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New Orleans Mayor Orders Stragglers to Go, Authorities May Use Force; Hot Food is One Priority in Biloxi; Houston Evacuees Refusing to Move Again to Other States

Aired September 07, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, Carol. I'm Soledad O'Brien live in Baton Rouge this morning.
Time has run out for anybody who is still in New Orleans. Whatever their reason for staying, they have to go. And if not voluntarily, then by force.

The mayor's office is saying water and all its appalling ingredients is just too dangerous now. We're going to talk about the threat of disease and what happens now for people who are still in the city. We got a live report from New Orleans straight ahead. Miles?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: I'm Miles O'Brien. The staggering cost of Katrina. The president expected today to ask for another $30 billion to $50 billion to help pay the bill. We'll tell you about that in a heated meeting in Washington and why the House of Representatives is suddenly canceling hearings on the disaster response.

And off the coast of Florida, Tropical Storm Ophelia has formed. Forecasters worry she could get much stronger on this AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody, to Baton Rouge. We're at the River Center in Baton Rouge across from the Mississippi River. Baton Rouge is now Louisiana's largest city and they certainly never intended it to be. Doubled its population, originally 412,000 people lived here. More than double that population a lot of that is due to the folks behind me, the evacuees, who have come to this Red Cross shelter; 4,500 approximately spent the night here last night.

They are given all the services, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. Also help to find jobs and get information from FEMA. And there are also some systems to get them connected to some of the people they lost.

So, this morning, Miles. From this shelter, we will walk you through exactly what these evacuees are now going through and what kind of services they are getting as well. That is ahead, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Soledad. Look forward to that.

Let's start with mission critical news for you. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says anyone who refuses to leave the city of New Orleans risk being taken away by force. About 10,000 people thought to still be in the Crescent City. The official death toll in that city is 71 but the mayor says it could be as high as 10,000. In Mississippi, the death toll is now at 196. That, too, expected to rise.

As many as 225,000 evacuees are though to be staying Texas, many of them not moving. Relief workers say people are refusing to go other states because they don't want to be away further from their homes.

The president today is expected to ask Congress for somewhere between $30 to $50 billion, in money, to help pay for the aftermath of Katrina. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says the final price tag could exceed $150 billion. Let's get to Karl Penhaul, he's live in Jackson Square, heart of the French Quarter.

Karl, what can you tell us about this mandatory evacuation order?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So far, no signs the evacuation order is being carried out just yet, but expect it to get underway the next few hours, certainly during the course of today. It's not really clear exactly how this evacuation, this forced evacuation, will be carried out.

What the Mayor Ray Nagin has said is that all people must now leave the city whether they like it or not and whether they are on their own private property or not. But talking the National Guard, also members of the 82nd Airborne Division, that we were out with yesterday, they said they've not received any clear instructions on how to go about it.

Also, there are indications that some of the storm survivors who do want to leave are still being rescued. So if after a week, they have not been rescued yet, it's not clear how long it will take to carry out the forced evacuation.

Why are a lot of people still staying here in this city? Well, some of them have told us that they have nowhere to go. Some of them have told us they have no money to survive outside of New Orleans. They prefer the devil they know, rather than the devil they don't.

Others that we've seen are staying behind because of their pets. They don't want to abandon their pets, cats, dogs. But even yesterday we found a man who didn't want to leave the city because he had a pet ferret.

But the Mayor Ray Nagin says, no, you all have to leave. One of the reasons not only because of the pumping, the draining, the reconstruction effort, the cleanup has got to go ahead, but also because of the risk of disease now associated with all the standing floodwaters around here.

Is there a lot of sewage mixed in with that and the Center for Disease Control are saying there are normal health risks associated with that, such as diarrhea, things like hepatitis. What they are saying as well the risk of cholera, typhoid, or those more serious diseases is much more limited -- Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Karl Penhaul in the French Quarter, thank you very much. Soledad?

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Miles. Let's go over to Mississippi.

As you mentioned, the death toll is official 196. People expect, though, that number is going to go much higher. It could take days, maybe even weeks before they know the official death toll. Meanwhile, though, there are more than tens of thousands of people there who are homeless and even more than that are still without power. Let's check in with Chris Huntington in Biloxi for us.

Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS HUNGTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

There are untold thousands of Mississippians who are still hungry. Hot, fresh food probably in shortest supply in coastal Mississippi. But thanks to groups like the Salvation Army -- and I'm at a Salvation Army cook facility here in Biloxi -- folks are getting fed. In fact, this operation is a joint operation between the Salvation Army, I don't know if you can see over my shoulder, Pappa John's Pizza has rolled in a trailer here. Combined, these two organizations are putting out 8,000 to 10,000 meals a day. Is there no other source of hot fresh food around here. (AUDIO GAP) ...unopened, the only place only place we've seen open, frankly, up and down the Mississippi coast (AUDIO GAP) well-known throughout the South.

The cleanup is beginning to get underway. There is a very heavy military presence up and down the Mississippi Coast. That's great for security, that's great for beginning the cleanup. It is now making travel by civilians increasingly difficult because you have checkpoints at virtually every intersection. Whole sections of the coastal road are impassible, but those that were are now simply cut off to all but emergency vehicles.

It is very difficult to get around now. There are traffic jams, something we hadn't seen. So there is a flipside, if you will, Soledad, to the efforts to restore order here along the coast of Mississippi.

S. O'BRIEN: I can see that. Chris, thanks a lot.

I'd like to get to Texas now, in Houston, it seems shelters are actually saying that some of the people inside are turning down the relocation offers from the federal government. Obviously, they want to stay. Let's check in with Keith Oppenheim live for us there.

Hey, Keith. Good morning. Is it they are getting a better deal from Texas that people don't want to think about relocating back to Louisiana?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, within Texas, Soledad, this is very much a place where people can get services. Before they make a transition to a smaller place that might be farther from home, they want to figure out where they're going. Look at the numbers here; you have about 26,000 evacuees still staying in the main arenas that Houston is providing, 16,000 in the Astrodome.

For example, yesterday, there was an offer to take 4,000 evacuees to a couple of cruise ships in Galveston, 45 minutes away from here. There weren't takers because people don't want to be disconnected from basic services here. What we're witnessing at this complex is something of an expansion of the societal safety net.

FEMA, for example, is offering cities with new jobs for people, offering housing for people, and many of the evacuees want to take advantage of some of these basic services. They need to get a job. They need to get an apartment. They need to get an ID card. These are things, Soledad, that many evacuees feel they can best get right here.

S. O'BRIEN: Good for them. Obviously, a lot of work to be done if you can get your feet moving and moving in the right direction. Understandable for these evacuees. Keith, thanks.

Give out some information to you now. The Red Cross is trying to keep track of missing and displaced people so we want to give this information. You can go online to redcross.org. Click on family links registry, or here is a phone number you can call, 877-loved-1s. Let me say that again for you, it's 877- LOVED-1S. About a 100,000 people are so far registered at that site.

Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Soledad.

The White House is expected to ask Congress for as much as $50 billion more in relief aid, the political storm over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina in full force this morning. Elaine Quijano at the White House this morning. And giving us a sense of just what the political fallout is.

Elaine, good morning.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles.

Well, in public and in private from both Democrats and Republicans, the Bush administration continuous to face scathing criticism of the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

Now, last night, behind closed doors during what is described as a very contentious meeting with lawmakers and administration officials, a member of the president's own party told Bush Cabinet secretaries, quote, "All of you deserve failing grades. The response was a disaster."

Now, already, of course, much of the criticism is focusing on the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown. Yesterday, the House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says she thinks he should be fired.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: If somebody is incompetent, has no credentials for the job that he holds, and that, I would say, is Michael Brown, the head FEMA. Brings nothing to the table of the level of competence and accountability -- that he should not continue in that job unless we want a continuation of the shortcomings that we have had in the response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: The president is promising an investigation into the government's response but he made clear he does not think now is the time for that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think one of the things that people want us to do here is to play blame game. We got to solve problems. We're problem-solvers. There will be ample time for people to figure out what went right and what went wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, the White House suggests the reason it's not appropriate it feels to move forward on an investigation now is that they don't want to pull resources away from the disaster response. But congressional leaders are moving forward.

In fact, Republican Susan Collins, who heads up the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, says she expects public hearings to begin next week.

