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Internet SOS; Hurricane Katrina: The Aftermath; FEMA Housing Blues

Aired September 30, 2005 - 14:33   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: This just in to CNN. Word out of Tifton, Georgia, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations says at least five people were killed, at least four more hospitalized in a series of apparent homicides at trailer parks in and around the city there of Tifton. According to the GBI spokesperson, investigators are trying to piece together a description of the suspects right now in these killings. It's not been determined how the victims were killed.
We're working on details right now on these homicides, apparently, in Tifton, Georgia in various trailer parks. We'll bring you more information. Obviously they're trying to put together a description of these suspects. That means those suspects are still on the loose. We'll follow it for you and bring you more as we get it.

Well, in the months since the Hurricane Katrina and the week since Hurricane Rita, much of the relief effort has been focussed on coastal areas. Some evacuees who are gathered in remote inland areas say they need help, too, but it's been very slow coming.

CNN's Randi Kaye responded to urgent Internet message from San Augustine County, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are on the start of what will be a three hour journey. CNN received an alarming message. Call it an Internet S.O.S. They need help in a remote area of Texas, San Augustine County.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We started out in Cameron, Louisiana; we're on our way to Beaumont, picked up Highway 69, then 96 all the way up to San Augustine. We should be there in just a minute. So we probably...

KAYE: The e-mail says 2,000 evacuees from Hurricane Rita are stranded and starving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This group is supposedly camped out at El Pinion Estate at Lake Sam Rayburn. They've been there for a week, they're running out of supplies and they haven't had any federal help at all.

KAYE: The e-mail directs us to look for Mike McQueen. He's the man who sent out the S.O.S. Where can I find this marine Mike McQueen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the second street over turn left, it'll be on to your right.

KAYE: So that way down there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, you'll see a sign on his gate.

KAYE: Says McQueen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

KAYE: Sure enough McQueen is in his front yard.

You sound pretty darn frustrated...

MIKE MCQUEEN, MARINE FROM SAN AUGUSTINE: No ma'am, I'm pissed as hell.

KAYE: Angry because he thinks this corner of Texas has been forgotten, if not abandoned.

MCQUEEN: When an old lady comes up and you have to estimate her in her 80s and she says, "I need albuteral (ph) inhalers because my oxygen tank won't work and I've been going through about one a day," because she doesn't have electricity. And she's staggering like a drunk. You have to take her inside and put ice packs on her. How bad do you think it is?

KAYE: McQueen is a former marine. He fled his home 100 miles away and came here. But he didn't escape the hurricane. No food, no water for a week he climbed this tree to get a cell phone signal and call a friend, a retired New York City Policeman who sent the Internet S.O.S. This place is especially at risk because of who lives here most of the year. San Augustine is popular with snowbirds and retirees. Elderly left without food, water, medicine and the gasoline to get supplies for some reason dropped more than an hour away.

MCQUEEN: Isn't that amazing, you put out a broken air and everybody and the Pope shows up.

KAYE: McQueen is thrilled his cell phone to Internet S.O.S. worked. In fact, he says, he hopes President Bush is listening. He says the president's plan to respond to the so-called Golden Triangle Communities closer to the water completely overlooked this community.

MCQUEEN: I'd take him and I'd show him all of this and I'm kick him right square in the butt and we'd sit down and drink a beer and I would explain to him that these people are up here eating tree bark while everything that he's got pre-staged is ready to go into the Golden Triangle and not coming in to these people.

KAYE: What infuriates McQueen is the government, he says, trying to have it both ways. Telling evacuees stay where you are but not getting them vital supplies and medicine. McQueen's neighbor, a diabetic, passed out. He's now borrowing insulin from a friend.

About an hour after we arrived with our cameras, so does the Red Cross. Is it a coincidence? Or did they get the same Internet S.O.S.?

KAYE: Is this the first you've seen the Red Cross?

MCQUEEN: First I've seen the Red Cross.

KAYE: Since the storm?

MCQUEEN: Yup.

KAYE: So why did it take the Red Cross so long to get here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been up in Lufkin for three days without any food or any water. At first we didn't have any trucks. Yeah it's just logistics, I guess.

KAYE: But people here wonder how is it their community got so completely overlooked in the planning for the second hurricane and why it may have taken an Internet S.O.S. to get them help.

