Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

State of Emergency in New Orleans; American Roy Hallums Freed In Rescue Operation; Houston Helps Evacuees Find Homes and Jobs; Companies and Government Help Out Workers and Evacuees; Will New Orleans Be Like Galveston?

Aired September 08, 2005 - 08:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody, to AMERICAN MORNING. I want to give you a sense of where we are in New Orleans this morning. You're looking down the shot of Tulane Avenue. And you can see just how much water remains, in spite of some of the good news that we've had about the pumps slowly being repaired.
In addition to that, we're in the downtown mid city region and there are kind of a couple of strange things that I want to share with you, Miles. First, look down this highway. It is I-10. It's where we've set up. Nobody on I-10, either direction, except occasionally some of the rescue boats come whizzing by or some of the military personnel as well or some of the sheriffs come by. But pretty much, it's empty.

Also, if we go over this way and just take a look down here, the other side of Tulane Avenue, across I-10, there's a gas station down here and we can really smell the fuel. Clearly there's been a rupture. And if you look at that garbage can, it gives you a sense of just how deep the water is. Probably two and a half feet I would estimate.

Further down at Tulane University and Tulane University Hospital, they had an evacuation out of here. Some 1,500 patients and workers and visitors were brought out and they are proud of their very successful efforts here. So just a little bit of a look at where we are coming to you from this morning.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Soledad. See you in just a bit.

Coming up, reports that many evacuees have started to leave Houston. We're going to talk to the mayor of that city about where they're going, how much longer the Astrodome will be used as a relief shelter, what are the long-term implications of having that many people settle in that great city?

Before we do that, let's check the headlines. Once again, Carol Costello with that.

Carol, good morning again.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Good morning, everyone.

"Now in the News."

Vice President Dick Cheney is taking a firsthand look at the recovery efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi. The vice president will examine a levee repair project in New Orleans. He's also said to make stops in Baton Rouge and Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi. The visit comes as Congress is preparing to approve another $51.8 billion in federal aid to the Gulf region.

In Wisconsin, jury selection begins today in the trial for the man accused of killing six deer hunters. You might remember this story. He allegedly shot the men last November after a confrontation over a deer stand. Chai Vang is charged with six counts of first degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. Vang says he acted in self-defense.

The Prostate Cancer Foundation is releasing the first ever guide for men with prostate cancer and for their families. The guide has details on new treatments and research plans. It also includes wallet-sized cards with questions for men to asked their doctors.

And damage from Katrina could delay the next space shuttle launch. NASA officials announced last month that they might try for a liftoff in March, but there's word this morning the launch could be pushed back because of technical problems and devastation to facilities in New Orleans and other sites in the Gulf. We could learn more when NASA holds a news conference later today.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Carol. We will learn more hopefully then.

Let's take a moment from our Katrina disaster coverage to tell you about another big story today, another rescue. This one from Iraq.

The family of American hostage Roy Hallums is celebrating his release this morning. U.S. forces freed Hallums Wednesday following a raid on a farm house outside Baghdad. Hallums had been held captive since last November. His ex-wife, Susan Hallums, joins us now to talk about the rescue.

Susan, congratulations. What was it like getting that call?

SUSAN HALLUMS, EX-HUSBAND RESCUED IN IRAQ: Oh, it was amazing. It was just like the best day of my life to get a phone call that we'd been waiting for, for like 305 days.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yeah, that's a long spell. And what did he tell you about how he was released and the circumstances?

HALLUMS: Well, the first thing he said, he had had a ticket to come home last Thanksgiving and he apologized for being late for dinner. MILES O'BRIEN: I assume you'll have a turkey dinner ready.

HALLUMS: Right. So I think we'll have a turkey dinner real soon. And he just said it had been really hard. That, I think, he said he had sardines and cheese for a month in the last month and I don't think he wants to see any more sardines. And that it had been very, very difficult a very difficult period.

MILES O'BRIEN: Right.

HALLUMS: But he was just glad. He said, I never want to leave home again.

MILES O'BRIEN: So take the sardines off the menu. That answers the question, would he ever go back. He's not going to do that, is he?

