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CNN Live Today

Katrina's Catastrophic Toll

Aired August 30, 2005 - 11:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's nothing left. All I found that belonged to me was a shoe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's a new day, and new revelations of Katrina's catastrophic toll across the Gulf Coast. Early estimates show at least 68 people are dead. That number is likely to rise in the days ahead as rescue teams make their way to flooded and splintered homes.

From New Orleans to Mobile, it's a recovery that begins today. It could take months or even years to complete.

Some specifics for you now.

The hurricane killed dozens of people along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Some 30 deaths happened when the storm surge wiped out a beachside apartment house in Biloxi.

The mayor of New Orleans says 80 percent of his city could be under water at this hour, and there's not likely to be any electricity until around the end of September. He says storm evacuees may not get back to the city for weeks or months.

Early estimates suggest that Katrina could be one of the costliest disasters in the U.S. One projection puts the insured loss as high as $26 billion. The Red Cross says it is ready to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTY EVANS, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN RED CROSS: We have over 200 shelters open, and we're prepared to open many, many more as the storm continues to cause flooding and require people to seek safety. We have staged extensive supplies, meals, cleanup kits, hygiene kits, all staged to come into the area as soon as the roads are passable. They will be coming in, augmenting what we already had on the scene. And we've mobilized our 860 Red Cross chapters across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: We continue to deploy even more correspondents and producers and photographers to the area. They are in position along the Gulf Coast this morning from New Orleans to Mobile. We're going to hear from many of them this hour. Let's go ahead and get started along the Mississippi Gulf Coast this hour. Katrina will certainly take a place alongside Camille in hurricane lure. Dozens have lost their lives. And the towns of Gulfport and Biloxi are in ruins today.

Our Miles O'Brien is in Biloxi and joins me now.

Miles, good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's rare company, Daryn, when you start mentioning those names.

Camille in particular is kind of the -- quite literally the high watermark here. And the residents I've been speaking with this morning -- who were here in 1969 when Camille came through -- say this storm was much worse.

Take a look at some pictures that were taken by a man from California, Richard Leland (ph), who flew across the country to see what a hurricane was all about. Got his DV camera, and got himself up on this parking deck behind me and captured this amazing picture of the ocean simply swallowing this place up.

Twenty-five feet of storm surge is what we're talking about. He's lucky he lived to tell the tale. But he was high enough on that parking deck that the surge didn't get him. And he was able to capture what caused all this tremendous damage here.

I'm walking through it right now. And it's just caked with mud. There's all kinds of trees and pieces of mangrove, pieces of siding, vinyl siding from a house.

And even over here, if you look over here -- by the way, we're by the Beau Rivage Casino and Resort. Here's a glass structure here, and that's a bench that came out almost intact. All kinds of housing material, as I say, brochures for the casino, plenty of cans.

And look at these trees. A lot of them have what appear to be sandbags in them, or the remnants of sandbags. These are sandbag trees. Obviously the sandbags were no match for Katrina.

Now, the residents, as they've come back, and have come over to see us this morning, many of them have said they made a decision to stay here. And that was based on -- I guess you can call it the Ivan effect. The storms that they've had so far this year, they evacuated for. They came in Category 2 storms and turned out to be not that big a deal.

I'm told that down this end, pass that piece of roof that was taken off, you know, intact off of a structure there, many people decided to ride out the storm. And I'm told there is great fear of many deaths out there.

We don't have any numbers for you. We haven't had our chance to make our way down there. Logistics are tremendous here. I spoke to one of the people who made that decision, that key decision to stay behind. And this morning, he is very thankful to be alive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLES CURTIS, BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI RESIDENT: It's horrific. It's horrific.

I kept a cool head, told my wife we were going to survive. And she was panicked, and I was able to drag the washer and dryer out of the back part of the house and put it in the highest part of the house, within the center.

We have four miniature schnauzers. I crated them. I put them on top of the stove.

She got up on top of the washing machine. And I was watching around in the water, watching things, seeing how high the tide was coming. I had a hammer in my hand, because the next thing we were going to do is get on top of our refrigerator-freezer, punch a hole in the ceiling, and then get through the attic and go through the roof if we had to.

O'BRIEN: Now, you didn't have to do that. By the way, we're looking at some pictures that were shot during that time from this parking deck we're at. A guy actually came from California to see the storm surge and got some incredible pictures showing the force of it all.

You never had to go to the roof, though.

CURTIS: No.