We should also tell you today, President Bush, so far the only event on his schedule, he'll be attending the private funeral of the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Elaine, at the White House, thanks very much.

In just a few moments we will talk with Senator Hillary Clinton; she is calling for FEMA to be elevated to a Cabinet level position.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

M. O'BRIEN: Turning now to Iraq. The U.S. diplomatic convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in Basra. The blast killed four American private security contractors. The makeshift explosive detonated at the foot of a bridge early this morning. Three contractors killed instantly. The fourth died at a hospital -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles, thanks. Ahead this morning we're going to talk about what Congress' role should be in the wake of this disaster. We'll check in with Senator Hillary Clinton.

Also, the Red Cross shelters, and other shelters, are filled to capacity. What are officials doing about that? We'll ask ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Back at the River Center where some 4,500 people spent the night last night. This was never meant to be a Red Cross shelter. It turned into one when it became clear there was a staggering number of people who would have to be housed for more than an overnight emergency shelter type situation so they set up here essentially a small city.

They get breakfast, lunch, dinner, hot meals, snacks, water. There are places for kids to play. They do a movie that they are showing -- or several movies, I should say during the day. They have a little library, kind of make-shift library set up for kids to get books. It's basically a way to give people all the normalcy that they possibly can of home in a very abnormal situation. Because, obviously, people are still sleeping on cots.

Now, coming up in about 10 minutes or so, it's going to be lights on here. At that point, the day will really get going. They have many services here as well where people can kind of track down folks that they are trying to connect with.

Coming up in a few moments, in fact, we will meet a woman who has been desperately trying to get in touch with her husband. She was at work when the flooding began. Her family had been evacuated. We will tell you of her story, of what she was able to do to try to find her family.

We will also walk you through this Red Cross shelter. If you could see the supplies they have, stacked up, really right to the ceiling almost. Because, of course, all of the things these folks need have to be kept somewhere. As you can hear, possibly, babies starting to wake up. You need Pampers, you need baby food, you need baby formula, you need bottles, supplies, all of those things are kept there as well.

So you can hear, things getting going here because they turn the lights on in just a few moments. We're going to start showing you what happens here in the day in the life of an evacuee -- Miles?

M. O'BRIEN: Sounds like your shopping list, Soledad. As a matter of fact.

(LAUGHTER)

S. O'BRIEN: A little bit.

M. O'BRIEN We'll see you in a little bit.

The oil industry is picking itself up. I don't know how. Andy Serwer is here to explain.

ANDY SERWER, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Indeed, Miles.

Let's talk about what is going on in the oil business and the stock market. First of all, stocks soared yesterday as the price of oil plunged. The Dow Jones industrial average up 141 points. The third biggest gain of the year.

Price of oil down to $65.80 a barrel, that is down more than $5 from the peak of $70.85. Look at the drop-off there on the chart, from last Tuesday, the day after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast. Yes, it's been that long.

Lower oil prices, yes, but gasoline prices have not fallen that much yet. How often have we heard this story? The oil companies and the gas stations indeed are reaping profits.

The price of oil falling, Miles, because pipelines, rigs, platforms and refineries are slowly getting back online. Some of the easy stuff is being done. I think also Wall Street is beginning to understand the full scope of the damage, which is comforting to know exactly how much damage there is. There's still a lot of work to be done that will take many, many months. In other words, they are beginning to understand exactly how big the job is.

M. O'BRIEN: It's hard to get your arms around it. Maybe they are. Maybe as far as it relates to energy supplies that may not be as bad as first thought?

SERWER: That's possible but there is still so much else going on. Grain shipments, steel, the price of steel; there is talk about shortages of coffee beans. It just goes on and on and on rippling through the economy.

M. O'BRIEN: A tremendous amount goes through that port.

SERWER: Indeed.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, what is Congress doing in response to the crisis on the Gulf Coast? Senator Hillary Clinton will join us live next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Tempers are flaring in Washington as lawmakers try to figure out what went wrong with the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Senator Hillary Clinton says the Bush administration has weakened the Federal Emergency Management Agency and she is pushing to have FEMA separated from the Department of Homeland Security.

She joins us now live from Capitol Hill.