HALLUMS: I don't think so.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yeah. You have been through such an ordeal. I mean, when I think about it, it just makes me pause. You've had to have moments where you were very low and thought this wouldn't happen. That that call would never come.

HALLUMS: Right. Well, I always believed I would get a phone call, and I always thought it would be from one of my children calling and saying mom, I've talked to dad. And that's exactly what happened.

MILES O'BRIEN: Really?

HALLUMS: I got a phone call at 5:00 in the morning and my daughter, Amanda, that lives in Memphis said, mom, I got a phone call. And I said from who. She goes, it was dad.

MILES O'BRIEN: And you never once went there on the dark side of this because we've seen so many of these situations end so tragically.

HALLUMS: Right. I would have some very difficult days and hearing my children's sadness and my little granddaughter. But my friends and family helped, you know, get me through it. And I always had faith. And I always thought miracles happen if you believe. And I truly had the faith that he would that we would get that phone call and I was just waiting for it.

MILES O'BRIEN: What kind of a person is Roy? Do you think, over time, he'll be able to emotionally recover from all of this?

HALLUMS: Well, he's our hero, and I believe he's very strong. And I think his love for his family and his children got him through it because I don't see how he did it. Over 300 days is a very long time. And I believe he was just in, like, a four-foot hole.

MILES O'BRIEN: For the whole time?

HALLUMS: For the whole time.

MILES O'BRIEN: Wow.

HALLUMS: Tied and . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: Yeah, that's a test of endurance not many of us could withstand.

HALLUMS: In darkness. So I believe that his strength and his love is very powerful.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right, let me ask you a slightly personal question. You split not too long ago but you remain good friends.

HALLUMS: Oh, we're the best of friends.

MILES O'BRIEN: In a strange way, has this brought you closer together?

HALLUMS: Well, I believe when you feel like for a whole almost a whole year, you don't know where a family member is, it definitely brings you closer to your entire family and you appreciate each other and you know that you never know, but you have to take each day at a time and be strong together and be united. But always I mean we said a million prayers and I believe they were answered. I know they were answered.

MILES O'BRIEN: I believe so. Someone was listening, Susan Hallums. Congratulations to you and your family.

HALLUMS: Thank you.

MILES O'BRIEN: How soon before the reunion? When will you see him?

HALLUMS: Hopefully, I would think, within about a week. He's getting medical treatment. So hopefully within about a week he can come home to recover.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. We look forward to meeting him in person.

HALLUMS: All right.

MILES O'BRIEN: Thanks for dropping by.

HALLUMS: Thank you. Thank you.

MILES O'BRIEN: Let's check back on the weather. Chad Myers at the weather center with that.

Good morning, Chad.

Apparently we lost Chad's mic. We will get back to him in just a little bit.

In a moment, we're going to talk live with the mayor of Houston, Texas. Is his city ready for this influx, 150,000 or so new residents, thanks to Hurricane Katrina? Stay with us. We'll talk to him about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

MILES O'BRIEN: Texas is now playing host to nearly a quarter million evacuees. Thousands of them living right in the city of Houston where many say they plan to stay for good. Bill White is the mayor of Houston. He joins us now.

Mr. Mayor, good to have you with us. Your hospitality, obviously, has not been unnoticed by the evacuees. Are you concerned that you might have, well, there might have been so much kindness you can't handle it all?

MAYOR BILL WHITE, HOUSTON, TEXAS: Well, I'll tell you, it's been a great, generous city and we respond effectively to our fellow Americans. And the folks that have come here, by and large, they've been great people. They're trying to get back on their feet.

Many are looking for employment. You know, many have jobs already. We're moving them into apartments. Some are finding friends and relatives, getting on airplanes. We're making free tickets available, expediting them through the airport. I think a lot of those lives are getting back to normal.

But, yes, Houston is a bigger city and we have more people that are working now. Some coming from the affected areas. There are a few that, if they were law breakers there, well, you know, we're not a welcoming place for breaking the law. But I think Houston's going to be better for it. And we want to help New Orleans get back on its feet so that people can have a choice where they want to live.

