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CNN Live Today
Hurricane Katrina Slamming Into Gulf Coast
Aired August 29, 2005 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When you move up the Gulf Coast, totally different, because the roads are more accessible, but no pumping. That's what it looks like here, and FEMA's watching very closely -- Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Tom Foreman.
And one more quick note on the Superdome, of course the home to the New Orleans Saints. They are out there in California, and they have a pre-season game with the Oakland Raiders on Thursday.
Our coverage continues right on Hurricane Katrina right here on CNN.
Our rolling coverage continues here at CNN as Hurricane Katrina comes slamming into the Gulf Coast. We have reporters up and down the Gulf Coast, all the way from Louisiana into the panhandle of Florida.
First up, to my partner, Anderson Cooper, standing by in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Anderson, it looks like you might be in one of those little breaks between the bands.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it certainly does feel like that. And it is amazing just how quickly this stuff changes. I mean, I said it before, but, you know, five minutes ago, when we spoke, I could barely stand up. Now the skies have cleared. I mean, it's actually kind of bright for the first time.
I don't know if you can -- the clouds are moving extremely fast. But you're actually getting some sunshine. I mean, you don't actually see the sun, but it is much brighter here.
This is actually probably the nicest it's looked in the seven hours or so that we've been standing here. We came here at around 3:00 a.m.
The water has moved probably some 15, maybe 20 feet, ashore from what it was. And again, this is the Mississippi River. You would be hard pressed to tell it's a river right now, though. So many white caps.
I want to show you also over here -- I don't know if you can zoom out, if you can see the barges that are -- just been left in the middle of the Mississippi. They have just been anchored down and allowed to just kind of -- the tide just kind of push them in one direction or another. But all along the Mississippi River here in Baton Rouge you see these barges that have stayed tethered, that have stayed anchored. And again, now you can see as we're speaking the wind just picking up again.
It happens just all of a sudden. It will happen, and then it is very hard to stand, and then the rain will follow.
We're seeing much less rain, though, Daryn, than we've been seeing in the last several hours. In fact, just looking across here you can barely see any rain at all. So, you know, this seems to be probably one of those bands in between, one of the outer bands of the storm. But as Chad Myers was saying, this thing is going to be going on for quite sometime.
We're going to go to Gary Tuchman in Gulfport, who is in Hurricane One, who for the last couple hours has just been providing some amazing coverage, staying up, even at the height of the storm.
Gary, where are you exactly? And what are you seeing?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this may be the worst point here in Gulfport, Mississippi, of this entire hurricane experience. We come to you live from a parking lot here about three miles away from the beach.
Earlier in the day we were actually at the beach. US Route 90 is -- it runs along the beach. At that point, the water started piling up on the road next to the beach. We have been told by authorities there is now over 10 feet of water on the road next to the beach.
When we were there we saw boats sailing up and down the streets. We're told there are at least four or five boats now on the main street here in Gulfport, population 71,000.
We've been doing reports, live reports from our vehicle that we have named Hurricane One. It allows us to drive around and show live pictures. We can't drive in the road right now because literally projectiles are coming our direction. It feels like we've got to dodge artillery, and I'm going to give you a look at what's happened to our vehicle.
Our cameraman, Steve Sorkin (ph) is going to show five minutes ago, a piece of wood crashed into our vehicle, crashed into the window. And it's put a hole in our window. So it gives you an idea of what people are facing here. Very slippery, so it's kind of hard to standstill.
I'm going to get a little closer to our car because there's lots of glass and lots of noise and lots of wood that I'm keeping an eye on. Lots of palm trees blowing around. But there is intense damage.
We have watched the dismantling of a beautiful town, Gulfport, Mississippi. Many of the buildings near the beach are -- have no roofs any more, have no windows.
We have been told there are several injuries. But I will tell you, authorities -- and a sign has just blown down from the hotel. You can't get the angle from where we are. But we have been told the authorities cannot go outside to look right now.
Anyone who hasn't evacuated has to fend for themselves because it's too dangerous for anyone to be outside. But the fact is, the people here experienced Hurricane Camille in 1969, a Category 5 hurricane. People still talk about it here like it was yesterday.
That was 1969. Now in 2005, 36 years later, they are experiencing something that, when it's all over, when they have a chance to examine what's happened, they are going to see that much of this beautiful area here in coastal Mississippi has been ruined.
Back to you.
COOPER: That was Gary Tuchman in Hurricane One.
I want to check in with CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers, who has been tracking the storm really from the get-go from the predawn hours.
Chad, where exactly is the worst spot right now?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is exactly over Gary Tuchman. That live shot was the absolute worst of it right over Gulfport and just to the west of Gulfport.
Gary still has a little break right through here. He is right under the "P" in Gulfport. And then there's the real eyewall itself. That is the eastern, northernmost, most dangerous part of any hurricane, and he's going to get that in about 15 minutes.