Randy Kaye, CNN, San Augustine County, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And all these weeks later, some of the people who fled Hurricane Katrina still are lost from their loved ones. Here's a picture that you might have seen. It was taken shortly after the storm ravaged New Orleans. This is 73-year-old Grace White. She's being rescued from her home through a hole cut in the attic roof. Well, later, she was airlifted out of New Orleans. And as of today, some of her closest loved ones still don't know where she is.

Betty Scott is Grace White's sister. She evacuated New Orleans as well. She joins us now by telephone from Dothan, Alabama.

Betty, you haven't been able to make contact at all with anyone that might know where your sister is?

BETTY SCOTT, GRACE WHITE'S SISTER: No, I haven't.

PHILLIPS: So obviously we all saw this picture. It aired on CNN. When you saw that picture, do you -- I guess let me ask you this, when was the last time you were with Grace?

SCOTT: The Sunday before the Sunday of the storm.

PHILLIPS: OK, so it wasn't long before it happened. Did you guys talk about evacuating? Did she say I wanted to evacuate, or did she decide to stay?

SCOTT: I didn't talk to her.

PHILLIPS: Did she want to evacuate?

SCOTT: Well, I spoke with my little nieces that was taking care of her, because she's a stroke victim.

PHILLIPS: Oh, wow.

SCOTT: They said they were going to ride the storm out. That's why they had to get her out of the roof of the house.

PHILLIPS: They wanted to ride the storm out?

SCOTT: Yes.

PHILLIPS: And so she was airlifted -- how did you know that she was airlifted out of New Orleans, that she was alive and that she got out? How did you get that word?

SCOTT: I didn't know until I -- my husband's sister said she saw her in the "Jet" magazine.

PHILLIPS: Oh, OK.

SCOTT: I mean, I hadn't heard anything until that time.

PHILLIPS: So it mentioned in "Jet" magazine that she had gotten out? They got the picture of her and they followed up and found out she did get out.

SCOTT: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Now, you said she's a stroke victim. Is she able to talk OK?

SCOTT: She can speak, yes, but she can't get around.

PHILLIPS: So she's watching this right now. You want her to desperately call you, I assume.

SCOTT: Yes.

PHILLIPS: And anything else that anybody should know about her? I mean, do you feel pretty good that if she got out she's being taken care of or if she's in a shelter? Was anybody with her or was she by herself?

SCOTT: Yes, she had her daughter and her granddaughter was with her, and a few other family members.

PHILLIPS: And have you heard from the daughter, granddaughter or any of those other family members?

SCOTT: No, I haven't heard from anyone.

PHILLIPS: Wow. All right. So you, obviously -- when we've done these segments, we've given direct phone numbers. And that's turned out to be really tough for people like you. So you want folks to call CNN if indeed anybody knows the whereabouts of Betty Scott, the woman you see here in this picture, right?

SCOTT: Yes, I would appreciate that. PHILLIPS: All right. I'm just going to say the number. It's on the -- obviously, the lower part of the screen. If you have seen this woman, if you know anything about Betty Scott, she's a stroke victim, she was airlifted ...

SCOTT: No, it's Grace White.

PHILLIPS: Grace White. Sorry, Betty, I'm talking to you. Grace White, 73 years old -- you're seeing her here being rescued from her home through a hole that was cut in the attic roof. She has been airlifted out. Betty, who we're talking to now, actually saw in "Jet" magazine this picture and knows for the fact that she was out. Anything else you want to add, Betty, about her?

SCOTT: No, I don't want to -- I just want to know where she is. I want to talk to her and see her because I miss my sister.

PHILLIPS: Any message to her in case she's watching, Betty?

SCOTT: Just tell her that Betty -- I love her very much and want to talk her. I want to see her.

PHILLIPS: Oh, Betty Scott, grace White's Sister. If anyone has recognized her or knows the whereabouts, please call CNN at 404-827- 0234. Betty, thank you so much.

SCOTT: Thank you very much. I really appreciate this.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know it's tough. Dothan, Alabama there, is where Betty is, waiting to hear, of course, from her sister.

Well, still ahead on LIVE FROM, a costly cruise to nowhere. Docked cruise ships charging more money to house evacuees than they would charge you for a luxury cruise.