O'BRIEN: If it was a -- it must have been a little lower surge where you were.

CURTIS: Yes, I was at -- I'm at one of the highest points in Biloxi. I was here during Hurricane Camille when I was 10 years old. We never got water, that's why I was never worried.

When we (INAUDIBLE) Biloxi -- because Biloxi is actually a peninsula -- came from the back bay, and the ocean just came right up into our house. I saved the lizard. It was floating behind a cup, and I took my baseball cap off. It jumps in there. I brought it in the house and put it up on top of the bed.

O'BRIEN: Wow.

CURTIS: It was just -- and then last night, when everything calmed down, there was a flying squirrel, a big green lizard -- this sounds pretty hillbilly being down in the South -- a bull frog, all of these animals, one of them just sitting on the porch next to me. It's just strange to see the wildlife coming up.

O'BRIEN: So wild kingdom came right at your door there. CURTIS: Exactly. It was like a Jim Carey movie.

O'BRIEN: Well, did you ever get -- I mean, your wife, you say, was panicking. At any point did you feel like this could be it?

CURTIS: I wasn't going to let it be it. There was no doubt -- no. I'm like a bulldog. We would have survived one way or the other, and I guaranteed her that with my life. She was going to make it.

O'BRIEN: Now, you work in one of the casinos.

CURTIS: Yes, sir.

O'BRIEN: It's been split in half.

CURTIS: Split in two.

O'BRIEN: You're among 14,000 gaming workers here on the Gulf Coast. This is a huge impact for this area, isn't it?

CURTIS: Yes, it is. It's going to be -- it's horrific. I mean, just don't know what to do.

We're just going to have to go out and rebuild and just drive on. Nothing's going to stop me. We'll make it.

O'BRIEN: Is it in the end worth it, living here, given the risks?

CURTIS: Oh, it's great. I mean, it's never been really a risk before. I mean, it just exploded.

And we're going to live here. It's just -- I mean, what are you going to do? It's like a meteorite coming out and just hitting a certain place in Arizona and people (INAUDIBLE) "I've got to move."

I mean, so what are the odds? I mean, New Orleans, I heard just rumors that New Orleans was 60 or 70 percent under water right now. They've never been hit with a major storm since -- anything this bad.

And it's like, oh, it's not going to come, it's not going to come. And you keep waiting and waiting, keep believing.

Well, actually, we stayed for every storm here, because it's been either a Category 1 or 2. It's a little rough, but the way it always was, was you have food and water for three days. Everything started opening back up, casinos were open within a week.

Everything was back to normal. You just had you to get limbs out of your yard. I mean, that's just been status quo for 12 years.

O'BRIEN: Not this time.

CURTIS: Not this time, no.

(END VIDEOTAPE) O'BRIEN: Back live now as you look down at the other end of the beach, and you look at that light house. Looking toward the west, there is an apartment building that's collapsed. It's also virtually inaccessible. The police won't let us in there.

We are told that in the midst of the surge, the building gave way, it collapsed, and there are upwards of 30 people in there. So all of these numbers are being tallied right now, Daryn. And this is obviously very early. But it seems very clear that, you know, where there was Hurricane Andrew, on top will be Hurricane Katrina when all is said and done -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So Miles, it goes without saying pretty much that along -- just along much of the Gulf Coast, no power, no phone service, no basic infrastructure.

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, and it's amazing what we all take for granted. And we've been living like this ourselves.

We have the advantage of, when the story is over, going back to our homes with our air-conditioning and our phones and all the thing we take for granted in the 21st century. And you heard -- what you just said a few moments ago really struck me. They're saying the end of September. And that might be an optimistic projection before power comes back on here.

This is a story which is really hard to get a handle on, I think.

KAGAN: Right. And you have to get the power and the phones and all that going before you can even begin to fathom rebuilding a local economy like the casinos that make a place like Biloxi go.

Miles, stay with us. Chad Myers wants to jump in, in our conversation here -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Miles, I have to admit that I'm amazed you're in Biloxi. You were in Baton Rouge yesterday. How did you get to Biloxi? And on your drive, what did you see?

O'BRIEN: Well, that's a very interesting tale. And it's probably a little longer than we have time for.

But the first thing that happened, we went from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. And we got to a significant roadblock, which I sort of akin to kind of purgatory. Those people were in hell, they're awaiting in purgatory to see.