His wind speeds may actually go up by 20 or 30 miles per hour when that easternmost part right here, that eyewall, moves over Gulfport. And then eventually we're going to get it all the way over to Biloxi, where our Rob Marciano is held up in a hotel room, kind of a bunker there.
So this is clearly the worst part of the storm now. It doesn't really get bad from here. After that, you actually might even get an eyewall to go by you, Gary Tuchman. And that eyewall will be where you can actually see the sky. The winds will probably calm down, and then 15 minutes later the winds will slam you from the other direction.
There goes the storm. It was headed to Baton Rouge and New Orleans. And look at overnight. I want you to watch this one more time.
This is just going, going, going, and then turn. And it just turned to the right, and it really missed New Orleans with a direct hit. A glancing blow, yes, and even winds at 100 to 110. New Orleans, there's a lot of damage, but certainly not as much as there could have been.
And now it's moved back up into Mississippi, Alabama. And now we're going to see a lot of power lines down in Mississippi, Alabama, all the way up even into Tennessee. A lot of folks still have a lot of time to go yet. So we're going to watch this storm for you for the next many hours to come.
KAGAN: Right. And Chad, before we go to our Drew Griffin, who's standing by in Meridian, Mississippi, this is a place where a lot of people went and took refuge from the storm. But what is coming their way?
MYERS: It is going to lose intensity when it gets over land. Hurricanes build -- here, this is it. Hurricanes build when they are over warm water. Now it's over land. And that land is going to slow it down.
But even by 8:00 tonight, when it's very close to eastern Alabama and west of Birmingham, it is still going to be a hurricane. It's still going to be a Category 1. Right now it's a Category 3, 125 miles per hour. Out here, in the ocean, it was a Category 5 yesterday.
Extremely more dangerous than 120, but still, even at 75, power lines are going to be down. And power lines could be down for days across parts of Mississippi and Alabama, into Tennessee, even northern Georgia.
KAGAN: Well, and as anybody has to wonder what a Category 1 can do, just ask the folks in south Florida...
MYERS: There you go.
KAGAN: ... and Miami-Dade, when Katrina hit the first time before coming to the Gulf Coast.
MYERS: Exactly.
KAGAN: Thanks, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
KAGAN: We're back with you.
As I mentioned, our Drew Griffin is standing by in Meridian, Mississippi, a place where a number of people went to take refuge but might have their own saga in getting through this part of the storm -- Drew.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In fact, Daryn, the manager of our hotel had everybody in the lobby this morning who was staying there, and explaining to them what is going to happen. She fully expects the power to go out. And while the hotel does have a generator, it will only light the lobby. So she was telling them all to come down to the lobby when the power does go out later today.
The hotels are just packed. In fact, we got in late last night, and there was a stream of refugees going from hotel to hotel, desperately trying to find a room. They couldn't find them. The people at the hotel had a list of local shelters in Meridian that were taking people in. Some were taking advantage. Others were going further on down the highway, just trying to find a place (INAUDIBLE).
KAGAN: Clearly, we're already being able to notice some phone problems with Drew Griffin reporting to us from Meridian, Mississippi. Looking at live pictures here. I believe these were pictures we were getting earlier from New Orleans.
Our John Zarrella had a chance -- we have been talking with him, touching base with him over the last couple of hours. He is stationed in downtown New Orleans. It sounds like he's had a chance to make his first foray out into the streets and give us an actual look instead of just joining us on the phone.
Here's a report he filed just a few minutes ago. Let's look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are on Common Street in the French Quarter. The height of the storm still not here on top of us yet. But already, you can see blown out windows in the building across the street from us.
The wind is howling and circulating throughout this -- the corridors of these streets, just howling through here. The water is already coming up on the streets, up through the drainage system, all along the street here. Off the sides of the buildings you see the water pouring down.
Back in the distance, you can still barely see down the street. It's just a white sheet of water, a white sheet of rain pounding in downtown, in the French Quarter.
You can hear debris flying through the air. You can see debris up in the skies, circling in the wind, just being whipped around by the wind. Pieces of shingle, pieces of roof tiles flying by.
We do expect that we are going to see a lot more water rising. What we are seeing here is just water coming up from the drainage system. Just from the rain. It's not floodwaters from, say, Lake Pontchartrain. This is just strictly the overflow. All of the rain we have had for the last several hours as Hurricane Katrina continues to beat its path at our door.
John Zarrella, CNN, in the French Quarter.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Thank you for that report, John.
We like to not just bring in information, but give you a peek behind the scenes how we are able to gather the information and pictures and bring it to you. You might have heard that we made the decision to get our satellite trucks out of downtown New Orleans, which we did. John Zarrella able to file that report not just on the phone, but bring us the pictures and the video using a technology called FTP, which basically means he and his crew went and shot the video, able to send it to us via computer.
