the last few years, FEMA has, in fact, has an increase in its budget. I think it was 13 percent, if I'm not mistaken, in the last few years.

Second, I do think it's important to understand FEMA's responsibility. FEMA is not in and of itself an agency that has ever been given the assignment of having a lot of boots on the ground to do things.

FEMA's an organization that has worked in support of state and local entities in terms of providing food and water supplies. We do get the urban search and rescue teams who come in from all over the country in order to do urban search and rescue teams who come in from all over the country in order to do urban search and rescue. We have the medical teams.

So they bring these volunteer teams together. It is part of a partnership effort.

And so I think that FEMA did perform admirably in bringing some of these resources to bear. There were FEMA employees who I've spoken to were in the field, literally living with the people who were in the Superdome, for example. In terms of specific budget issues -- as I said, we've raised the budget over the past few years. But again, we've going to look at the whole issue of FEMA's capabilities, other capabilities that the government has. The Coast Guard, obviously, played a huge roll in this as a component of DHS.

And we will, when we have a good sense of the lessons learned, put those lessons into effect as we go forward.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, can I ask you about some of the contracts bid in response to Katrina? There's an estimate that 80 percent of them have little or no bidding competition. A couple of them that have come under some scrutiny include the Carnival Cruise Lines contract. I know that (inaudible) has written you about that. And also there's the (inaudible).

Can you comment on either of those specifics or the general... CHERTOFF: I don't want to comment on specific context. But what I will say is, obviously, we are very mindful of the need to be responsible stewards of public money.

And very soon after the catastrophes hit, we sent out memos reminding everybody about the importance of operating within procurement guidelines set up to deal with all kinds of circumstances.

CHERTOFF: They do allow some streamlined activity, particularly when there is an emergency. And of course, when you are dealing with literally saving lives and making sure people can be fed and have water and have a place of shelter, those are urgent needs that cannot be addressed in a slow process.

But the other thing we did, is we immediately started to get the inspector general involved, to get his folks in the field to monitor what is doing.

As we move forward, we will be in a continuing process of reevaluating contracts. If there are contracts that turn out to be not properly cost effective or inappropriate in some other way, we can redo the contracts; we can renegotiate those contracts.

We are going to go back and look at all of the issues, as well as continuing to look at the new contracts and make sure that we are getting the public the best bang for the public buck that is being spent.

QUESTION: Your inspector general does say he has apprehension -- he's quoted, anyway as saying apprehension about what he is seeing.

QUESTION: Do you share that...

(CROSSTALK)

CHERTOFF: I share his concern. That's why he has been tasked to go in there, look at things. That's why we have tasked our procurement people to look hard when the invoices come in for contracts, to make sure these are fair and reasonable prices and to make necessary adjustments to assure that there is appropriate performance and that the public is getting value for its money.

They've got a very strong exhortation from me to go out and make sure that they are scrubbing these things. And if we need to adjust what we're paying and make sure that we're getting the proper performance, they have the full power to make sure that gets done.

QUESTION: Why did you wait 36 hours (OFF-MIKE) incident of national significance with Katrina and yet you didn't wait with Hurricane Rita?

CHERTOFF: If you actually read what I said about Hurricane Rita, what I indicated is that the declaration of an emergency, a state of emergency by the president, which I think occurred earlier that day, under the National Response Plan, in effect designates an incident of national significance.

And that is the way the plan is written. The plan basically indicates that once you have an emergency in effect, declared by the president, that, in effect, creates an incident of national significance.

So all of the tools, all of the substance, the power that was available to give assistance to state and local government was triggered by the presidential declaration of emergency. It was triggered by the presidential declaration of emergency before Katrina and by the presidential declaration of emergency before Rita.

So that's the substance. And in both instances the law then essentially opens the door to provide assistance to state and locals to the full measure of what's legally permitted.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) you're saying the incident of national significance doesn't mean anything?

CHERTOFF: No, what I'm saying is that the way the NRP is written, one way to, in effect, trigger an event of national significance is to declare an emergency.

Now, that typically occurs in a case where you have a natural disaster, because the Stafford Act prescribes that course of conduct.

The NRP is also written for non-natural disasters. In those instances you don't have the Stafford Act, so then you wouldn't have a state of emergency declared, and it would be the declaration of incident of national significance which would trigger the powers.

PHILLIPS: Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff addressing reporters there at the National Hurricane Center there in Miami. He's getting ready, actually, to give a speech in front of the International Association of Police Chiefs.

Talking right there about re-evaluating contracts, making sure the public gets the biggest bang for its buck when it comes to rebuilding the hurricane-stricken areas, talking about fair and reasonable prices and trying to work with those companies.

Also straight ahead, what would you do if you were caught in a hurricane?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wind picked up. Water was already four foot in the house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Calm in the midst of a storm. A father and a son's saga of surviving Hurricane Rita, that's just ahead on LIVE FROM.

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