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CNN Live Today

Burying the Dead in New Orleans; Katrina's Economic Fallout Felt Throughout Country

Aired September 06, 2005 - 10:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Going back to our hurricane coverage and the aftermath in the challenge of recovering along the Gulf Coast. CNN has just learned that a Louisiana state agency is now considering a plan to bury the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Our Deborah Feyerick is outside the FEMA Command Center in Baton Rouge with that part of the story. Deborah, good morning.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, here's what we're learning. There is a plan under way to buy land somewhere here in Louisiana and create some sort of a cemetery for all the victims of this storm. Everyone would be buried there, at least initially. Those who are identified could then be claimed by their families. Those who remain unidentified could stay at that cemetery and have it be their final resting place. And there's a possibility that it could then be turned into some sort of a memorial.

We're also learning here at the command center that they're going to be no autopsies, except in the cases where death appears to be suspicious. For example, where there's obvious evidence of a gunshot wound. And believe it or not, there are a couple of those. But there will be no autopsies. The cause of death likely simply to state on the certificate, storm-related.

Now, officials are very concerned about disease outbreak, especially the possibility -- and I want to stress possibility -- of cholera. Shelters are being monitored. We are told at the Astrodome, there were a large number of children who were suffering from diarrhea. So doctors are keeping a eye on that just to make sure that that is nothing more serious than just some sort of intestinal virus.

The last thing we want to bring to you from here at command center is that there's a big focus on getting those people out who have not yet left. Clergy may soon begin to go in to try to coax those folks out and get them to leave -- Daryn?

KAGAN: So, Deb, the idea behind this burial plan, part of it health concerns? Wanted to get these buried bodies -- these bodies buried -- but having respect for families that still might want to connect with those that they've lost.

FEYERICK: Well, absolutely. Part of the problem is that there are going to be such a high number of bodies. You could bring in refrigerated trucks. That's what was done, for example, in 9/11. That's what done in a lot of other tragedies. But right now, it appears that there's more of a focus on simply burying these people, giving them a resting place, so that families will at least have some additional time to make decisions. For example, how to collect the body, how to take it where it needs to go.

There are funeral homes that are also on-site. And they're going to be helping in the whole process of getting folks back to their families. So it's all under way. It's still just a plan, but a plan which would involve, essentially, burying everybody in one big cemetery with the cause of death being storm-related -- Daryn?

KAGAN: A lot of list they're making up as they go on. Thank you for that.

FEYERICK: Absolutely.

KAGAN: We move on to New Orleans. The long-term process of draining the city is under way. Pictures for you now. The water being pumped back into lake Pontchartrain. The pumping began after the Army Corps of Engineers finished repairing that the ruptured levee along the 17 Street Canal. A spokesman for the agency says it could take up to 80 days for all areas to be drained.

Our Jeff Koinange has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jennifer Russell (ph) is coming back to the home she was forced to leave when Hurricane Katrina left most of New Orleans underwater.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody kept telling me my roof caved in. It's bad. I don't know. I want to be back home.

KOINANGE: But she can't come back home quite yet. The roof needs work. Her eldest daughter is about to give birth, and there's no place in New Orleans for her to have the baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have nowhere to go, really.

KOINANGE: A few houses down, Cynthia Orgeron does have somewhere to go, but her pets aren't welcome. She had to leave her three dogs, five cats, and four guinea pigs. She's coming back for the first time to check on them.

CYNTHIA ORGERON, SURVIVOR: It's just been hell. Really bad.

KOINANGE (on camera): Now, this is what many people here in Jefferson Parish are going to be seeing when they return to their homes for the first time in more than a week. Broken fences, fallen trees, houses that are under rubble, vehicles that have been crushed, and in some instances, wood sheds that have landed in rivers which were once streams.

(voice-over): Further along, the Burgeois have just returned to find minimal damage to their home. They're burying meat that had been rotten in the deep freeze after a week of no electricity. Lynn Burgeois wasn't sure she wanted to come back after all the stories she'd been hearing about her city.

LYNN BURGEOIS, SURVIVOR: We heard too many horror stories. On the Internet, everybody's -- the Winn-Dixie's all knocked out and don't go, they're shooting. And I wasn't going to come today, but my brother and my dad talked me into it.

KOINANGE: And she's glad she came. She knows she has a lot to be grateful for.

BURGEOIS: But we got our lives, and we've got our family, so we're OK.

KOINANGE: Her father, a retired railroad worker, bristles at suggestions New Orleans is finished.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New Orleans is New Orleans. New Orleans is 300 years old, and New Orleans is not going away.

KOINANGE: Going nowhere. But for those coming back, an uphill battle for some time to come.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, New Orleans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We're going to have more information on the pets in just a moment.

Also, gas prices are hitting you where it hurts right now. Get ready for more. Not only higher gas prices but higher, well, just about everything. The economic impact of Hurricane Katrina. That is next.