We'll continue to bring you the latest pictures, the latest images, the latest information with our Chad Myers on Hurricane Katrina as it makes its way from the Gulf up into the continental U.S. Our coverage continues at your hurricane headquarters here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: The information and the pictures continue to flow into us here at CNN. Pictures, we might be using that term loosely as we look at this practically completed whited out picture.
This is New Orleans, one of the strong places hit by Hurricane Katrina, a storm that is covering four states right now, from Louisiana to Mississippi to Alabama and into the Florida Panhandle. We have correspondents and anchors and crews, as you can see, stationed all along that four-state area. We'll be getting to many of them in just a moment.
First of all, we want to go to Ed Rappaport. He is deputy director of the National Hurricane Center. He has been tracking Katrina, and he is in Miami this morning.
Ed, good morning. A busy one, indeed, for you.
ED RAPPAPORT, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: That's right. And we're seeing now what we believe will be the last landfall for Katrina, the center moving ashore near the mouth of the Pearl River, which is along the Mississippi-Louisiana border. The worst of the weather is just east of that past in the Waveland, Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis area of Mississippi.
KAGAN: Let's go ahead and bring our Chad Myers in, because two weather guys talking is going to give us the best information possible.
Chad, go ahead and ask Ed a question.
MYERS: Well, we were talking about this storm now for days. We finally know where it went. We finally know where the most damage is, and where he was talking about, from Gulfport, right over to Biloxi, right there, Bay St. Louis.
I mean, what are we expecting here? Are the winds still 125, 130 on land here?
RAPPAPORT: That's our estimate at this point. And of course that's where the strongest storm surge is being driven ashore.
We had reports earlier of eight-foot surge, but that was several hours ago, and that was not in the eyewall. So we expect that there still could be something on the order of a 15 or 20-foot storm surge in those towns we just talked about.
MYERS: We've heard of a little bit of a levee problem in the New Orleans area. Have you had any updates at the hurricane center from that?
RAPPAPORT: I've had not any update on that. Of course we had the east wind and northeast wind driving the water westward towards where that levee breach occurred. And so we have concern, but we don't know how much water has made it over the top there.
MYERS: Will there be any way to know when this finally dies off, when the storm surge will be over? Is it still four to five hours that Lake Pontchartrain will be well above normal?
RAPPAPORT: Well, the issue now for the New Orleans area and adjacent community is that the winds are shifting. So rather than being out of the north, they are going to be coming out of the northwest and then the west. So the pressure is going to be on a different portion of the levee, although the wind speeds will be coming down a bit.
So we still have a few more hours there to weather the storm in New Orleans. The worst of the weather is just now just getting to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, though. So they are going to have another six hours or so at least of hurricane conditions.
MYERS: Ed, we lost the radar out of Slidell earlier today. Do you know what the conditions were there when that happened?
RAPPAPORT: Well, Slidell now, about that time, was in the northwestern eyewall. So it's not surprising they were getting hurricane-force conditions likely at that time. We've now switched over to another weather service office radar out of Mobile so we can see very well the structure of the hurricane as it's pushing inland.
MYERS: Ed, thank you very much. Phenomenal work this week.
I couldn't tell you, and I can't tell the viewers how great of a job the forecast was here by you guys there for timing, wind speed and direction. So thank you very much. Your work is well appreciated.
RAPPAPORT: Thank you for the kind words.
MYERS: Daryn, back to you.
KAGAN: And of great use to those who paid attention. Some clearly did not.
Chad Myers, thank you. Chad, we'll be back to you.
And Ed Rappaport, at the National Hurricane Center, thank you as well.
Our Anderson Cooper is out in it. He is in Baton Rouge.
As you were hearing Ed Rappaport saying about the wind direction, at least in New Orleans, expected not to die down but to shift direction.
COOPER: Yes, that's always an ominous time. I mean, a lot of what we do here is dependent on our satellite truck. And we try to position the satellite truck so wherever the winds are it's not going to get literally lifted up like a sail.
I mean, that satellite dish, when it's up, gets picked up by some of these winds like a sail and just knocked right over. And when those winds shift direction, that's a very tense time for us, because we want to make sure that, whatever the wind shift is, the satellite dish and the satellite truck are still positioned where they are safe, where we can continue to operate.
We are still feeling the wins coming north-south. That way is north. And they are definitely still swinging toward this way, though judging by that crane, they've shifted maybe a little bit more to the east just a little bit.
You know, one of the things that we have been trying to do all throughout this morning, all throughout the predawn hours, is really try to give you at home a sense of what it's like being outside. We'd also like to hear from you about what it's like for you if you have been weathering out this storm in this entire region. If you have been in your homes with your family seek safety, wherever you may be, we'd love to hear from you.
Give us a call on "360" tonight at 7:00 Eastern Time. We will play some of your messages that you leave for us on this special number. The number is 1-866-NY-AC360. That's 1-866-NY-AC360.
Did I get that right? Yes, I think I did. 1-866-NY-AC360.
