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American Morning

Bush Promises Relief, Rebuilding in Gulf Coast

Aired September 16, 2005 - 08:32   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. Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Miles is in St. Bernard Parish this morning. That's just to the east of New Orleans. Let's check in with him once again. Good morning again, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again, Soledad.

About 15 to 20 feet of water was here just a few days ago. And now it's just that mud that you see there. But as you look at this house here, if it had just been a typical hurricane scenario, it would of survived. It would have been some damage, to be sure, but it sat there with that 15-foot water level, toxic water, because it was filled with the results of a crude oil spill from a refinery not too far from here. Sat there for 15 days.

And so what became -- what was, I should say, typical hurricane damage, becomes a bulldozed job. And that is repeated in 30,000 homes here in St. Bernard Parish. That just gives you a sense of why this place is where it is -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles. That picture, gosh, look at that. I mean, look at that. That is just unbelievable. And I think when people -- if people could smell how bad the stench is coming off these roadways and out of these homes. Just to be there is just so horrific. I mean, the pictures are very...

M. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, you have to consider the environmental impact. There is a dead bird right there. There's all kinds of evidence of fish kills and wildlife being adversely impacted. I'll be honest with you, I'm not wild about breathing this right here myself, but maybe for a short-term period, it's not a big deal. But the concept of people coming back here any time soon, forget about that -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: It's just devastating. All right, Miles. We'll check in with you again.

So much of the Gulf Coast, in fact, has been just wiped out that an unprecedented rebuilding effort is, in fact, needed. Last night President Bush committed the full resources of the nation to rebuilding the area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: What do local officials think about the president's speech last night? Is he on the right track?

Mayor Ben Morris of Slidell, Louisiana, joins us by phone this morning. Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr is in Biloxi, Mississippi. Nice to see you both -- or I should say, see Mayor Warr and listen to Mayor Morris. Thank you, gentleman, appreciate it.

Mayor Morris, in fact, let's begin with you. And let's explain to folks that the reason we're talking to you by phone is because you can't get into New Orleans because of the damage and the devastation to where you are. Describe for me how bad it is where you are.

MAYOR BEN MORRIS, SLIDELL, LOUISIANA: Well, within -- and I'll speak within the city limits of Slidell, initially. We have most probably 85 percent of our homes have received some damage. We have some that have been devastated. I expect to have somewhere between 10,000 to 15,000 homeless people within the city limits. Within ten- mile radius of our city, we have another -- well, we have a total of about 80,000 people, many of whom have had total loss of their homes and substantial damage.

Our big problem is finding homes for these folks. And I know the parish president has requested trailer homes, etc. for, you know, those residents. I've requested them for the first responders that work this area. And we've not had any luck yet.

S. O'BRIEN: So you've got a lot of problems on a lot of fronts. We've been showing pictures, Mr. Mayor, as you were talking, of just how bad the damage is where you are. Did you hear anything from the president that gave you hope about all of those problems you just listed for me?

MORRIS: Yes, I did. And I appreciate the efforts, the long-term efforts. The problem that exists right now is I have immediate needs and I have yet to see a substantial presence from FEMA. My people have no FEMA reps to talk to. And this has been the most frustrating thing of the whole bit. They have disaster recovery centers all over the state of Louisiana, some damn near in Arkansas, and that is not doing us any good here.

We are the second worst hit city in the state of Louisiana. You know, in New Orleans, obviously, taking, you know, in retrospect, the greatest amount of damage. But comparatively speaking, we're almost in as bad shape. We've had homes here that had eight, ten feet of water in them. And that beautiful blue black mud that came in, that you were talking about in St. Bernard parish, we have many homes that have 10 or 12 inches of that stuff inside the houses.

S. O'BRIEN: And that's never coming out, that stuff. Let's turn to Mayor Warr now. Mayor Warr, do you share the same frustrations? Did you like what the president had to offer? But do you need much more right now?