Plus, stranded in the hurricane zone. We are talking not just people, but pets. A lot of you concerned about the pets left behind. We're going to tell you what's being done to save the thousands of dogs, cats and other animals still in the hurricane zone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Let's talk the economic impact of Hurricane Katrina. It is being felt far behind the Gulf Coast. Americans across the country are dealing with the economic fall-out. We are all paying higher prices at the pump. And hold on to your wallet. There might be even more sticker shock ahead.

CNN's Ali Velshi looks at the long-range picture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Get past the sticker shock. The cost of filling your tank may soon pale in the face of Katrina's stronger economic impact. High oil prices are the obvious result, but it's not just a the gas pump.

In 80 percent of America, goods arrive by truck, goods that now will end up costing more. Beyond transportation, the destruction will put a strain on home building supplies, asphalt, shingles, plastic plumbing pipe and some types of installation. They're all made from oil. These are indirect energy costs. Direct energy costs make up about five percent of the average American's budget. Direct food costs are three times that amount.

The Farm Bureau estimates Katrina has caused a billion dollar in damage to agriculture, wrecking sugar cane and poultry farms. The port of New Orleans, one of the biggest in the country, is devastated.

TERRY FRANCEL, AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION: We have a potential crisis if in fact we cannot resolve these issues and get the products flowing within approximately a Monday's time.

VELSHI: For example, don't be surprised to see the price of coffee going up. Twenty-seven percent of raw coffee beans imported into the United States are stored in New Orleans. The city is also the nation's main port of entry for bananas and other fruits and vegetables. Forty percent of U.S. oysters -- that's one billion oysters -- and 10 percent of the nations shrimp come from the Gulf regions.

How much more you're eventually going to pay depends on what you buy. AAA's numbers suggest the average driver is already paying about $200 more for gasoline per year than they did a year ago. Home heating bills could be 50 percent higher than last year. The average family could end up paying almost $900 more to heat their home this winter. So never mind the other costs, just the fuel for your home and the fuel for your car, you could end up paying $1,000 or more this year. That's a vacation, a mortgage payment, a refrigerator, or the down payment on a new car. There are tough choices, but choices that Americans may be forced to make.

Ali Velshi, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And for more information on how to help or how to get help, log on to CNN.com/helpcenter. You'll find everything you need to know about donating and volunteering. There's also information on locating the missing and finding local information. Again, you'll find it all in one place, CNN.com/helpcenter. A lot of people looking to help the animals. A lot of animal lovers out there worried about the pets that were left behind. We're going to tell you what you can do and what's being done to help rescue some of those animals, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: One by one, rescue boats in New Orleans encounter the so- called stragglers who still wander and haunt the waters taking over their city. Some are welcoming the lifeline. Others say they're aren't going. Our Christiane Amanpour has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Streets that are now rivers. Houses that are still flooded. Floated bodies that still bob in the putrid waters. And into this festering filth wades a man desperate to be rescued.

Forty-two-year-old Tommy Thomas has survived on M&Ms and chocolate bars for days now. Stunned, exhausted, he's pulled to safety and given food and freshwater.

TOMMY THOMAS, NEW ORLEANS EVACUEE: The water was so deep, you know, I had to come out. You know, I'm running out of food. That's why I came out. I was running out of food.

AMANPOUR: Locked and loaded, the Louisiana Wildlife Enforcement Agency is leading this rescue mission, going house to house in flat boats and these docks, sightseeing amphibious vehicles whose owners have volunteered their services. Amazingly, even now many of those who are left won't leave.

(on camera): But why won't you come out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When this thing happened, when this thing happened, we got people shooting each other, stealing from each other. The only thing I trusted was my dog. So I'm not going to leave him.

AMANPOUR (voice over): Robert is one of many who won't abandon their pets, even though rescuer Pat Morpin (ph) now insists that everyone must leave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys are going to have to shoot me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one's going to shoot you. We're talking about disease and everything. Look, no matter how much food and water you have, there's going to be -- you're in danger. You need to come to the craft.

AMANPOUR: But it's no use. Robert refuses.

So it's off to find more desperate cases, like 89-year-old America Romero (ph) and her family, eight people who had spent three days on their rooftop. But no amount of coaxing could get their neighbor off his front porch. And he's angry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't you turn the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) pumps into this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) city? Turn the pumps on. That will help us!

AMANPOUR: Many residents expected the waters to subside quickly. Now they're being told it could take at least three months.

Volunteer firefighter Shawn Craft (ph) has come from Massachusetts. He kicks in this door because he's heard people here need rescuing. But it turns out they were taken out the day before.

How was he to know? There is still virtually no coordination or communication between all the different agencies.

As the dock bus evacuates America and her son Jose, they take one last look at their city in ruins, the city they still hate to leave.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Some questions as when to went to the confirmation hearings for John Roberts for the next chief justice of the United States will begin, we have a day now.