Leave us a recorded message. We'll play some of those a little bit later on "360" tonight, 7:00 Eastern Time.
Rob Marciano has been stanning by getting hit hard in Biloxi. Let's check in with him.
Rob, how are you holding up?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Anderson, not too bad right now. But you can see the awning which we were standing under over an hour ago being torn up by the winds now as we look from our third floor room here.
What's notable now, though, is not so much that the tiles and the plywood are peeling off, because that has somewhat stopped. But the front part, the front framing of that awning, you can see that pulsating in the breeze. And that's because the winds have now switched from the east to the south-southeast. And the front side of that awning is getting pounded. What that also tells us is that the storm is almost getting -- is almost flanking us to our west.
We're looking due south now towards I-10. You can see obviously no traffic. You can see the (INAUDIBLE) to the north, and at times due west at about probably 80 to 90 miles an hour. Winds gusting, though, easily over 100 miles an hour in order to get this sort of damage.
The roof of this hotel obviously damaged. We can't see that. but rooms up and down the hotel are leaking badly. And at times with this window open, when the room fills up with air, when the winds come in at such a ferocious pace, the pressure inside this room gets so great it's like a pressurized cabin in an aircraft. Your ears -- you feel it in your ears and you just -- you just want them to pop.
So not sure if we're going to be staying in this location, because the winds will continue to strengthen out of the south, as it appears we're going to be getting the eastern flank of the eyewall, often the strongest. And there are already windows that have been blown out on this side of the building.
So we're probably going to be finding another locale. And Anderson, we, too, are having issues with our satellite truck. Because the winds have shifted, we're now going to have to put the dish down at some point here and relocate that.
So that's the latest from Biloxi. Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: We'll check in with Rob a little bit later on in Biloxi, as we have been over these last several hours.
The technology we've been deploying has been really extraordinary. You see Gary Tuchman driving around in Hurricane One, able to stay on the air, even at the height of the storm. Sometimes, though, the most simple things fail.
We all in the field use these IFBs, which are -- basically that's how we hear what is on the air, and what we hear when people are talking to us. Unfortunately, they often get filled with water. That's what happened to my IFB right now.
So literally, I can't hear anything because there's water in the little tiny plastic cable. So I'm going to toss it back to Daryn Kagan, who is standing by hopefully with a dry IFB at the CNN Center in Atlanta -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Yes, Anderson, my IFB is dry, and that is the most creative excuse I've ever heard for not listening to the producers who are yelling in your ear. "I've got water in my IFB."
Thank you, Anderson.
And as he said, it is incredible technology that we're using to bring you this story all up and down the Gulf Coast, from Louisiana all the way to the panhandle of Florida.
We have been getting Katrina-related photos and video from a lot of you. And we want to say thank you for that. We're calling you our citizen journalists, and we welcome your submissions.
So, please, number one, don't put yourself in any harm's way to get the photos. But let's go ahead and take a look at some of the photos that we have been receiving so far. One of our viewers has sent us pictures taken by his brother from inside the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. First Lieutenant Bert Sausse is with the Air National Guard inside the dome. He took these pictures showing the missing section of the roof.
That's a key story that we've been following there, because there's thousands of people holed up, believing that that was the safest place for them to take refuge in New Orleans. If you're wondering how he did it, Sausse used a cell phone camera to take the pictures.
And the lighting is, of course, poor. But this is one of our first looks inside the damage at the Superdome.
If you live in an area that's impacted by Hurricane Katrina, e- mail your photos and videos to us, and you, too, can become one of CNN's citizen journalists. You can do that by logging on to CNN.com/stories. Please include your name, location and phone number.
And again, this reminder, please, don't put yourself in harm's way. It's just not worth it.
Our coverage does continue throughout the day, throughout the hour here on CNN. And we would like to welcome our international viewers watching from all around the world on CNN International. Our coverage for you, as well clear across the U.S., continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Welcome back. Welcome back to our continuing coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
We're looking at pictures from Biloxi, Mississippi. Hearing from Ed Rappaport at the National Hurricane Center just a few minutes ago this area, as hard hit as it has been so far, should still be under hurricane conditions for at least the next six hours. The Mississippi Gulf Coast clearly taking a hard hit here.
As we watch Hurricane Katrina, we have correspondents spread up and down the Gulf Coast from Louisiana throughout Mississippi, Alabama, and into the Florida Panhandle as well. A big part of the focus has been on New Orleans. When Hurricane Katrina went slamming into that famous city, winds were about 145 miles an hour.
New Orleans catching a little bit of a break by the direction and the exact place where Hurricane Katrina hit. The news so far, the levees that were a big concern in that city so far do appear to be holding, but not out of the dark yet.
Not too far away from there, in baton Rouge, also we've been watching with our Anderson Cooper as there have been ebbs and flows of the storm, different bands going through there.
Going back to Anderson now live in Baton Rouge -- Anderson.