And police would not let us beyond there. We tried everything we could to get past that and they would not let us go to New Orleans. So we kind of eventually decided to do an end-around. We made our way to Slidell, which is an area which had a tremendous amount of flooding from Lake Pontchartrain, significant problems there.

We got there. We were unable to get our satellite truck to work properly. We couldn't get communication back because there's no cell phones, no nothing, no capability. So from there, we made a decision without any -- can't talk to anybody, we were completely on our own -- to go to Biloxi, where we knew there was a satellite truck in operation. And getting here across Interstate 10, we had several conversations with local police officers. And I should point out, all polite, but they were reminding us that there was a curfew.

We pressed on through all kinds of debris. It was really a harrowing trip that took I think -- all and all, it must have taken about eight hours -- Chad.

MYERS: Was Slidell really a mess? Could you tell?

O'BRIEN: Yes, it was. The waters had receded quite a bit by the time we got there, according to some of the residents we spoke with. But there was a tremendous amount of flooding there.

MYERS: Yes.

O'BRIEN: I didn't see as much wind damage as we saw in some of the other parts. I assume that's -- you tell me, because that's kind of in a different spot, right? And we get more of a flood issue from Lake Pontchartrain?

MYERS: Yes, they got northern eyewall and northwestern eyewall, where as another town I'm very concerned with that I don't have a report from, Bay St. Louis. Literally no information coming out of that town whatsoever. They picked up a 24-foot storm surge right in the bay, into the town of Bay St. Louis.

O'BRIEN: Wow.

MYERS: Pass Christian, that is going to be very hard hit as well. And, you know, I know there's a lot of loved ones out there waiting for information, but with power lines down, cell phones down, and phone lines down, it's just going to a long time before you get any help or any information from those out there.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

KAGAN: Miles, thank for that.

I can tell you, Chad, as we go back to you, that our Kathleen Koch is on her way through Bay St. Louis.

MYERS: Oh, good.

KAGAN: In fact, she grew up in that town.

MYERS: Right.

KAGAN: And so she has a personal interest in finding out exactly what happened to people who she knows who are still behind there. So we do have people making their way. And, you know, as Miles' tale was telling, they're doing the best they can...

MYERS: Yes.

KAGAN: ... and to not only get there, but to get the information out.

MYERS: Exactly. It's very slow-going when you've got a tree in front of you ever 15 feet. So there you go, Daryn. Thank you very much.

We'll talk to you in just a second, Miles. I'll get to some weather here for you.

We do have more tornado watches today. We had them yesterday. We actually had tornadoes on the ground. Had some pictures earlier from Carroll County in Atlanta, or at least in the Atlanta metro area, west a little bit of Atlanta. It looked like maybe some F-2 damage, which is pretty strong tornado damage there.

Now, behind me here, this storm is actually going to be moving on by and possibly producing the same type of damage. Here's the video that I'm talking about.

A lot of these actually are chicken coops, probably not built to the same standards as a home. But look at the -- look at the width of the damage. Those chicken coops are probably 300, 350 feet long, and they're damaged all the way across from one end to the other.

I'm not sure what that building was. Probably just an outbuilding. The tractor still inside of it there. And if you get air inside of a building without the door shut, that's what happens, the roof pops off and the walls fall over.

We didn't hear of too much other damage other than that storm itself, although there were seven confirmed tornadoes yesterday. And I assume with these tornado watch boxes here, there will definitely be more tornadoes today. Possibly as far north and east as Charlotte, all the way into Knoxville, possibly as far northeast even as Washington, D.C., later.

Look at the rain. It's all the way to Boston. It's raining in New York.

It's that tropical moisture. And it's from Columbus, back to Cincinnati. And there are even a couple of showers, Daryn, south of New Orleans. The storm is 2,000 miles wide.

KAGAN: Incredible. Well, I am happy to be able to deliver this, Chad. You make a request, we make it happen.

You were asking about Bay St. Louis?

MYERS: Yes.

KAGAN: Our Gary Tuchman has made it there. And I believe he is on the phone with us right now.

MYERS: Awesome. KAGAN: Gary, you've made it to Bay St. Louis?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn. We're on a satellite phone, because as we've been talking about all day, there's no cellular service whatsoever.

But we're in Bay St. Louis. And Chad is right, there's a lot of devastation here. But there are a lot of people here working hard to do the best they can with what they have.

We can tell you that every house, every business we've seen has some damage to it. Many are totally destroyed. And there are many neighborhoods that you can't get to without a boat. Very deep water.

We just saw a family coming off a boat. They were rescued from their house (INAUDIBLE) that was under water, and they are fine.

