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CNN Live Today
Eight-Foot Storm Surge Already in New Orleans
Aired September 23, 2005 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. The latest now for you on Hurricane Rita. We're going to get the 11:00 a.m. advisory for you in just a moment with the latest statistics on the storm. Meanwhile, things already beginning to deteriorate in New Orleans where we're hearing about a levee overtopping or a levee break or a levee breach. In any case, a lot of water pouring back into the Lower Ninth Ward, an area that was so hard hit in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but an area that as we understand at this point has been depopulated.
So a ton of water pouring back into that neighborhood. We don't think there are any people besides emergency workers and media that are there at this time. We're also standing by for a news conference with the governor of Texas, Rick Perry. That will be starting out of Austin, Texas. When that begins, we'll go to it live.
Right now let's go to New Orleans. On the phone, our Mary Snow is joining us with the latest on what is happening with that levee situation. Mary, hello?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Daryn. As we reported earlier, there is floodwater running over top the Industrial Canal Levee. Our photographer on the scene, Alfredo DeLara, is reporting that he is seeing water rising quickly. And there's roughly, according to his estimate, about two feet of flooding in the Ninth Ward. This is an area that was absolutely devastated during Hurricane Katrina. This is the first significant rainfall since Katrina devastated this city three weeks ago.
Crews have been rushing to shore up the levees over the past couple of days. They said they expected seepage, but they expected flooding later on. This is just the first - the start, really, of the rainfall from Hurricane Rita as New Orleans feels the outer bands of the storms.
The Army Corps of Engineers is saying that the structure is intact, that they are working with contractors to remedy the situation as best they can at this point. But, again, that floodwaters are overtopping the Industrial Canal Levee. Daryn?
KAGAN: You know, I just had a chance to talk with a colonel from the Army Corps of Engineers. And he was talking about estimates that they thought of how high the water was going to rise. It's already about where they thought it was going to be at the peak of the storm. And things are just getting started there in New Orleans in terms of the rain and the storm surge, Mary. SNOW: Absolutely. I was talking with a general with the Army Corps of Engineers who was inspecting the work yesterday and his estimation was that worst case scenario, over the course of days that there had been several inches of rain, he thought that New Orleans would be lucky if they had two to four feet of isolated flooding in areas like the Ninth Ward. They were bracing for flooding. As you mentioned, they were expecting it to happen much later on. And with the storm just really starting here, this is happening much quicker than they anticipated.
KAGAN: And what about people who might be left there in that Lower Ninth Ward, Mary? Basically this is an area that's been cleared out?
SNOW: Yeah. I have to tell you, we were there the other day. And really the only people who were there were emergency workers doing recovery missions, they were going door to door, recovering bodies. This area is just really horribly devastated. It's the worst area in New Orleans after Katrina. So there are no residents there. I talked to some of the workers earlier this week who said some people had started to try to return to their homes to get what they could, but they were being turned away, even earlier in the week. So there are no residents living there in the Ninth Ward.
KAGAN: All right. And we expect pictures to be coming in on exactly what you've been reporting on. Mary Snow on the phone with us from New Orleans. Thank you.
Let's get the latest stats on the storm now. Our Jacqui Jeras, meteorologist in our weather center.
Jacqui?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Daryn, the storm has weakened just a little bit now, down to 135 miles per hour. It's still at Category 4 status, but we think additional weakening will be taking place here. And we may see a Category 3 now at landfall. It's been moving over a warmer pool of water, but the storm has not been strengthening because we think the eye wall has been collapsing. So this may help us out a little bit, that even though it's moving over the warmer water, we may see additional weakening and stay at a low 4, maybe a high 3 at landfall.
So the storm continues to show signs that it's moving down just a little bit, 220 miles southeast of Galveston at this time. We've also seen a little bit of a shift in the forecast track from the National Hurricane Center. And look now how this cone of uncertainty has shifted much closer to Port Arthur. This is what we've been anticipating as we've been kind of focusing near the state line between Texas and Louisiana.
And there you can see the number 3. Landfall timing we still think will be overnight tonight or early on Saturday morning as our best estimate.
Sean, you have got some breaking information? We've got a tornado warning right now for Ascension Parish, St. James Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish in southeastern Louisiana. This includes the cities of Reserve and Laplaste (ph) until 10:30 local time. Doppler radar indicated tornado, it's moving to the north and the west at 55 miles an hour. This is one of our concerns as these outer bands continue to move across parts of Louisiana. Is that we're going to see the heavy rainfall, maybe as much as three to five inches. Locally, heavier amounts are going to be possible.
There you see New Orleans and ...