COOPER: And Daryn, we're definitely in an ebb right now. And let's -- let's hope it stays that way.
A little bit of sun, a little bit of sky peaking through the clouds, moving very fast. But the winds have died down considerably. Let's hope it stay this is way. Let's hope it's not just a lull between another outer band of the storm.
Very briefly, I just want to encourage viewers who are -- have been riding out the storm at home. We want to hear from you at CNN. We want to hear your experiences, what it was like for you, what it was like for your family members, what you thought of the storm.
You can call us at 1-866-NY-AC360. 1-866-NY-AC360. We'll play some of your messages on "360" tonight at 7:00 Eastern Time, 6:00 Central Time.
I also want to talk right now with an official from the American Red Cross who is in Biloxi, David Rudduck, who is standing by.
David, what are you seeing there? How many people have you been helping?
DAVID RUDDUCK, RED CROSS, BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI: Well, Anderson, probably like yourself, we're getting blasted here in Biloxi. It's just impossible to get out into this storm right now.
You know, as you might have heard, the Red Cross is launching its largest mobilization of free sources to a single disaster in the organization's history. But we can't do that until this storm subsides and it's safe for our volunteers and staff to go into the areas that have been affected and provide the assistance that people are going to need.
Oddly enough, you know, we're looking at 120, 130 mile-an-hour winds here. There was a family that was out in the street with two mattresses tied to their truck. And they were lost. I mean, they really didn't know what to do insofar as, you know, getting under the underpass. So they came into the hotel, and we're going to try to make sure that they have a place to stay tonight.
COOPER: And where are your people marshalled? I mean, are you all in one location waiting for the storm to subside so you can then go out? How is it organized?
RUDDUCK: Not at all, Anderson. We're spread out throughout about a four-state area right now. We prepositioned 200 emergency response vehicles to be just outside of the effected area ready to roll in as soon as it's safe to do so.
You know, there's going to be a lot of flooding, a lot of debris in the streets and power lines down. So we need to wait for that to subside.
Also, we've moved 16 tractor trailers in to support our feeding operation. And, as soon as this storm subsides and we can ramp up our cooking in our kitchen, we'll be able to serve upwards of half a million meals a day. But that's going to take a while. As you know, the big challenge right now is getting past this storm, making sure that it's safe to go into these areas and, as soon as we possibly can, we're going to get in there and provide the assistance that these people need.
COOPER: Well, as you have done so many other times in so many other storms, the American Red Cross just doing tremendous work and will be doing tremendous work here for days and perhaps weeks to come.
Dave, I appreciate talking to you in Biloxi.
Gary Tuchman is in Gulfport in Hurricane 1. He joins us on the phone.
Gary, what are you seeing where you are?
TUCHMAN: The worst is occurring in Gulfport. The winds are impossible to gauge because the wind gauges are not working. But I can tell you (inaudible) in our van. We have been driving around in our van, which we (inaudible).
We stopped driving it about two hours ago because it was too treacherous (inaudible). And a huge portion, about a 30-foot portion (inaudible). That's a little too long. (inaudible) give you an idea of what's (inaudible).
(inaudible) Gulfport, Mississippi, 70 miles east of New Orleans; 50 miles west of Biloxi. (inaudible) three and a half hours with these hurricane-force winds.
The flooding is unbelievable. Near the beach, we are now seeing 10 feet of water on the streets, boats floating down the street, signs, canopies of gas stations, roofs, windows smashed everywhere you go.
(inaudible) but it's been a few hours since then. So that's gives you an idea. (inaudible). They are going to see a city that is much different than it was yesterday.
Anderson.
COOPER: Gary Tuchman. (inaudible), we'll check in with you very shortly.
As Daryn has said, we have correspondents and anchors really throughout this whole region bringing you live reports as we have been all night long and all through this day and through this night, as well.
Let's go back to Daryn Kagan -- is standing by in Atlanta.
KAGAN: Hi, Anderson. Thank you. And once again, I'd like to welcome our viewers that are watching us and joining us from all around the world, tuning in on CNN International.
Our Chad Myers -- one of our key, important players -- inside and dry up on the seventh floor here in Atlanta and tracking the radar.
Chad?
MYERS: I've got the by on this one I think.
KAGAN: But you know what? We have you right where we need you, Chad.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS: Good morning, Daryn, and good morning, everyone.
New Orleans now really out of the real problem. Still some wind coming out of the north at about 40 miles per hour. But what you had is now gone. It has now moved to the northeast, past Bay St. Louis right on through and into Gulfport and Biloxi.
A couple of stops for you here. We can zoom in to Gulfport, zoom in to Biloxi. We have a reporter here, Gary Tuchman, and then our Rob Marciano right there in Biloxi -- about to get hit by the eastern eyewall.
One of the good things that happened with this storm is that there was not a southeastern part of the eyewall itself. The eyewall was kind of broken up down here. So when the most dangerous part of the hurricane did approach the coast, there weren't big storms associated with it.