MILES O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the here and now before we talk about the long term implications. Your goal is a week from Sunday to have the Astrodome, Reliant, that whole complex pretty much vacant of evacuees. Is that so?

WHITE: That's right. We want . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: That's pretty aggressive.

WHITE: Yes. Well, you know, every day we have a plan to move people out. Not forcibly, but give them an opportunity, because most people don't want to live in shelters. We've redone and rebuilt nursing homes and opened them and furnished them and had residents where they'll receive care that's appropriate already. Yesterday we had over 200 apartment owners sign up so that every vacant apartment is now part of a program where people can get a voucher and they can live independently with dignity.

We're in touch with other mayors in providing information about job opportunities to the various new residents we have, the evacuees from Katrina. And life we want to help them get their life back in a normal, take responsibility for making their own decisions, some of which will be tough decisions, providing them some assistance, letting them know there's a hand to help. But, you know, we've got to get on and help them get on with their lives.

MILES O'BRIEN: One of the big potential choke points here, of course, are classrooms, getting these kids in schools. Undoubtedly, you're going to have some situations with some overcrowding. How concerned are you about the ability of the school system there to absorb all these kids?

WHITE: Well, we responded quickly. We knew it was the beginning of the school year. And every day that a child, young student was behind getting back into the classroom, that would make it all the more difficult to catch up, affecting both the school district and the students' performance at school. And they're our future.

So we had over 2,000 in one of our school districts showing up to school yesterday. We have numerous other school districts and private schools that have seen their enrollments increase. We're seeking federal impact aid. I sent a letter to all the members of the U.S. House and Senate, talked to most of them personally yesterday, for what Congress is considering today because this is an American problem. Shouldn't just be a local problem. And we need help from our fellow Americans to make sure we have teachers and classrooms for these young people.

MILES O'BRIEN: You know, I think a lot of Americans have looked at the response of people of Houston and have been proud of that and have been supportive of it. I guess my concern would be and I think a lot of people would be thinking that over time, will the welcome wear thin as services are taxed, as the schools are taxed, as the inevitable difficulties come up, absorbing so many people?

WHITE: Well, you know, a large percentage of Houston's population right now came from Louisiana, Mississippi, like my wife's family, just looking for opportunity. Americans are very mobile. You've got to remember that, you know, the downtown buildings in New Orleans, everybody from the person on the top floor to the person sweeping the floors have come here looking for work.

So it will be a bigger city. Most of it will be good. There might be some tiny part bad. On having local revenues catch up with local needs, that's an issue, but we trust that Congress will help us with that so we don't bear a disproportion and bear the cost. Over the long run, then people pay taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, income taxes and we'll be just fine.

MILES O'BRIEN: Maybe a few constituents for you, mayor, potentially.

WHITE: Well, I don't know about that, but, you know and we want to help people get back to New Orleans. It's a great American city. We need to rebuild it. But I think it's going to take a little while.

MILES O'BRIEN: Mayor Bill White, city of Houston, Texas, thanks for your time.

WHITE: Take care, Miles. MILES O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, one of the businesses hit the hardest by Katrina is reaching out to help others. Find out how it plans to help employees get back on their feet. That is next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, here's some good news. A little bit of luck, you might say, for some casino workers down in Biloxi. Andy Serwer here with that.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

We talked about companies doing the right thing, government agencies, government entities doing the right thing. We have a couple stories to tell you about now.

MGM Mirage saying it will open the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi. You remember Miles was there the day after the hurricane, showing us all the devastation there.

MILES O'BRIEN: It doesn't look like that now, we should tell you.

SERWER: No, that is file footage, I would imagine.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.

SERWER: Thirty-four hundred workers do their thing there and now the company is saying it's going to give 90 days of pay, which is really amazing. You know, the casino business fairly labor intensive because you have to have all the people watching the tables, plus they're open all night. So a lot of people working there. They're going to be giving the people pay. They said they've cleared out the mud and the debris. Now they're on to HVAC, electrical and structural after that. It's going to be the tables and the machines and the bars and the carpets and all that. They're going to be spending tens of millions of dollars fixing that up.