KAGAN: I'm just going to jump in here because, news conference we've been waiting for, the governor of Texas, Rick Perry speaking right now in Austin. Let's listen in.
GOV. RICK PERRY, TEXAS: Two-point-five, 2.7 million people in basically a 24 to 48-hour period of time. And obviously traffic was excruciatingly slow at times out there, but the immediate and the ultimate goal of getting millions of people out of the way of this storm has been achieved.
The important thing is, so many Texans took this storm and took the directions seriously. They got on the road a full two days ahead of schedule and they'll be safer because of it. Most of those who braved yesterday's traffic with their families and neighbors were orderly, were calm and I want to thank them for their patience.
I also want to commend law enforcement, transportation officials, local leaders for their efforts to evacuate our citizens. They did a fabulous job of coordinating that. Yesterday, we had 15 airlifts out of Beaumont. And we have scheduled six more for today, meaning we anticipate airlifting over 4,000 people from that area alone.
Airlifts are under way at Ellington Field in Houston. We anticipate air lifting 400 people out thereof with special needs by the end of the morning. We have got 25 busses canvassing this area basically over in the Beaumont area on these yellow routes, as you can see, looking to pick up anyone that is needing to get out of that area.
Because of the path of the storm, we're working to evacuate some 1,500 people from Lufkin, including 400 who have special needs. We continue to work with getting fuel to stranded motorists. And we're making bulk fuel deliveries, the Texas Department of Transportation districts are very involved with that. TexDOT facilities along the evacuation routes have fuel available. The Department of Public Safety, the Texas Department of Transportation and the Army National Guard will continue to provide motorists assistance in the hurricane impact area.
In addition, we're putting all DPS helicopters at our disposal in the air today to sweep that area in the impact area. We are pre- positioning search and rescue personnel, doing the same for mass care strike teams. And we will have a strong law enforcement presence in the aftermath of this storm in the areas that are impacted. We obviously are very committed to continuing and maintaining law and order. As we speak, shelters are filling up all across the State of Texas. We're continuing to make the necessary arrangements to provide a haven for all of those who are in need of shelter. There is adequate shelter space for Texans who are evacuating. As of 8:00 this morning, the Red Cross had 54 shelters on standby.
Again, Jack and Gary and Larry, I can't say enough about the volunteers who are working to give refuge to our weary coastal residents. Thank you very much for the most generous and opening of your homes and your hearts to these people in need.
For those of you who have stayed in the coastal region, we're going to be working to provide shelter in those areas. I think the most important message to those individuals is to listen to your local officials. Listen to your county judge and your mayor as they give direction and advice concerning any further evacuation in those areas.
And as soon as we get the search and rescue personnel into the impacted area, we will, in full force, have those individuals in there to be making any rescue attempts that are needed.
Again, our heart goes out to those individuals who were impacted this morning with the tragedy on the road just south of Dallas where we understand there were a number of fatalities and we're awaiting more information concerning the cause of the explosion on the bus and those who were on board.
It's a great test for our people in this state. It's a great test, certainly, for these emergency management, homeland security, the military, all of those who are directing this operation. But we're going to get through this.
We're going to get through this because we've prepared for such an event as this with extensive exercises. We're going to get through this because so many of our citizens took this evacuation very seriously. And because this state has thousands of rescue and relief workers on the standby.
So be calm, be strong, say a prayer for Texas and let me introduce to you the individual who has been overseeing the federal military operation on ...
KAGAN: We've been listening to Texas Governor Rick Perry saying an updated on what's being done to help Texans evacuating from Hurricane Rita. Trying to get fuel to those stranded motorists on the highway. They say there are adequate shelters for Texans who are trying to take refuge and also mentioning that terrible bus fire that took the lives of as many as 24 elderly Texans earlier today.
We're going to have more on the bus fire in just a moment. But first, though, a chance now to go to the National Hurricane Center and Ed Rappaport to give us the latest on Hurricane Rita. Ed, good morning.
ED RAPPAPORT, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Good morning again.
KAGAN: Tell us the latest on what you know about the storm.
RAPPAPORT: Rita remains a very dangerous hurricane. And fortunately it has weakened just a bit, winds are down about five miles per hour to 135 miles an hour. That puts it borderline Category 3 and Category 4. We think it will be a slow weakening trend up through landfall. Likely a landfall at Category 3. Still a slight chance of it maintaining Category 4 strength.
KAGAN: Were do you think it is going to make landfall?