There's no way of knowing (INAUDIBLE) casualties here. Police are zipping up and down the streets right now with their flashing lights going, looking around.

As of now, there is no way of knowing. I can tell you the devastation is very heavy.

We just passed a hospital. There is a Coast Guard help capitoler in the parking lot. We (INAUDIBLE), but we couldn't get there right away because we were continuing to drive and observe. We believe, though, they're trying to ferry patients out of here to other hospitals.

There's one casino in Bay St. Louis. It's the Casino Magic. Heavily damaged.

We just drove by there. There are several (INAUDIBLE). It's a huge complex, a major vacation destination, and it's heavily damaged.

The golf course next to the -- beautiful golf course next to the casino, the golf course is completely under water. You would never recognize it as a golf course except for a sign that says, "This is the 9th tee."

But we can tell you they are cut off from the outside world. But people are walking around basically with shopping carts with their belongings. They really do look like war refugees. Nevertheless, we still see smiles as people try to cope -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, I'm going to tell you that, you know, there are a lot of people who have been waiting to hear from even just the littlest bit of information from Bay St. Louis. I imagine you had a very -- you and your crew had a very tough time getting in to that town, and we're going to let you go so you can get more information about what's happening from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

But once again, that's our Gary Tuchman with what I believe are the first reports we're hearing out of that town, saying that almost every building he sees has some amount of damage. Some are destroyed, but there are definitely are survivors. And that is going to be encouraging news for people waiting to hear about loved ones that are behind there.

Thank you, Gary.

Just ahead, we're going to take you back to New Orleans. The trouble there is far from over. In fact, it seems like it's getting worse. Levees that many hoped would hold back floodwaters appear to be giving way.

Plus, the latest from Mobile, Alabama. It's seen the worst flooding there in almost 90 years.

And we're going to show you some of Katrina's impact on the U.S. economy. Even if you're from nowhere near the South, this storm will affect you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Mobile, Alabama, it's about 100 miles from where Hurricane Katrina made landfall. And despite that distance, Mobile still received strong winds, a storm surge and flooding.

Joining me now by phone to talk about Mobile's aftermath and recovery, Steve Huffman. He's with the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency.

Steve, good morning.

STEVE HUFFMAN, MOBILE, ALABAMA: Good morning to you.

KAGAN: What is your biggest challenge this morning?

HUFFMAN: Well, this morning, of course, we've got several areas that are -- or multiple areas that are without power. And we're working those issues -- Alabama Power is.

We're also working issues about getting our distribution points set up so that we can start distributing the ice, water and MREs. And also, we're working to get some tarps in here for people who have roof damage so they can start protecting their property.

KAGAN: And what kind of numbers do you think you're talking about, either of people without power, or still that need, as you're mentioning, food and ice?

HUFFMAN: My understanding from the power company, we're looking at close to 200,000 customers in this area that are without power at this time. Now, as far as food and water and that nature, we're going to get as much as we can in here and continue to get those supplies in here for as long as people need them.

Of course, once power starts being restored for those people who can get back to their homes, you know, we'll see less of that need from some folks. But we've got a lot of people who are going to be displaced for quite some time because of the flooding that occurred, particularly in those areas in the south part of the county, as well as the downtown and the northeast quadrant of the county as well.

KAGAN: Want to get to the surge in the water in just a moment. First, to the power, is it way too early to even make any kind of prediction about how long it's going to take to get power restored?

HUFFMAN: Yes, the first thing they've got to do, and which they're out on the roads today is -- of course, they've been able to restore some power today, because there was no damage from trees in the main -- some of the larger thoroughfares, like, for example, Airport Boulevard, which is a main road here. But some of the areas where they're going to have problems is your neighborhoods and smaller streets where the trees knocked down lines.

And the first step they've got to take is to go in and assess the damage. And then, of course, the next step after that is removing the debris so that they can even make those repairs.

So it's going to be -- it's going to take a while. But I've got to say this, I've been here for many years, I've been through many of these storms, and our power company has always worked very efficiently and quickly to get power restored. In some cases, I was very surprised that they got the power back on as quick as they did.

KAGAN: Well, let's hope for them to have the best of luck in doing that.

Let's talk water now. As I understand, understand, and correct me if I'm wrong here, in Mobile, the storm surge actually ended up being a little bit less than perhaps had been expected, which might be a little bit of a break.