And trailer camp blues -- this is how hundreds of hurricane victims from last year's storms are living in Florida, and why they say it's a nightmare that shouldn't be repeated along the Gulf coast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAY INSLEE (D), WASHINGTON: We could actually send people on six month cruises for half the price that we're paying to actually have people sit at the dock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A Washington Congressman commenting on a deal to house Hurricane Katrina victims on cruise ships. And according to figures released by Republican Senator Tom Coburn, the cost for each evacuee is $1275 a week. The price of a seven-day Caribbean cruise from Galveston, $599.

FEMA is defending its $236 million deal with Carnival Cruise Lines and its decision to turn down an offer from Greece to provide ships for free. FEMA officials say they had already signed the Carnival deal and it was not known how soon Greece could provide those ships.

Many hurricane victims will be forced to live in temporary housing for the foreseeable future. And thousands of people left homeless by hurricanes in Florida last year have been living in mobile home parks provided by FEMA. For many of those people, what sounded like a good idea at the time has turned into quite a nightmare, as we hear from CNN's Susan Candiotti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): FEMA's emergency housing trailers in Punta Gorda, Florida, stretch as far as the eye can see. They were put here as an oasis for last year's homeless after Hurricane Charley. But many residents call it a nightmare.

DOYLA LANE, RESIDENT: It's all identical. You cannot have no individuality.

CANDIOTTI: Doyla Lane is a single mom.

LANE: There is just always something. If you get two nights out of the week where you don't see the blue lights flying in here, a fight out here, somebody trying to stab somebody, something, you're doing good.

CANDIOTTI: Lane and her two children, Kevin (ph) and Rachel (ph), are among about 2,000 hurricane victims shoehorned into 500 mobile homes.

(on camera): Doyla, if you could move out here tomorrow, would you?

LANE: Yes. I would be ready to go in less than an hour.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): But like many other families, Doyla Lane cannot afford to leave. In some ways, FEMA park has been a lifesaver, live rent free for 18 months while looking for a new home. But crime that can be found in any neighborhood, the sheriff says, here seems magnified among these hurricane victims.

JOHN DAVENPORT, SHERIFF OF CHARLOTTE COUNTY, FLORIDA: They don't necessarily want to be here. But it's better than not having a home at all. And so, you get a lot of stress and a lot of post-traumatic problems from the hurricane.

CANDIOTTI: It took several months for FEMA to pay for police patrols and a guard at the entrance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anywhere from thefts to burglaries to assaults, batteries, domestics. Pretty much everything that we get on the road, we also get here. CANDIOTTI (on camera): I have counted up basically 14 attempted suicides since this park opened. What do you make of that number, given the size?

DAVENPORT: Stress. Stress. I mean, I think it's a little high for a community that you would have in a normal community of this size.

ROBERT HEBERT, CHARLOTTE COUNTY RECOVERY DIRECTOR: And there you see FEMA off on our left.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Charlotte County's man in charge of long-term relocation showed us how the park's isolation makes the problem worse.

HEBERT: As you said, we are about 10 miles away from town. There's no grocery store. There's a 7/Eleven. If somebody wants to just get a Coke, they have got to either get a cab or drive up the road 10 miles.

CANDIOTTI: Isolated from town, but not from each other.

(on camera): There's no room for a yard and virtually no privacy, only about 20 feet separating neighbor from neighbor. Take a walk into the street and this is what you see, row after row after row of trailers. And for many of these residents, nothing better is on the horizon.

GERRY SAWYER, RESIDENT: All five of us were going to live in this little car.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): That was before FEMA came through with a mobile home last Christmas for Sue and Gerry Sawyer and their three children. But, since then, the Sawyers have not found an affordable home. Officials say real estate has skyrocketed since Charley.

G. SAWYER: Some of the apartments we have applied for which have guaranteed $625, $700 a month, they have got a two-year waiting list.

CANDIOTTI: While daughter Cassandra (ph) donates pennies to the newest hurricane victims, her parents worry they're running out of time. In four months, the leases on all these trailers expire.

(on camera): Come February, what are you going to do?

SUE SAWYER, RESIDENT: I don't know what we're going to do. We're living hand to mouth right now. Every time I think, you know, I have got some money saved, something happens. My car dies. I'm going to lose my job if I can't get to work, so I'm paying for a cab.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): FEMA says it's done what it can.