RAPPAPORT: We still think the landfall will be on the upper Texas coast, potentially as far east as extreme southwestern Louisiana. The center is moving out of the northwest in that general direction. We think it will continue to move in that direction and as I said, make landfall near the border here, just a little west of the border, around dawn tomorrow with Category 3 to Category 4 conditions. Storm surge of 15 feet, near and to the right or the east of the center. Locally 20 feet at the heads of bays.
The problem is, while we're forecasting landfall right on the upper Texas coast, there's still some chance of it veering to the right or to the left. But if it comes to the left or west by even 50 miles, that will bring the worst of the conditions and storm surge into the Galveston/Houston area.
KAGAN: All right. We'll be tracking it and watching it along with your help. Thank you, Ed Rappaport at the National Hurricane Center.
More now on that bus fire we were talking about. This was a bus that was carrying Hurricane Rita evacuees. It exploded into flames south of Dallas. It happened earlier today. The explosion has blocked part of a major evacuation route for people fleeing Hurricane Rita.
Out national correspondent Bob Franken joins us from Houston. Bob, the traffic is just one part, the tragedy, the number of people that have already lost their lives, I also want to mention, we have David Mattingly in Galveston. David, to you in just a moment. First, Bob, to you with this horrendous situation on the bus with all these older people on board.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What an unspeakable tragedy. These were people, 45, we believe, who had been taken -- evacuated from a nursing home, a senior citizens facility. People, many of them in frail health from the Houston area. They got as far as 10 miles or so south of Dallas when, for whatever reason, there was a mechanical problem that caused flames on the bus. Here is what was so tragic. Many of the people, as I said, were very frail. They were using oxygen. The oxygen, police officials believe, exploded, causing this terrible tragedy.
There were frantic efforts to try and rescue people on the bus, but we've been told that 20 or more of them have died. And of course, it is just part of this agonizing exodus out of Houston when everything is said and done, there are going to be what they call after-action reports. Thousands upon thousands of cars backed up, 20, 30, 40, 50 miles for 24 hours or so as people tried to get out of the Houston area. And now, officials here are saying, look, if you haven't left yet, don't even bother trying. Daryn?
KAGAN: All right. That's Bob Franken in Houston, Texas. I also want to mention this, but that bus coming from Bellaire, Texas. They haven't said the exact name of the facility because they're trying to contact family members first at this time.
Let's go to the island city of Galveston, Texas. And that's where we find David Mattingly. David?
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, we've talked so much this hour about the problems of flooding in New Orleans right now. The problems with flooding if they occur here on this island would be from a tidal surge. And that would mean that the tide would come in, pushing water on to the island as the storm comes nearer. Unlike New Orleans, where the water would go into the bowl and stay in and have to be pumped out, the water here would retreat as in typical hurricane fashion when the tide went back out.
So right now, as the storm approaches, we are keeping a very close eye on the surf. It's been absolutely spectacular this morning. The waves are increasing in size and frequency as they come in and pound up against the 17-foot high sea wall here, which is a reminder of the 1900 hurricane that killed thousands of people on this island.
Authorities here are pleased with the evacuation efforts. Nine out of 10 people got off the island when they were told to. And now authorities say they are in a good position to address the needs of rebuilding this island and clearing away whatever debris that might be here after this very big and very dangerous storm comes in.
Now at the moment, the storm is tracking to the north and Galveston appears to be on the less intense side of the hurricane. But as you were hearing from the experts, this storm could easily change its path, easily come back down this way. There's time and distance for it to do that. If that occurs, than we'd be looking at a major storm hitting this island. And that's what authorities have been preparing for, this worst case scenario for days now. Daryn?
KAGAN: David Mattingly live from Galveston, Texas. Thank you. Already big concerns and big problems in New Orleans this morning. The rains are starting there,, the winds are starting and yet a levee situation, very serious, an overtopping, a breach, I any case a lot of water flowing over into the Lower Ninth Ward. We'll get the latest on that after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Let's get back to the serious situation that is developing in New Orleans right now. With the possible levee breach, break or overtopping, what we do know is a large amount of water is going over from the canal into the Lower Ninth Ward. On the phone with me right now is Mark Stone. He is with FEMA and he is there on the scene. Mark, what can you tell me, please? MARK STONE, FEMA: Hello, Daryn. Yes - right now (inaudible) -- We do not at this point have any search and rescue teams down there. They completed that for the most part yesterday. We are safely west of this location doing our search.
KAGAN: I think it's windy where you are. I think we missed the top of what you said there. Can you tell us what the water conditions look like?
STONE: Yes. The water seems to be higher than it's been. It's not rushing real heavily over the levee area. I don't see a lot of force with the water right now, but we expect with the rain coming it is starting to rise.