Now, let's move over to the state of Texas, which is announcing that it will waive state and local taxes on hotels for evacuees. That's a very nice gesture. Fifty-five thousand hotel rooms, for instance, in Houston, all completely occupied. Taxes in that city can run you about 17 percent. So that would be say $300. You can get a $60 a night hotel room, $1,800 for the month. You'd can save $300 there.

The state saying, you know, it would just be extra money anyway. We're not really losing anything here. Plus, they have a tremendous influx of relief workers, even reporters. They've got plenty of business down there. So they're just saying, you know, this is money we really don't need.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, supply and demand would tell you, raise the rates, but I guess that's not politically correct to do that.

SERWER: No. Well, they shouldn't do that. This is the right thing to do.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes. Thank you very much.

SERWER: You're welcome.

MILES O'BRIEN: We're talking about the right thing to do. Andy Serwer, appreciate that.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Miles, thanks.

Did you know that the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history struck today 105 years ago? It devastated the city of Galveston, Texas. And it was a category four storm. It changed the city forever. And many people are wondering if Katrina is going to do the same thing to New Orleans. John Zarrella has our look this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): There is an expression, hide from the wind, run from the water. It is almost always the water that takes the most lives in hurricanes, certainly the big ones. What is taking place in New Orleans, the catastrophic consequences of flooding, is no surprise to disaster recovery experts. They knew what would happen. It had happened before and history has a bad habit of repeating itself.

CASEY GREENE, HISTORIAN: People in Galveston knew that there was a storm in the Gulf of Mexico. It was reported in the "Galveston County Daily News," but they didn't know where the storm would make landfall.

ZARRELLA: September 8, 1900. One-hundred-and-five years ago, a category four hurricane struck Galveston Island. A 16 foot wall of water swallowed the city with waves on top of that and 150 mile-per- hour winds. Officially, at least 8,000 people perished, but historians say they don't really know the true death toll. It could be as high as 10,000 to 12,000. The stories of survival and rescue are eerily similar to New Orleans.

MAYBELLE DOOLIN, SURVIVOR'S DAUGHTER: Some of them were on the roof tops. Some of them were in trees. Some of them were hanging on to logs and stuff in the water.

ZARRELLA: Maybelle Doolin's father and three stepbrothers spent hours in a row boat pulling people from the debris filled water. At an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity, the dormitories were coming apart.

SISTER PAULINE TRONCALE, SISTERS OF CHARITY: They had cut the clothesline down and each sister had about six or eight children tied to her side like mountain climbers. And in this way they had hoped to hold on to the children and to lead them to safety.

ZARRELLA: It was not to be. Of the 93 children and 10 sisters, only three boys who clung to a tree survived. Before the hurricane, Galveston was called the New York of the Gulf. Street cars ran along the beach, bath houses jetted out into the Gulf. After the storm, a seawall was constructed to protect the city and several feet of fill brought in to raise it.

But Galveston was never quite the same. Houston became the center for commerce and business. Might history again repeat itself?

JOE HUGHES, GEORGIA TECH: I don't see how a city ever recovers from a level of disaster like this, in particular when it has such amazing loss of life and displacement.

ZARRELLA: Joe Hughes believe Baton Rouge, with its deep water port and interstate highway access, is positioned to grow as a result of New Orleans' misery. And in the big easy, once the water is out, where do you start to rebuild? The port? The highways? The tourist centers? And when it comes to rebuilding homes . . .

WALTER MAESTRI, JEFFERSON PARISH EMERGENCY MANAGER: What about the electric systems? What about the plumbing systems? What about your sewage systems? What about all this business? What about the toxic lake that's been filling this community for so long?

ZARRELLA: Experts say business may be reluctant to return if there's no guarantee the same thing won't happen again. Galveston's sea wall has fended off hurricanes since. But how many people will return to New Orleans to live in the shadow of the levees, no matter how high and strong they are built?

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, a tale of two rescues. Some people are thrilled to be plucked from their homes. Others are furious. We've got their stories just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com