Yes, this is still 100. But this would have been 130 to 140.
It doesn't look like that happened. There were some gusts to about 115 at times earlier today.
One more thing I want to talk about, Daryn, is the threat of tornadoes. All of these cells that you see here coming onshore -- this is Florida, also parts of Alabama, possibly into parts of Georgia -- the potential for tornadoes popping up today exists in this warm air here with a little bit of spin that comes in with the hurricane on the east and usually the northeast side.
This storm was about to make landfall way west of New Orleans. And then, in the middle of the night, it turned right. And wow, did it ever. There it goes. Turning almost due north and heading right over Gulfport.
Gulfport will probably see the biggest amount of damage compared to anyone.
Now, probably the most numbers or the most amount of damage -- technically or, you know, monetarily -- will come out of New Orleans just because there are so many people that live there in comparison to Gulfport or Biloxi.
For later on today, 8:00 tonight, still a hurricane over Meridian, Mississippi. Then it dies off by tomorrow morning. And then obviously, as it travels on up toward the northeast, we'll still see some rain with it and some winds to maybe 30, even through Kentucky, Ohio, and into Pennsylvania.
Daryn?
KAGAN: So right now we've been focusing on the four states from Louisiana into the panhandle of Florida. You're saying we need to add Georgia to that list for the potential for tornadoes -- and Tennessee -- as the storm moves on up.
MYERS: Right. The panhandle of Florida would be the main threat for those tornadoes here for right now. Updating a tornado watch that's going to be posted -- I assume right through this area, because the sun has been out for some of the morning. That warmed the ground up and that gives you the potential for those tornadoes in the speckled areas.
You can kind of see them here. This is not obviously part of the hurricane itself per se. These are the outer parts of the bands. And every one of those can spin at one time.
Now, we're not talking F-5 tornadoes, F-3 tornadoes. We're not talk big ones that happen in the plains. Almost waterspout-like tornadoes that come out of these little spinners that come off the ocean.
KAGAN: But as we see with weather stories time and time again, if you're not aware and not respectful of mother nature, it can come back to make you pay.
MYERS: Absolutely.
KAGAN: Chad, thank you. Back to you many times over the next hour or so. Our coverage continues or Hurricane Katrina. We're back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Looking at pictures now. This is Biloxi, Mississippi. Ed Rappaport from the National Hurricane Center saying this area here, which has been so hard hit by Hurricane Katrina, can expect to be in these conditions for at least the next six hours.
We're getting reports from our Rob Marciano who is there of roofs coming off. Look at that lamp post in the middle of a parking lot, just swaying around. And then somebody, for some reason, deciding to try to drive her car through what now looks like is a lake instead of a parking lot.
We've been telling you throughout the morning that we have correspondents stationed throughout the Gulf Coast, from Florida into Mississippi, Alabama, and also in Louisiana and New Orleans. Let me explain something to you. We do not have a weight requirement or a height requirement for when we send reporters into dangerous stories like this. And that's going to be quite evident when you watch our Kareen Wynter.
I can tell you, Kareen, not a really big girl. But she is a mighty girl, she is a strong woman, and she is in Biloxi, where we are hearing from Rob Marciano. We've been rolling some tape on Kareen's reports, and we thought you might like to see this, from just a little while ago. Kareen Wynter now, from Biloxi.
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KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I'm fine.
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KAGAN: That is our Kareen Winter. A strong, dedicated reporter, a great young woman. And you didn't hear one bit of whining out of her. And thanks to her crew for holding on to her so that she didn't blow away.
Also making use of our affiliates, which we have so many of across the country. WEAR, which is based in Pensacola. And we thank you for the pictures that we received from that part of the Panhandle of Florida earlier. But one of their reporters, Dan Thomas, is also in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Here's a report he filed just a few moments ago.
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DAN THOMAS, WEAR REPORTER: It is coming apart piece by piece here. We have to kep a good eye up here. Take a look up there, Steve. You can see a window is out on the third floor. We've seen bits of the roof coming off here. We must be passing through a band here. We saw this two-by-four that just fell down off of the roof, fairly close to where we're standing here. I'm kind of in a nook, a little wind break.
Let me take you over here and just kind of get a quick look at how strong this wind is right here. I still have a little bit of a wind break, so you're really not feeling the full force of it. I think this is almost dying down enough to where I can really give you a look. It is white capping in the parking lot out here. That is storm water run off that appears to be coming off of I-10 down there. That is not storm surge. We have not seen storm surge where I am. I'm in between four to six miles from the coast right now, but it is plenty strong.
As I said, on the third floor, we've seen windows break out. We saw what we thought was plywood coming off of windows. It turned out to be part of the roof coming off the hotel. They have evacuated the third floor. And let me give you a look inside here in the hotel. There are families in here. The entire third floor is down here. People have brought their dogs, entire families.