KAGAN: It is starting to rise. And you are saying about the people that might or might not be in that area. Was FEMA as of yesterday or today still trying to do search and rescue?
STONE: We had two teams down there yesterday, the two Florida teams were down there yesterday, pretty much completed their assignment. They were actually relocated today west of there with the other three teams. We have five teams working more in the Gulf area today. We've suspended that operation as well today.
KAGAN: And as far as you know, what kind of people were left? Was anybody left in that neighborhood?
STONE: We were not finding any survivors as we did the searches today. And yesterday. We just continued on what we called a secondary search, just trying to help locate any either deceased victims or others that might be there. Very minimal amount of people that we have found in the last few days.
KAGAN: To put you on the spot here a little bit, not sure if you know anything about this because we are talking about Lower Ninth Ward, but do you know what might be happening in the Gentilly neighborhood at this time?
STONE: Daryn, actually, I do not. Do not have enough intelligence on that yet. Again, the most I can say is the five search teams that we have out, more because of the wind, have suspended our operations at least temporarily.
KAGAN: Right. You, too up against what is happening with Hurricane Rita, what that is offering up now. Mark Stone with FEMA. Thank you for the information. We wish you well. We hope you can get your work back up and going.
Thank you for that. We'll take a break. Right back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: Once again, looking at the latest at Hurricane Rita as it gets closer to the Texas and Louisiana coastline. A storyline that's developing here, we've been talking about people who have been evacuating Houston and trying to go to large areas like Dallas. Well, there are a number of small towns along the way where people have chosen to stop completely overwhelming some of the small towns. One of those is Lufkin, Texas, this is a town that's about 100 miles north of Houston.
And information we're getting, they have about as many as 20,000 or more evacuees, which is a town of about 35,000 people to start with. So they're having problems with supplies and such. We have Lee Miller on the phone with emergency services. Lee, hello.
LEE MILLER, LUFKIN EMERGENCY SERVICES: Good morning, Daryn. How are you?
KAGAN: I'm doing good but how are things in Lufkin, Texas? I think a little crowded.
MILLER: Well, just a little crowded, yes. We're flexing our elbows a little bit and seeing if we can find room for these folks but we are overwhelmed with folks here. And we're trying to clear them out to move them further north. Our shelters are full here. And we're trying to get those people further up into shelters. Because the hurricane will hit here.
KAGAN: You're not -- if you're just 100 miles north of Houston, you're going to feel Rita as well?
MILLER: Exactly. We're expecting strong winds here and a lot of rain. So we're also preparing our local citizens and getting them ready also for this storm.
KAGAN: What was the original advice to folks who live in Lufkin? To stay put or did a lot of them get out?
MILLER: There are many that have moved on out, but our local folks have stepped up, and are really helping out in our shelters and our churches and our schools and helping with cooking food and providing shelter from those coming from - most of them coming from the Galveston east area. And our local folks are stepping up and helping out as best we can.
KAGAN: And because so many people have shown up in your city, is it true there are people out on the streets and in parking lots and that would be a really bad place for them to ride out the storm?
MILLER: That is true. So we've gotten the message out to radio stations as folks listen to radios in their cars, to move on, that they need to move on further north and to take shelter because this is a very dangerous storm that we're looking at.
KAGAN: I did hear the Governor Rick Perry had a news conference within the last hour. And he did mention your city and said as many as 1,500 people -- hold on one second with this, Lee. Because we're just getting pictures in from a situation that's happening in New Orleans. Lee, you stay with me. But I just want to let folks know what we're looking at here. These are first pictures we're getting from New Orleans from the Lower Ninth Ward. We heard our people on the scene describe what happened in a mere matter of minutes, that the water came rushing in from a levee that is there.
We talked to the Army Corps of Engineers, they say that's not a levee breach or a break, but rather an overtopping. Also a very concerning situation since the water, because of storm surge, already appears to be at a level where they expected it to be at the peak of Rita. So this is once again, the Lower Ninth Ward, an area that was so hard hit after Hurricane Katrina with the flooding there.
We will get back to this in just a moment. Question for Lee Miller as we wrap things up, the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, saying that as many as 1,500 people are going to be airlifted from your city?
MILLER: I have not heard that myself. I have been here in the media room and did I not actually catch the text of Rick's -- Governor Perry's discussion, but I know our emergency management officials have been on a conference call and working on getting that taken care of.
KAGAN: Well, we're happy to deliver the news personally to you here on CNN.
MILLER: I appreciate that. Thank you.
KAGAN: We wish you well in getting through the storm and taking care of all the folks there in Lufkin, Texas.