Senator, good to have you with us. I know you were in Houston a couple of days ago and got a chance to see this firsthand. Let's talk about FEMA, separating it from Homeland Security. What good would that do? That is just changing flowcharts in a bureaucracy?

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) NEW YORK: Well, Miles, what I'd like to do is get it back to the level of competency and leadership that had during the Clinton administration.

When it was independent, when the director had actual experience in dealing with disasters and when he had a Cabinet rank level, so there was no doubt when a disaster struck he was in charge. And he was able to marshal all of the resources of the federal government.

And, unfortunately, when FEMA was moved into the Department of Homeland Security, its traditional mission of trying to prepare for, and recover from, and respond to disasters, was subsumed in what became the overall mission of the war against terrorism.

Obviously, as a senator from New York, I care deeply about our effectiveness in battling the terrorists. But I think we also can do two things at once. And maybe we need to get back to an independent FEMA agency with leadership that's prepared and experienced in order to be sure that we never, ever see anything like this again in our country.

M. O'BRIEN: But surely FEMA has to be able to respond to a terror incident as well, thus, the rational for putting it in Homeland Security.

CLINTON: Well, but the independence of it doesn't in any way interfere with that. But even some of the people who are in this administration have admitted the cutbacks in funding, the cutbacks in personnel, the fact that FEMA was no longer seen as a lead agency on anything, would interfere with the ability for it to do either of those functions, either in disasters or with respect to a terrorist attack.

We need to be able to respond to natural disasters or man-made disasters. I had, you know, grave doubts about whether that could happen in the Department of Homeland security. I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. But I think that, you know, we've seen clearly that it isn't working. And I'm afraid that if it's not independent, we're going to continue to have this confusion.

You know, it's one thing to be a bureaucrat and a presidential appointee who is, you know, doing some job where people's lives are not directly at stake. It's something else, though, when you're on the, you know, the point of the arrow. You have to make the decisions and that just didn't happen.

M. O'BRIEN: Would you suggest, then the FEMA Director Mike Brown be fired?

CLINTON: Well, I don't have that, you know, decision. That's up to the president. But certainly--

M. O'BRIEN: Do you think it's a good idea? Would you fire him?

CLINTON: Well, right now, I don't know what that would mean in terms of what we're trying to get accomplished now. We don't want to make a bad situation worse. Obviously, the legislation I'm introducing will require that whoever is in that position, have specific, appropriate experience with handling disasters.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, you are on record as calling for a Katrina commission, sort of like a 9/11 Commission. Is this the time to be calling for those sorts of things right in the wake of this when there are real needs right now? I think a lot of people watching this would say let's wait a little bit on the blame issue. We can deconstruct this later. We have people in need right now.

CLINTON: You know, Miles, that's why I've called for an independent commission because I don't think the government should be investigating itself. And I don't think anybody in the government should be taken away from the important tasks of dealing with the enormous challenges facing the people along the Gulf Coast.

I think we do need an independent commission. I'm always struck when people say that, because it is commonly said. You know, after Pearl Harbor, there was an immediate investigation launched. You know, I think we sort of have lost track of the fact this is a government that has to be accountable to the people of our country. This is not a game. This has to be a serious inquiry that people have confidence in, that will help us understand what did go wrong. The sooner we know that, the better.

We have no idea what Mother Nature or, heaven forbid, you know, the terrorists have in store for us. I, for one, want to know what went wrong because I don't want ever to see this happen in our country and have people put at risk, have people lose their lives; and have the questions that people were asking me that are so painful and poignant, in Houston, when I saw them, you know, go without answers for very long.

M. O'BRIEN: Is there a simple answer to who dropped the ball, Senator?

CLINTON: On August 27th, the president signed an emergency declaration at his ranch in Crawford, in which he said that it would be an emergency and the federal government would take the lead in coordinating response. I think the buck stops at the federal government. And so let's find out what went wrong from an independent panel of experts, people who understand what should happen, what didn't happen, and let's do it as quickly as possible.

M. O'BRIEN: Senator Hillary Clinton, thanks for being with us this morning.

CLINTON: Thank you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, the latest on the potential deadly health risks in New Orleans. What is the biggest danger right now? We'll ask the head of the Centers for Disease Control ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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