As you look in there, you just hear people on the phones to their loved ones, if they can get a cell signal out. People saying I love you. People with their pets. A lot of dogs. A lot of people brought their dogs with them out here. Let's go ahead and shut this window and try to keep them as dry as possible. Really a chaotic situation. We're going to try to stick close to the building here. Steve, come on over here. Let's keep you back here. As that last band passed through, it does -- believe it or not, this is kind of a more calm part of the storm, compared to what it was literally just a minute ago. We saw bits of the roof just flying off, just by the dozens. Bits of the roof, shingles, plywood, two-by- fours, coming off of this roof.
Right here, this stucco part here. You can feel it. It's hollow. We actually saw this starting to shift a little bit. This sliding door over here. As you can see, there's a Spanish language network doing a live shot right here. That sliding door came off its hinges.
I'm going to back over here. Steve, come on back over here. Let's try to keep you back over here. We're going to try to come back in this nook. Come on, Steve, let's get back over here. All right. It's definitely a fierce, chaotic scene out here. A lot of debris, and a lot of storm surge come through this parking lot.
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KAGAN: That is Dan Wear (sic). He's a reporter with our affiliate WEAR, based in Pensacola, Florida. He moved westward, filing that report from Biloxi, Mississippi.
So we've been focusing on four states along the Coast, the Gulf Coast. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. But if you were listening to our Chad Myers earlier, if you're in Georgia, if you're in Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, you want to be alert. Katrina is coming your way.
Our coverage and more information on that straight ahead. As we go to break, we look at pictures brought to us by our Rob Marciano and his crew from Biloxi, Mississippi. Live pictures. We're back after this.
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KAGAN: Hurricane Katrina is showing little to no respect for state lines. This picture coming to us from a causeway in Mobile, Alabama. You can see the water stirred up there. Hard to tell how hard it's raining or the wind is blowing at this point, but we're going to head westward, cross over the Mississippi state line, into Biloxi, Mississippi, where it's been very clear how intense and how awful the storm is at that point.
Hearing earlier from Ed Rappaport and Chad Myers, they can expect in Biloxi to still be under these hurricane conditions at least for the next five to six hours.
Let's get the latest conditions and bring in our Chad Myers, who has been doing just such a smash-up job, literally. I guess that's kind of appropriate when you're talking about a category 4 hurricane.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I guess. And so have our directors, so I'll butter them up, and I'll ask them to try to bring that Alabama shot back.
KAGAN: The causeway picture?
MYERS: The causeway shot?
KAGAN: OK, I think it's tape.
MYERS: OK, whatever it is. There is another road under that water that you can't see. I have looked at this causeway shot
KAGAN: So it's more like a bridge.
MYERS: This is a bridge. I believe this is the I-10. But in fact, there's another road under there completely covered up that you can't even see.
KAGAN: Or was.
MYERS: Well, was. Now it's covered in silt. We'll continue to try to keep up. That's what I was just looking at, actually, the Mobile water pouring in, just getting forced into Mobile Bay. Up around four to four and a half feet now, with some flood warnings going on there.
We'll go to the maps behind me here. Biloxi seeing the wind coming onshore. That's where our Rob Marciano is, right there. Gulfport, you had all of the eastern eye wall. And now we've broken up the eye wall. There isn't as much of the eye wall to the south here, and so, therefore, there's not as much wind going to be in these lower squall areas.
The biggest part of the wind right now is in the red. And that's where that's going to be happening. Because there was a lack of a southeastern eye wall at the time of the second landfall -- the first one happened in Louisiana -- this was a little bit easier. Maybe ten or 15 miles easier. And I tell you what, when you're talking about shingles and roofs coming off, 15 miles an hour makes all kinds of difference.
Now, there's another weather source that I can show, to show you what happened already in this storm. We call it GR-113. It's our Vipir system. That entire area, now -- we've moved you back toward New Orleans. Look at some of the numbers here on Vipir. These are 24-hour rainfall totals over New Orleans. Ten inches right over Lake Pontchartrain and the causeway. We can zoom you in now. The French Quarter right here out towards the Garden District 8, outward 10 or eight inches. And some spots up here. Here's the Lake Pontchartrain, here's the causeway going across.
Ten inches of rain out of the sky and then not only what is coming over some of the levees there that we know of. There will be more rain coming in with the storm, as well.
We'll zoom you out. Show you what is going to go on in the next 24 hours. The bulk of the rain heading right over Meridian, Mississippi, Hattiesburg, and then right on up even to Tennessee. These are the 24-hour rainfall totals expected. Hattiesburg already 4.7 of rain -- 4.7 inches expected for today. Now we'll go back to the other maps. Again, back to them and I'll show you what is going on a little bit farther to the east.