MILLER: All right.
KAGAN: Lee Miller, thank you so much for that.
MILLER: Thank you.
KAGAN: Let's go back and look at the pictures once again. Because we are just getting these into us here, at CNN. The water just gushing. This is the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. The area that was so hard hit by the flooding. And to give us more perspective about what we're looking at, CNN producer Carey Bodenheimer on the phone with us from New Orleans. Carrie?
CAREY BODENHEIMER, CNN PRODUCER: Hey, Daryn. I just want you to know that we're looking at pictures of the Lower Ninth Ward, but the Ninth Ward also, it's divided by the Industrial Canal. There is water seeping into the Ninth Ward. Not just the Lower Ninth Ward. We believe this area to be depopulated but we're not -- nobody is certain that there are not people here and you can just see the water seeping in, slowing in, it's been pushed by the wind. Which his being kicked up by Rita and we can see it seeping in under the floodwalls that are closed, the floodgates, walls that are closed as well, which is sort of a backup system to the levee.
KAGAN: One of the things that appears to be a big challenge when we talked to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers earlier, Carey, they had estimated from storm surge and rain, that in certain areas, the level that the water was going to get to, it's already there, and things are just starting with Rita.
BODENHEIMER: Daryn, I couldn't hear your question. I'm extremely sorry. Can you just say it again?
KAGAN: OK, the Army Corps of Engineers had an estimate of where they expected the water to be at the height of Hurricane Rita. It appears the water is already very close to that level.
BODENHEIMER: Well, you know, unless I go into that water, I'm not sure what the depth is. But I keep hearing the words six feet thrown about, and it's pretty shallow in certain areas, but there are other areas that you just can't gauge the depth. A lot of the ground has been washed out intermittently throughout the area. There are mounds of gravel, but then there's also little depressions as well, and it's hard to get an idea of where the water is the deepest. There's a lot of shallow water all over the place, and particularly in the Ninth Ward itself, not just the lower Ninth Ward, where there is high water as well.
KAGAN: And we're going -- Carey, I don't even know if you can see what we're seeing right now, but we were seeing taped pictures come in. Right now we're seeing live pictures, and we believe we're looking at the other side of the levee, and it's hard to tell, because pretty much it just looks like water that's continuing to poor at its own will.
BODENHEIMER: Yes, you're looking at the Industrial Canal, basically, seeping into residential neighborhoods. I think you're looking at the Lower Ninth Ward, if I had to guess, because we're looking across the water. It's hard to tell exactly what the depth is in that distance. It's raining, but not too hard. The wind is whipping extremely -- the wind is at high speeds, and you know, we're getting rain bands from Hurricane Rita. You know, I haven't seen a weather report, but I can only assume that's what it's from, and water is pouring into the city.
Sorry, I just had a piece of equipment flow down on me. But it's not -- it's disheartening, as somebody who grew up here, and I can't imagine that city officials are terribly happy to hear about this either.
KAGAN: And when you say residential areas, as far as we know, residential areas that have been cleared out since Katrina?
BODENHEIMER: They think they've been cleared out. There's just no way of knowing for certain that there are not people in there. You want to assume that people have common sense and have left the area, but I'm not sure that's a safe assumption to be made.
KAGAN: And as we look at these new pictures that come in, this was an area that the Army Corps of Engineers had made so much progress in.
BODENHEIMER: Yes, they had made progress, but there are still holes in the levee, and those holes are very difficult to repair under the current conditions.
KAGAN: All right, Carey, thank you for that. That's our Carey Bodenheimer, helping us look at the new live pictures and the new taped pictures coming into us here at CNN.
Our Mary Snow now live on the scene.
Mary, what can you tell us?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, we're standing right across from the Industrial Canal levee. And what you're looking at is the water overtopping where that levee breached.
I'm going to ask our photographer, Bruce Fine (ph), to just pan over a bit. If you can see that reddish-brownish structure, that is a barge that went through the levee after Katrina, with the surge and after the storm. The barge broke through there. Now what crews have been doing, have been reinforcing that levee with sandbags, and gravel. The Army Corps of Engineers said that they are temporarily structures, and they expected a breach. They did not expect it this early. We talked to FEMA spokesperson Mark Stone. He said the water began overtopping that breach just about an hour ago. But he says the structure still is intact. As you can see, that water is rising rapidly -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Yes, it seems like a matter of semantics at this point, whether you're talking about an overtopping or a break, because quite a bit of water is pouring back into that Lower Ninth Ward.
Not sure -- Mary, can you hear us? You still with us? all right. Apparently we lost her.