MILDRED ACEVEDO, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: They had signed a contract, so it's not like it's taken them by surprise. They had 18 months to work, to look for permanent housing, to save up money, which is one of the reasons why we do it rent free. CANDIOTTI: Critics call these big isolated FEMA parks a mistake. Housing policy expert Ronald Utt says, use residential vouchers for victims of Rita and Katrina, go smaller and closer to communities.

DR. RONALD UTT, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: There's a lot of cities in the Southeast in Texas and Alabama and Mississippi and over into Florida and Georgia that were not devastated, which have active, lively rental markets with lots of decent apartments and lots of vacancies.

CANDIOTTI: Small comfort for Doyla Lane, who just got a job as a security guard and wonders what's ahead for her family.

LANE: It's not that I'm ungrateful. I just want my own place.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Where would you like to live?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a big, huge mansion.

CANDIOTTI: And if you couldn't get a big, huge mansion, what would be your second choice?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little small house.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And we sure hope he gets that small house. That report from our Susan Candiotti. More LIVE FROM, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

PHILLIPS: Man, that got me pumped up. Stars are all aligned in the baseball world. Down to the last three games of the season. There's a pennant race on between the New York Yankees and the reigning world champion, the Boston Red Sox. Tonight, that age-old feud resumes when the two teams meet in Boston.

Here with all the scoop, Will Selva, CNN Sports. It's a big time.

WILL SELVA, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It's a big deal, Kyra. So here's what I'll be doing this weekend. I'm going to park myself on my couch, watch the series. So if you give me a call, I won't answer the phone. I'll just let leave it that.

PHILLIPS: A case of beer or ginger ale?

SELVA: Case of beer.

PHILLIPS: Oh, of course. OK, just checking.

SELVA: I'm a beer belly poker man myself. The Yankees/Red Sox is like no other in sports, more intense than Ohio State and Michigan, Giants/Dodgers, Muhammad Ali/Joe Frazier. This century-long rivalry has seen its share of brawls, blow-outs, and what many consider the biggest comeback in sports history. One has eliminated the other in each of the past two seasons, and this weekend, it could happen again, folks.

The Yankees hold a one-game lead over the Red Sox from the American League East. The winner gets the division title. The loser might get the wild card or nothing at all. Both teams know that the season comes down to these three games.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON GIAMBI, NEW YORK YANKEES: It would be unbelievable. It's always a playoff atmosphere whenever you play the Red Sox. And you know, it would be just like a play-off game, no doubt about it. So it should be a lot of fun and, you know, we'll be going head to head, so it should be good.

JOHNNY DAMON, BOSTON RED SOX: That's what it's all about. You know, this is a -- it's going to be a very watched weekend. A lot of people are going to be excited about it. Both teams are. And, you know, may the best team win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SELVA: Now, a block of four tickets on eBay is going for $1,400. Online brokers are asking for as much as $2,300 for a ticket to the final game on Sunday. With Kyra Phillips' money, you could buy that.

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes, right.

SELVA: Kyra, you can.

PHILLIPS: Yes, $2,300, forget that. I'll score some free tickets off, you know, a friend. I'll make you some phone calls. All right. Johnny Damon. I'm sorry, just a side note. Guy's got to shave and cut that hair. Come on, now. That's good luck right there.

SELVA: He does, but that's what gives him and the Boston Red Sox this care-free kind of attitude in the clubhouse. And that's why, you know, the Red Sox are always so carefree and the Yankees are so business-like when they approach baseball. So there's a lot riding on this, because literally the last time these two teams were in this position -- you have to go back to 1978, when they went wire to wire. Bucky Dent...

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes.

SELVA: Bucky Dent, a four-letter word in New England. Hit a home run. So this has a lot riding on it. And if at the end of the weekend, they end up tied, they play a one-game playoff on Monday.

PHILLIPS: Excellent. All right. Let me know how the beer and the polka goes, OK?

SELVA: I definitely will.

PHILLIPS: Fantastic.

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

PHILLIPS: All right, we want to apologize. We gave you a wrong number. We had showed you a picture of 73-year-old Grace White. Her family desperately trying to find out where she is. If you know anything about this woman, please call 404-827-1500 -- once again, 404-827-1500 -- and ask for public information if you know anything about her.

Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Now Wolf Blitzer's live in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

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