HUFFMAN: Yes, it was less than what originally was being predicted as the storm began to make landfall. You know, they backed off some of those predictions.

It was still, you know, a pretty -- a pretty damaging event despite that. In the downtown area, for example, they were estimating that we had eight foot of water. And looking at some of the news video, it looked like it was probably a little more than that. In the south part of the county, in Balabatry (ph), the town of Balabatry (ph), they had at least 10 feet of water down there.

KAGAN: Well, there is a lot of work to be done all along the Gulf Coast, including there in Mobile, Alabama.

Steve, we wish you the best, and all those people that you're working with...

HUFFMAN: Thank you very much.

KAGAN: ... and working for.

Steve Huffman with the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency.

The search and rescue effort is continuing at this hour in Louisiana. A lot of roads in the New Orleans area are under water this morning. Authorities are having to use boats to rescue people trapped by flooding.

Is it enough to get everybody out they need to get out? We will look at that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: As we continue our coverage of Hurricane Katrina, the aftermath, want to head back to New Orleans. This is a city that seems to be in a worse position today than yesterday.

Not only was the storm and Katrina slamming into that city a problem yesterday, now a levee has broken, flooding much of the city and putting many people who thought they might have been OK in a precarious situation. That includes those at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. This hospital is still functioning, still has -- still has patients.

I have with me on the phone right now Henrietta Walton. She is a nurse at Charity Hospital.

Henrietta, thank you for being with us.

HENRIETTA WALTON, NURSE, CHARITY HOSPITAL: Thank you.

KAGAN: What is the situation at your hospital right now?

WALTON: Right now, our basement, and I believe the first floor -- our basement is flooded and the first floor, which is the E.R., had to be evacuated. Also, they made -- also they made a surgery room out of the orthopedic clinic on the first floor.

And we're without power, but we're functioning on a generator in our unit. And pretty much, the patients are -- who are ventilated, they're being ventilated electrically. And after that goes out, they're getting generators. So we're hoping that, you know, that would help us to sustain the patients.

KAGAN: Do you know how many patients you still have there in the hospital?

WALTON: In the whole system, I'm not really sure

KAGAN: But how many are you caring for today?

WALTON: Right now, we have nine.

KAGAN: How did the decision go into who stayed and who left? Was this a voluntary situation that you were going to stay with your patients, or did you kind of get stuck there?

WALTON: No, we didn't get stuck. We have an activation team and a recovery team. And once the weather is down, you know, is getting better, than our recovery team, they're making ways, if they can, to come and relieve us.

KAGAN: At what point do they make a decision to get patients out?

WALTON: They're doing that right now. Our administrators are doing -- right now, they're planning on meeting. And hopefully we'll know something as soon as they're done.

KAGAN: And how do you do that? How do you physically do that, move a patient who is in intensive care hooked up to all these machines who needs to be evacuated if it's flooding outside?

WALTON: Well, this is what their meeting is going to be about, how they are going to evacuate. And then they'll let us know. But the patients' safety will be first considered.

KAGAN: Well, you're doing very important work, and you're a brave woman yourself. And we thank you for taking time out of a very intense situation to talk with us. We wish you well.

WALTON: Thank you.

KAGAN: Henrietta Walton, she's a nurse at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, where they have to make a decision, do you evacuate these patients that are still in this hospital? The bottom part of the hospital flooded, running on emergency generator power.

Our coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath continues after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Welcome back to our coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I'm Daryn Kagan. We continue to bring you the latest information and pictures as they become available.

The enormous devastation from the hurricane becomes more and more apparent as the sun comes up. Across the Gulf Coast, the death toll and damage estimates are likely to climb as rescue crews reach flooded areas. Here is what we know so far, the numbers.

The death toll in Mississippi alone is estimated at 55. As many as 30 people are believed to have died in the collapse of an apartment complex on the beach.

The mayor of New Orleans says that 80 percent of his city is probably underwater, and the levels are still rising as water pours in from levee breaches. Analysts say that insured losses from the storm could top $26 billion. That would make it one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is preparing to help tens of thousands of people who may have been left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. FEMA officials are already out surveying the damage and getting resources in place.

Patrick Rhode is deputy director of the agency, and he joins me from just outside FEMA headquarters in Washington. Thank you for joining us this morning. Good morning. PATRICK RHODE, DEP. DIRECTOR, FEMA: You're welcome, Daryn. Thank you for having me.

KAGAN: So you have people out in the field. What are the early reports you're getting back?