SNOW: Daryn, sorry about that. We lost your signal there.
KAGAN: That's all right. Can you hear me now?
SNOW: Yes, I can.
KAGAN: All right. We were talking -- we are hearing different terms tossed about -- overtopping, breach, break.
SNOW: Right.
KAGAN: Whatever you call it, there is a lot of water that is pouring down into the Lower Ninth Ward.
SNOW: That's right. And I was talking to Mark Stone of FEMA, and if you can just join me one second, we're talking about the fact that we're looking at this water. Is it a breach, overtopping, in your estimate, you've done this a lot?
MARK STONE, FEMA: Still go with the Corps of Engineers' assessment right now. They're saying it's an overspill. It's the integrity of that temporary levee that we're dealing with. You know, is it still intact? Likely from what we're seeing, it probably is. They're monitoring that very closely, so I think we'll stick with that term of an overflow until such time as they determine the integrity of that.
KAGAN: All right. We might have lost our signal right there. That was our Mary Snow. Actually, she's back. Mary, go ahead.
STONE: ... is when we knew about it, could have been quite a bit longer, but that's when we heard about it.
SNOW: What is being done now, if anything, to try and stop the water? This is just really the start of the storm effects being felt.
STONE: Right, and, again, those are Corps of Engineers issues. They're working with our unified command on those decisions. We do know that we pulled all the assets out of there, obviously to get them out of harm's way. Not too sure at this moment what the Corps is considering to do to reinforce that. We'll just have to wait and see.
SNOW: Mark, just to be perfectly clear about this, this is the Ninth ward, Correct, right over there? You had been telling me earlier that really there were urban-search-and-rescue teams in that area. They have all been evacuated?
STONE: That's correct. We've been down there for quite of number of days. We've done a lot of searches. We've sent several urban search-and-rescue teams in there, working throughout the days. They finished their mission yesterday as it was and had moved on. So we're fairly confident we did a really good job down there of doing our secondary search while we were in the Ninth Ward.
SNOW: Now the early estimates had been for potentially two to four -- The wind is picking up here -- two to four feet of water, worst-case scenario, over several days. This is happening much quicker than expected, right?
STONE: Well, and you know, we're following the same type of weather patterns that guys are hearing and everyone is hearing, plus some other intelligence that we're getting. I don't know that it's any earlier than we expected, but again, there's just no way to 100 percent predict it. We're taking all the precautions for it either way. We're going to get our resources out of there and make sure everybody's out of harm's way.
SNOW: All right, now you have a lot of work to do.
Mark Stone, thanks for joining me, and we'll check in with you shortly to get an update.
STONE: Thanks.
KAGAN: All right, thank you. Mary Snow, bringing us our first live pictures and seeing some of our first taped pictures, too, of exactly happening there along the Industrial Canal, and flowing over there into the Lower Ninth Ward.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: We will be tracking that, as well as getting the latest on the levee situation in New Orleans. We'll do that. And also, we're going to talk with a coastal tidal expert about what exactly is built up along the coast there and how it might help or hurt as Hurricane Rita comes onshore. All that, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: And the intensity with Hurricane Rita continues to rise. Now word of a tornado on the ground. Let's go back to Jacqui Jeras with the latest on that.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Daryn, it's near the town of Gonzales, which is right along I-10 to the north and west of New Orleans. It includes Ascension, Iberville and St. James Parishes. A radio station reporting a possible tornado on the ground about miles southeast of Gonzales, and that is moving northwest at 45 miles per hour.
Here's New Orleans, here's I-10 and there's the town of Gonzales. And this storm that is of concern, moving up to the north and the west. So if it holds together, that means it would be pushing toward the Baton Rouge area. Here are the counties highlighted in red that are involved under a warning. We do also have a tornado watch in effect across the region. Again, a tornado on the ground near Gonzales, Louisiana -- Daryn?
KAGAN: Jacqui, thank you for that.
The other big problem out of New Orleans concerns the Industrial Canal and the overtopping or the breach or the overspilling of the levee there, going into the lower Ninth Ward. We were just seeing these pictures for the first time in the last few minutes. Not much they can do at this point. They can't put helicopters in the air because the winds are too strong.
We were talking to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Their plan, to try to get boats on the water on the canal side, to see what they can do to shore up that water that is spilling into an area that was already so terribly damaged after Hurricane Katrina.
Big concern for the area of St. Bernard's Parish, which was also heavily flooded in the wake of Katrina. Here now, sound from the sheriff there, Jack Stevens.