The threat of some tornadoes with the system. This isn't really a wind threat so much. But from Gulfport to Biloxi, eyewall still making landfall. To the east of there, see these speckled red dots? Those are the strong cells, individual cells. At times, we can call them mini super cells coming off the hurricane. Every one of them can spin a little bit. And that spin can spin an F-0 or an F-1 tornado. We've probably had 20 to 25 tornado warnings so far this morning for these little storms. None of them yet that we know of have been touched down. They have all been Doppler-indicated -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right, Chad. We're going to focus -- I think you had three inches of rain for Mobile, Alabama over the next 24 hours?
MYERS: So far. And that's how much they've had plus another three.
KAGAN: OK. So that doesn't tell the whole story though because you have the wind and other things taking place there. Our Kathleen Koch is stand big in Mobile, Alabama. Let's go to her live and see what she can tell us with the pictures -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. We're here, Daryn, in Mobile. I don't know if you can see the street behind me. It's beginning to be littered with tree branches. From time to time you see them tumbling down the road like tumbleweed.
This kind of thing is also blowing down the road and through the air. This is a metal top for a lamp post, I believe, from the garage next door. But this is the kind of thing that's just right now defying gravity and just simply flying through the air.
The conditions have gotten so dangerous actually with the weather in Mobile that you did see a lone police car go behind me just a second ago but they've advised citizens to stay off the street. There is no curfew. But the police and fire department are now limiting calls. They are only responding to the direst of emergencies.
Daryn, we have been talking to the Mobile Emergency Management Agency. They say the calls have been pouring in as the waters have been rising throughout the city. People are saying, help, we want to be evacuated. Come and get us. And they are saying, sorry, it is just too late.
We have a list of flooded streets in the city that is a mile long. But ironically, some of the major streets are Water Street, Telegraph Street, Broad Street, Overgard. A couple of streets that make you feel like you are in New Orleans: Royal Street, Canal Street, Letter, Jackson.
Twenty-one streets in the city and 18 in the county are also impassable, not because of water but because of downed power lines and downed trees, again, like the branches that we're seeing coming down around here.
We're having entire trees fall down and block the roadways here. Of course, everything in this city pretty much shut down today. The schools are closed today. They are closed tomorrow. The local airports are all shut down. Here in our hotel, we've actually had to -- some of us evacuate down from the upper levels of the hotel and evacuate through the opposite side of the hotel because the winds have been more fierce.
Some of the more recent gusts, I guess, about half an hour ago, were reported at the airport in Mobile at 74 miles an hour.
So the winds were such that they were actually driving the rain through the closed hotel room windows. My window on the 10th floor, the window sill was like a river. The water was flowing down it. They evacuated us down to the other side of the building to the seventh floor.
But it's bumpy here but we're getting through. We know that to the east of us -- the west of us, I should say, it's a lot rougher.
KAGAN: Kathleen, stay with me just a second because I want to go ahead and welcome our viewers joining us on CNN International watching from all around the world.
Kathleen, before I let you go, you have some personal perspective because you grew up in this part of the country.
So you know only too well how the storms can be.
KOCH: I certainly do, Daryn. I actually moved to the Mississippi gulf coast to a tiny city that right now as far as we know is getting hammered by the storm. That's Bay St. Louis. And I moved there in 1973, four years after Hurricane Camille into a home that was said to be hurricane proof. That was very popular after Camille hit in '69. They rebuilt homes and promised homeowners they would never be devastated again.
So after Katrina blows through, I'm very interested in going back there and seeing if that came to pass. I have some serious doubts.
KAGAN: All right. We wish the folks well in your old hometown. Kathleen Koch reporting to us from Mobile, Alabama.
Want to move to the west to Biloxi, Mississippi. We've been basically riding out the storm with our Rob Marciano. We saw him when he was outside and he had to move to the third floor of the hotel where he's staying. And now he's been able to move back down to the lobby with the latest on Hurricane Katrina and how it is hitting that area -- Rob.
All right, well, clearly Rob is moving around. I think that we might have him. There he is.
Rob, what can you tell us? You moved down to the lobby? MARCIANO: Hi, Daryn. Can't hear you, but I'll tell you this. We're in the hotel -- people are hunkered down here. No power. No phone lines. They just got to have each other and their pets to comfort them. Look at all the beautiful dogs that are hanging out here, keeping everybody company.
I tell you, it is -- with the craziness -- having the animals around really is a comfort. It really is a comfort especially to the kids. A lot of people are visibly frightened at times. Power is out here. But they do have an emergency generator. For some reason or other cable is still on. So they are able to watch our coverage, as well. We're boarded up here on the northern side. You see the plywood that's boarded up there. All hanging out here...
KAGAN: As you can see a little spotty with Rob Marciano's signal coming to us from the lobby of that hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi. An interesting pictures of all the people, the guests, kind of hunkered down together and the animals clearly stress free. A dog party for them.
Not that easy and happy for people across four states into Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Also hearing word, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, this storm of great concern for you, as well.
Our coverage continues. The latest on Hurricane Katrina and its aftereffects after this break.
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