RHODE: Well, the early reports are not very encouraging. This has truly been a catastrophic event that has unfortunately hit our Gulf Coast states. What we have right now are urban search and rescue teams that are surveying the damage. We have disaster medical assistance teams that are on their way to Backville (ph).

Based upon what the urban search and rescue teams and our initial assessment teams are finding on the ground, it's very important that we communicate to people right now that they do not need to venture back into this area. This is a very dangerous area. It is just as dangerous now post-storm as it was previously. And we need everyone to stay put. Help is on the road.

KAGAN: OK. That's just an emotional plea right there, to tell people -- an emotional request to say to somebody, your home might be gone, but we don't want you going back.

RHODE: It is very, very difficult but unfortunately right now, given the undertaking that we all have right now within the emergency management community, we have to make sure that we take as much pressure off the emergency first responders as we possibly can. We have to make sure that people stay where they are, stay within the shelters, stay with family and friends. Do not venture back into these areas right now for at least the next couple of days, until we have a much better assessment of what the situation really is.

KAGAN: Patrick, let's go beyond just a few days. We're talking a lot of people that are going to need a place to live for probably a long time.

RHODE: We certainly are. We're working all sorts of contingency plans right now on housing arrangements. We do need to tell people that you need to get used to where you're at right now, because unfortunately, this may take us some time to go through working with the states, to make sure that we have actually made sure that is it as safe as humanly possible for people to even try to return to their homes. We're not to that stage right now. We are within an immediate response stage right now, trying to make sure that we are providing those health and safety issues and trying to provide as much in the way of emergency protective measures as we possibly can to the citizens who may be there and may be impacted.

KAGAN: So that sometime is obviously going to depend on whatever area the people want to get back to.

RHODE: I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you.

KAGAN: When we say some time -- I'm just trying to think of somebody who really wants to get home, if they're told it's going to be some time, they're going to want more of a definite number. That's really, though, going to depend and vary from place to place.

RHODE: It very well is going to vary from place to place. It's going to really depend upon how well the water recedes within particular areas. It's going to rely upon how the debris removal effort is going. It's going to rely upon what the energy situation is. There are too many variables in the immediate aftermath of a storm of this kind of magnitude to say with any certainly exactly when it's going to be safe to go back in.

That's why everyone needs to listen very carefully to all of their state and local officials, and we just need to make sure we're all putting safety first. It's going to be very difficult. Everyone wants to return back to their homes but right now, we need to urge everyone to be as patient as they possibly can, so we can make sure we're providing those life-sustaining measures to the people who very well may need it most.

KAGAN: Important work you have ahead of you, you and your agency. Patrick Rhode with FEMA, thank you.

The death toll for Hurricane Katrina is far from being summed up, and there's little doubt the aftermath of the storm represents a threat just as real as the storm itself. Here now is why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): In the U.S., inland floods have accounted for 59 percent of tropical storm deaths over the past 30 years. That means since the 1970s, more people have died from inland flooding than all other storm effects combined, including surf, surge, wind and tornadoes.

One out of every four storm deaths occur to people who drown in their cars, or attempting to abandon them. And children are especially vulnerable. 78 percent of those killed by storms drown in fresh water floods. This type of flooding can occur hundreds of miles from landfall.

And keep in mind, rainfall amounts can actually be greater from weaker tropical storms that move slowly. Once the danger from gusting winds and storm surge passes, the destruction from flooding, even in areas not hit by the eye of the storm, remains.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: This is a moment where we get to say thank to you many of you who have sent us your photos and videos that document Katrina's impact. And we welcome even more submissions from you, our citizen journalists. A reminder, though: Don't put yourself in harm's way to get the stuff. Let's take a look, though, at some of the photos that we have received.

John Coyle sending us this image of debris, including a boat outside a home in Biloxi, Mississippi. The area is just north of Biloxi's Back Bay. Another scene for you from another angle, Biloxi littered with debris after a 25-foot wall of water crashed into that city.

If you live in an area that's impacted by Hurricane Katrina, e- mail us your photos and videos and 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. Again, do not put yourself in harm's way to get the pictures.

Much more on Katrina's aftermath. We're going by helicopter, by boat or by axe. Rescuers trying to reach trapped flood victims anyway they can. We're going to bring you the latest on the desperate rescue efforts just ahead.

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KAGAN: If you were with us just earlier in this hour, you heard from Gary Tuchman. He rode out the storm in Gulfport, Mississippi. He has made it to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and gave us one of the first reports from there very early, since he had just arrived. But you can see that that's the little town there along the Gulf of Mexico between Mississippi and New Orleans.