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SHERIFF JACK STEVENS, ST. BERNARD PARISH, LA.: Here we are in day 26 now and we're still battling levees and rain and rising water. We're on Industrial Canal right now, which is a section that failed initially, that was topped and breached. It flooded the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans and entered into parts of St. Bernard Parish. The Corps of Engineers did some temporary work on it, but it's just not holding.
So the chances are, we're going to have a lot of water in this area again. We're not -- there are not very many civilians left in this area. We're trying to do as quick a sweep as we can to make sure that there's no one that got in there to reinspect their house or something. But conditions are deteriorating very fast. You all are going to have to move your crew out or you're going to be inundated here. The only way to get out of here will be by boat in about 10 or 15 minutes.
KAGAN: And with more on what is happening and what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing, let's go to our Barbara Starr, who had a chance to talk with the top military commander, Lieutenant General Russel Honore, within the last hour -- Barbara.
STARR: Yes, Daryn, we did speak to him within the last hour as the weather situation continues to deteriorate across Louisiana, especially in New Orleans. He is very aware, of course, of the flooding situation, as we have seen those pictures live on our air.
What General Honore is saying is what everybody else is saying. Of course, the deteriorating situation, with the wind gusts kicking up to 40 miles an hour, they cannot put helicopters in the air. So what they are trying to do, as you can see from the pictures we've shown on our air, is get boats in the water, assess the situation.
And even though they do believe that most residents are out of the lower Ninth Ward, that most civilians are out of the area, if they have to, the military will go back through there on boats and try and rescue anybody that may be left, anybody that they can. They can't survey the area by helicopter. It's just too windy. And even with 40 mile-an-hour winds, some of those small boats, they may not be able to go in there at some point. It may be just too difficult.
General Honore also is now extremely concerned about the situation, of course, in northern Louisiana. As Jacqui Jeras said, tornadoes moving north of New Orleans, even with tropical storm winds, 50 miles an hour above that. They expect power lines to come down. They expect a great deal of problem as that storm may sit over parts of northern Louisiana.
So General Honore now, today, he says he is moving to Lafayette, Louisiana, with a team from the 82nd Airborne Division. Satellite communications so he can stay in touch. And he will direct operations from there.
Now, across in Texas, they are getting ready, as well, of course. A number of military capabilities being asked for by the governor of Texas and the U.S. military now responding on several fronts, we are told. Texas first, now indeed asking for the Iwo Jima, the amphibious warship with more than 600 marines on board. They will be ready to go ashore after the storm clears landfall in Texas. If there is flooding, if roads are washed out, those Marines will be able to get in.
Texas also asking and getting air and ground search and rescue from the military, temporary bridges and emergency debris removal, military ambulances, field hospitals and help in serving meals to the thousands that may be displaced by Rita after it makes landfall.
One piece of very good news, however. The U.S. military has already evacuated more than 4,000 elderly, disabled and ill people out of Texas, out of that low-lying area, and has taken them to safety -- Daryn.
KAGAN: All right. Barbara Starr, a lot of information there coming out of the Pentagon. Thank you for all of that.
Let's look and see those pictures that we were seeing out of New Orleans. This breaching -- or this overtopping of the levee of the Industrial Canal. Here -- these are live pictures that we're seeing here.
When we were talking to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers a little earlier, they were talking about water levels that they had predicted would be at a certain level, tops about eight feet. Already close to that. And that appears to be a problem that they are attributing to storm surge, as Rita is just starting to make it effects felt along New Orleans.
Storm surge is also a concern about what could happen in Texas, as Rita passes through there. Forecasters are predicting a 15 to 20- foot storm surge from Rita. Historically, water causing more death and destruction than wind in a hurricane.
James Gibeaut is a coastal geologist at the University of Texas at Austin and this is his specialty.
Good morning. Thank you for being with us.
JAMES GIBEAUT, COASTAL GEOLOGIST: Thank you.
KAGAN: We've been seeing what happens along the coast of Louisiana. What about Texas? What areas are you most concerned about in terms of storm surge?
GIBEAUT: Well, the Beaumont, and the Port Arthur Area and the Sabin Pass (ph) area on the far eastern edge of Texas are susceptible to storm surge, damage and flooding, flooding from the rainfall, as well as from the oceanside and the storm surge.
KAGAN: And this is an area, especially Port Arthur, that we're hearing, could be ground zero for Rita when it comes onshore. We have some computer models that we have put together that I understand you're familiar with, that we can talk about, looking back, that were made from Carla in 1961. What happens? It basically turns into a giant lake, James?
GIBEAUT: Yes. At about eight feet of storm surge, much of Port Arthur is flooded by the storm surge, and that's not even counting the freshwater flooding that may come down from the rivers after the storm crosses the coast.