And our Joe Johns has that from in front of the U.S. Supreme Court -- Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, That's correct. We are now being told by sources that the hearings for John Roberts, who has been nominated as chief justice to replace William Rehnquist, will begin on Monday. There had been some question as to whether those hearings would begin on Thursday. We are told, of course, a news conference now starting with the majority leader and others in the Capitol.

Can we listen to that?

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: I do want to just briefly say, as we proceed with our plans on these hearings, that Judge Roberts did have that opportunity to learn from the very best. He was a clerk for then-Associate Judge Rehnquist himself, and now the chief's former clerk has been chosen to be chief justice. Judge Roberts does have the skill. He does have the mind. He does have the intellect and the temperament to lead the Supreme Court for decades to come. The Senate will complete floor action on his nomination before the session begins, before October 3rd, and that schedule will be laid out by Chairman Specter.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), PENNSYLVANIA: Thank you, Leader Frist. Senator Leahy and I have been in constant consultation to try to work through the schedule, which would accommodate a great many competing interests and leave us with a projected schedule to have Chief Justice Roberts, if confirmed, on the bench with the start of the new term on October 3rd.

As you may recall, we worked through a great many contentious issues and came to an agreement the last day we were in session in July, on July 29th, as to how we would proceed. And all of those arrangements will remain in effect, except that we will be starting, as Senator Frist outlined, next Monday.

There had been a great many requests to postpone the hearings for some period of time. The mayor of New Orleans weighed in on the subject with a telephone call over the weekend. He's the head of the legal cities. And Wade Henderson (ph), executive director of the leadership council, was looking for a postponement. And then, events overtook us with the passing of Chief Justice Rehnquist. And concern for the sentiments of the Rehnquist family. And then events overtook us again with the prompt naming by the president of Judge Roberts to be chief justice, if confirmed. So that we have tried to work through all of the issues and we will be starting the opening statements at 12:00 noon on Monday, September 12th. It is our expectation that we will be able to complete the hearings that week.

KAGAN: Well, we've been listening to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter as he makes the announcement the confirmation hearings for John Roberts as chief justice -- the next chief justice of the United Sates -- will begin on Monday at 12:00 noon Eastern.

As you were hearing Senator Arlen Specter say that there were a number of pressures putting those hearings back, including the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the naming of John Roberts to be the nominee for chief justice, New Orleans.

And also, do we still have Joe Johns? OK. We'll get back to Joe Johns in a second. But also, the simple political pressure. Democrats also calling for a delay in those hearings. So they've come to an agreement. They will begin Monday at 12:00 noon.

More news from the Gulf Coast. Also, more analysis on John Roberts, that confirmation hearing, and coverage of the Rehnquist funeral, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Now for all you animal lovers who have been e-mailing us like crazy, this information is for you. We are talking about the forgotten victims of New Orleans, which could be the pets. Some residents forced to abandon them. They now have no way to report them to animal rescuers.

Paula Zahn has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, dog.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): In New Orleans, it isn't just people stranded on the rooftops. You'll find more than birds in the trees. The city's human population is largely evacuated now, but abandoned pets, thousands of them, are everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a Lab. Where you been hiding at, boy?

ZAHN: Thousands of pets now roam where ever they want to. Others are still tied up to the porches of their homes that have become islands. They don't understand why there's water everywhere, why their masters can't be found.

But hundreds of people are now pitching to help, trained pet rescuers working in the disaster area. And hundreds of dogs and cats are being taken to shelters outside of New Orleans, as well as in the city. Animal welfare groups from around the country are pooling their resources.

Evacuees can report a missing or abandoned pet to the ASPCA, its branches in Louisiana or Houston, Texas, the American Humane Association or groups like petfinder.com.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And that was our Paula Zahn.

CNN has strived to capture the scope of Katrina's devastation, but often time, word falls short and numbers ring hollow. So we're going to end this hour with a witness' view, told through the lens and words of a photographer for "Time" magazine. I'm also told we're going to have that piece for you in our next hour which, I understand, begins right now.

Lives in limbo and now a relocation on hold. Thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees were scheduled to leave Houston today. They were supposed to go to cruise ships off the coast. That plan has now been delayed. Details ahead, in our live report from Houston.

I'm Daryn at CNN Center in Atlanta. We're going to begin with an update on critical issues in the Hurricane Katrina disaster zone.

After days of chaos, New Orleans is now secure. That is the assessment from the city's police chief and the commander overseeing military operations there. National Guard troops continue to distribute food and water to storm victims across the Gulf regions, and the Department of Agriculture has earmarked $50 million to provide food assistance for Katrina survivors.

A state-of-the-art medical unit kept out of New Orleans by red tape has now set up in a parking lot in Mississippi. The mobile hospital expects to treat about 400 patients a day.

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