We've gotten a lot of calls about Bay St. Louis. Gary telling us, basically, most buildings he looked at had at least some sort of damage. There had been a number of buildings that were totally destroyed, but there were also survivors.

Now before he headed to Bay St. Louis -- and we do expect to hear more from him on that town -- he did ride out the storm in Gulfport and he tells us about his harrowing day now with Katrina.

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TUCHMAN (on camera): It was a day that felt like it was never going to end. For hours in Gulfport, Mississippi, we had sustained winds of 135 miles per hour. It was devastating to the town of 71,000 people.

We went through the town as the hurricane was nearing its completion to get a look at some of the images and much of Gulfport under water. U.S. 90, the beach road, right along the coast, was under 10 to 12 feet of water. But even five miles inland, much of the town was underwater. Homes, businesses, used car lots, all floating in water. We saw at one point a police officer with five people. We asked why was he with five people in a truck in the middle of the water? He told us he rescued them. They couldn't swim in the waters near their house.

We talked to another police officer, asked him how the city was doing. He said he hadn't had time to look because he had to deal with looters. So that's what was going on in Gulfport, Mississippi. Devastated town. It will take an awful long time to clean it all up. How long it will take is anybody's guess at this point.

One silver lining story we want to tell you about, though. There's an aquarium right on the beach in Gulfport. It was deemed that it was unsafe for the bottlenosed dolphins, six of them, to stay there. It was felt that they would not survive. So last night they were brought to a hotel, about four miles inland. They treated the pool with salt water, they put the dolphins inside the swimming pool. While the winds were blowing at 135 miles per hour, and all havoc was outside, I walked back to the swimming pool and the dolphins were, to coin a phrase, swimming merrily, having a fine time. And we're happy to report that the bottlenosed dolphins are OK.

This is Gary Tuchman, CNN, in Biloxi, Mississippi.

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KAGAN: And we will take a ray of sunshine story anywhere we can get it along the Gulf Coast. Thank you, Gary.

Now, as millions are preparing to survey the damage and place insurance claims from Hurricane Katrina, there's an alarming report out on Americans and insurance. You will be shocked to find out who is the least insured. That, straight ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHANNON COOK, CNN.COM CORRESPONDENT: As Katrina continues its path through the U.S., it's too soon to say how it compares to the worst hurricanes in U.S. history. But to give you context, log on to CNN.com/hurricane. Learn about the ten most fatal, costly and intense hurricanes to hit the mainland.

Before hurricanes were named, a 1900 storm devastated Galveston, Texas, in what became America's deadliest natural disaster ever. It's estimated to have killed between 8,000 and 12,000 people. And in 1992, Hurricane Andrew ravaged parts of Florida and Louisiana, causing nearly $27 billion in damage.

You can see glimpses of Katrina's destruction so far by checking out home videos and photos captured by people in affected areas. And if you'd like to submit your own images or stories about Katrina, logon to CNN.com/hurricane. But, of course, please don't compromise your safety while taking pictures.

For the dot-com desk, I'm Shannon Cook.

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KAGAN: Let's show you -- these are live pictures that we're getting. This is now Helen, Georgia. We had showed you -- shown you pictures from Carroll County, Georgia, earlier. This is north of Atlanta. Very popular place to get away. For those in Atlanta, if you lived here, you know it It's like an alpine village. It did suffer a lot of damage. In north Georgia, they're saying it's a possible tornado. It took the second floor off of an Econolodge in this tourist town. We're hearing that about 30 people displaced in Helen, Georgia. The historic -- the alpine part of the town, for those of you familiar with it, apparently did not suffer a lot of damage. Our Chad Myers is here to look at these pictures, as well. Chad, so these potential or possible tornadoes not only hitting west of Atlanta, but north?

MYERS: Yes, I would say that this is going to be one of those where they probably determine straight-line winds. There could have been a tornado there, but you see that the front of the building was torn off. And I looked back to the building behind it, and there was no damage. Although here we go. There's still some more damage here. You kind of look for something -- and if it's a straight line, all the damage is thrown in the same direction. And if it's a tornado, sometimes one building will be missed, one building will be hit. Hard to tell with that building that was so hard hit right there was, but there was something that was there and is no longer a part of that community.