KAGAN: So it might get hit from two sides?
GIBEAUT: Yes, and flooding from the rainfall can be made worse by the elevated water levels from the oceanside, because there's no way for the water to flow off of the land if the ocean level is so high.
KAGAN: And one of the problems we saw in New Orleans after Katrina was the water just sat there. There was no place for it to go. What about drainage in this area? GIBEAUT: Well, even though these areas are very low, 20 feet above sea level at the most, they are all above sea level, most of the developed areas anyway, and so we don't expect long periods of standing water to be there for -- as we've seen in New Orleans. However, elevated water levels may persist, depending on how much rainfall for days and perhaps a week or more.
KAGAN: Still a lot of questions to be answered. James Gibeaut with the University of Texas, thank you for that.
Now to get more information on what is happening in New Orleans and what's being done with the levees and their conditions, I want to welcome on the phone brigadier general from the Army Corps of Engineers, Robert Crear.
General Crear, thank you for being with us.
BRIG. GEN. ROBERT CREAR, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: Good afternoon.
KAGAN: What can you tell us exactly about what's happening along the Industrial Canal. We are looking at live pictures right now, sir, of water that is pouring from the canal into the Lower Ninth Ward.
CREAR: What you see is an overtopping of an area that has been breached previously, that we had, in fact, done temporarily repairs. The surge of the lake is such that it's about one foot above the level of protection. So what you'll have is about one foot of water pouring into the neighborhood.
KAGAN: So are you actually seeing water that you -- and levels that you expected and estimated you would have hit at the peak of Rita, at the very beginning of the storm?
CREAR: We did not expect this early that we'd get this level of the surge. As you know, the surge was affected by the winds, and we expect this to continue for several hours.
KAGAN: And what can be done under current conditions, sir?
CREAR: Under current conditions we're trying to develop the situation. We're looking at -- certainly we can't do anything at the moment, but we are looking to make sure we have stockpiles of aggregate sandbags. And of course when the wind dies down, we'll be able to get back there and affect another repair of this particular area. But at the moment, there's not a lot we can do, except work with the St. Bernard Parish, to make sure once the water gets to the pumping stations that we can start pumping.
KAGAN: And what is the status of those pumping stations?
CREAR: Right now, we have pumps one and six, which are the pump stations that would help pump out this area, which we had already done, those pump stations are prepared to do that once again.
KAGAN: And when you said there's nothing you can do that right now, is that because of the wind and the deteriorating conditions there?
CREAR: Because of the conditions, the winds. Again, what we're doing now is being able to position equipment and supplies that when that situation gets better, we can move in and start working on the breach in earnest.
KAGAN: General, when we first heard word of this, we also heard word from the Army Corps of Engineers that there would be an effort to get boats in there along the canal. But are you telling me that conditions at this point don't even allow that?
CREAR: Yes, stockpiling equipment and supplies means (ph) rocks that are on barges that would come through the lake. But that's something we'd be able to put into position, and we're working on that as the situation arises.
KAGAN: And if you can't do that now, I would imagine you won't be able to get to that for some time and wait for the entire storm to pass. So this water is going to be pouring for quite a time.
CREAR: What you have is winds that are coming in from the east, and as the storm passes, those winds will shift to the south, and the surge, in fact, will go away in a matter of a couple of hours, and so that's about the amount of time we'll have to wait -- over.
KAGAN: You expect the surge to go away in just a couple of hours?
CREAR: We do.
KAGAN: But the storm will last long past a couple of hours.
CREAR: As you know, again, the hurricane as it rotates and as it moves...
KAGAN: With the bands.
CREAR: ... and whips up the winds, it will in fact pass by. When that happens, the surge, in fact, will go down, and then we can get in and start.
KAGAN: I see. That will be your window of opportunity, perhaps, to some get boats in there. And as you were saying, what you plan to do is take these giant boulders and try to build as much blockage as quickly as possible.
CREAR: We'll try to do a duplicate of what we did before to fix it.
KAGAN: Yes, frustrating times. Brigadier General Robert Crear, with the Army Corps of Engineers, big jobs ahead of you and a big 24 hours. We wish you well with your work, sir.
CREAR: Thank you very much.
KAGAN: Once again, we'll continue to follow that developing story in New Orleans. The water from the Industrial Canal spilling over with the breach, the storm surge already higher than they expected. Their window of opportunity coming in about a couple of hours, the general telling us, in order to get in there and try to do something to try to stop that water.
I'm Daryn Kagan. CNN LIVE TODAY continues for another hour, right after this quick break.
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