This really is -- this is kind of an old historic-type town with Tudor buildings, and you really do feel like you're walking into some place in the Alps. So, Daryn, it's kind of hard to tell whether that was a tornado or not, because it's hard to tell what that started as. But that clearly came from somewhere else. That building wasn't in the parking lot.

KAGAN: No, that's not how it was planned there.

MYERS: No, that was not how it was originally designed.

KAGAN: I'm looking at the wire services, Chad. They say that the second floor of the Econolodge was ripped off. I had heard an earlier news report before I came in this morning that everyone that was in that hotel actually had made it to the bottom floor.

MYERS: Oh, that's good.

KAGAN: So I don't think anybody was hurt at that particular motel. What else do you have about...

MYERS: Two...

KAGAN: Go ahead.

MYERS: There were 200 tornado warnings yesterday. So certainly, this could have been one of them. As we got the tornado watches, some turned into tornado warnings. And if there were 200 tornado warnings, so far we only know of eight tornadoes that actually touched the ground. But, you know, here's what the weather service is going to do. They're going to go out, they're going to look at it, they're going to see whether this was all in one direction or was some of the stuff thrown in one direction, some of it in the other direction? That's how they know that the wind was spinning in a tornado and it was ejected in every direction. One left, one right. So here you go. They'll be up there. And the weather service, obviously, in Peachtree City, Georgia, which is kind of south of Atlanta. They'll be busy today. They have...

KAGAN: Hey, Chad, before you get to the rest of your forecast about what Katrina's doing now, I want to show you some other new pictures we're just getting in.

This is from a photographer, WDSU, in New Orleans. It's been really hard to get pictures out of New Orleans today...

MYERS: It sure has.

KAGAN: ... because of the situation. This is downtown New Orleans. This is, we're hearing, at the height of the storm. But that doesn't really make sense, because those waters seem pretty calm to me right now.

But as we look as these pictures, let's talk, Chad, about the challenge that New Orleans faces today. How is it possible that today is even worse than yesterday?

MYERS: The problem, Daryn, is that if you haven't been with us at all during the day, they experienced the levee break. That levee break actually happened well after the storm had already left the city. The problem is that this was the -- this was worst-case scenario. I'm going to take you and give a little map on a machine that we call VIPIR. We'll keep talking about these pictures for a moment.

When the levee broke on the north side of town, it allowed water to spill into the town, water that didn't come from the storm but that was coming from Lake Pontchartrain. And as that water came in, it continued to flow in and up and up.

See now, rain cannot do that. You are not going to get enough rain in New Orleans to cause that type of flooding. The pumps can handle a lot of rain. But when the water starts spilling in from the lake, and there may have been two different breaks.

KAGAN: Here's the picture that helps describe what you're talking about so well.

MYERS: Exactly. And I will zoom in and zoom out so that you can kind of get a picture. But you have to understand that here's a little marina up here. Here's a canal that comes down. It's called the 17th Street Canal.

I want to remind everyone that these pictures are literally, maybe a year, year and a half old, when it was a clear day, a satellite went over and took all of these pictures. This is not today. Because if you were looking at it today, the entire area over here would be filled in with water.

Now we're going to zoom out a little bit. There's another canal just on the other side of your screen. Pan over a little bit here. Here's the other canal, the Marconey Canal (ph). In between these two canals, they are separated by levees all the way along the canal to keep the water out. Well, if the levee broke right here and it did, the water poured into this area and the water poured much farther on down to the south...

KAGAN: And that's all residential area? MYERS: This is all residential here. Over here to the right, that's City Park Golf Course. Moving on down, we get down toward the Meterey (ph) Cemetery. Here's the Country Club of New Orleans. And then we're moving on down here following Canal Street and so did the water, right on down into downtown New Orleans, Daryn.

And that's why today the weather and the pictures are going to be so much more dramatic than what the weather caused. It's actually what the dike or the levee itself broke. That's going to cause 90 percent of the damage that you see, that we hear about, that we pay for -- or they pay for in New Orleans.

KAGAN: Absolutely amazing. Devastating.

Chad, thank you. A lot more with you still ahead.

We're also talking oil. It's going to impact you clear across the country, the impact on oil prices. Gulf Coast area refineries were hit hard by the storm. How is that going to hit your wallet? That's ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY.

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KAGAN: We have so much news to get to here in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We've made a decision, usually in the next hour, 12:00 noon Eastern, you see international news here on CNN, we're going to preempt that again today to bring you the latest on recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast and beyond. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll be back with you in just a minute.

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