MAYOR BRENT WARR, GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI: Well, Soledad, thank you for having me on this morning. I did really like what the president had to say. I think he hit it on all accounts. I was especially appreciative of the fact that he said that we were going to have a special zone designed in this area to spur economic activity. I think that that's going to be a great idea. And I do believe that the investors are going to appreciate that and they probably just need a little nudge and this should do it.

There's a lot of frustration here, that's true. And I share Mayor Morris' sympathy in his frustration. I sympathize with him. A lot of it is just the fact that we have been so devastated and we're having a hard time finding out how to really dig out of this hole. I don't care to say that anyone is at fault, because no one's done anything wrong. We're just -- there's a lot of work. It's an incredible amount of work to do.

S. O'BRIEN: We know where you are...

WARR: We're just having to pick it.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, forgive me for jumping in on you there.

WARR: No, ma'am.

S O'BRIEN: We're showing pictures of the devastation in Gulfport, I should add, while you're been talking about it. And I also know that you're having similar issues with the insurance companies as they're having in other states, as well. What's frustration on that front?

WARR: Well, that is probably, in my opinion, the most frustrating thing and the thing that's going to need to be watched most closely. You know, keep in mind, we never got the relief that being inside the eye of a storm gives you. Typically, when the storm comes through, you ride out one side, then you have a little break when you're in the eye of the storm, and then you have another little storm, or a big storm in this case. We never had that break. We stayed for several hours on that northeast quadrant with 175 miles an hour winds and higher.

There was -- all of the damage that you see here was influenced by the wind. There's no question about that. So I hope the insurance industry doesn't try to hide behind the fact there was a lot of water involved in this storm. You know, there was ten inches or less in rainfall in this storm, in my understanding. So this was a wind event. There's no question about that. And I hope that the insurance industry stands behind our citizens that have been paying these premiums for all these years.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you guys have certainly laid out very well the problems that you face. Mayor Brent Warr, who's of Gulfport, Mississippi, and also by phone, Mayor Ben Morris of Slidell, Louisiana. I hope for both of you lots of help is on the way very soon. WARR: Thank you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: You're welcome.

In his address, President Bush reiterated the government's failures in handling Hurricane Katrina, called for a review as well.

CNN's Larry King spoke with former president Bill Clinton and got his perspective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think the president did the right thing in taking the responsibility. Clearly, the FEMA response was slow. And there are lots of reasons that I think that happened. I believe that there should be some reorganization there.

LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Should FEMA not be part of national security?

CLINTON: Well, you know, I'm biased. I liked it the way it was. I think the most important thing is we probably should have some sort of requirement that anybody who has the job has prior experience in emergency management. It's a very serious, important job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: That entire interview with the former president, Bill Clinton, will air tonight on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE" at 9:00 Eastern time.

It's time to get another look at the headlines with Carol Costello. Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad. Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, President Bush is promising to lead what he calls one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen. In a televised address Thursday, the president said his government will take a leading role in rebuilding the battered Gulf region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Federal funds will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public infrastructure in the disaster zone, from roads and bridges to schools and water systems. Our goal is to get the work done quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And this morning, the president is taking part in a national day of prayer on behalf of the victims. He is expected to attend services at the National Cathedral in Washington. That will take place less than three hours from now.

It's a bloody morning in and around Baghdad. Police say at least ten people were killed in a suicide car bombing outside of a mosque. That's just one of several attacks today. At least 12 others have been killed, more than 20 others injured in separate incidents. A Muslim cleric and a mayor were among the victims.

The chief justice nominee John Roberts is another step closer to confirmation. On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Panel wrapped up its public questioning of Roberts. They are set to vote on his nomination next Friday. Supporters want Roberts to be on the bench when the Supreme Court reconvenes in October.

And Oscar-winner Renee Zelwegger is single again. The "Bridget Jones' star is having her marriage to country singer Kenny Chesney annulled. Reps for both have confirmed news of the split. The couple wed in the U.S. Virgin Islands just about four months ago. No details on the reason for the split, but Zelwegger apparently checked off fraud on court documents. Intriguing, isn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: Interesting.

COSTELLO: It is.

COSTELLO: Talk a bit about Ophelia, because it's continuing to drench North Carolina. The slow-moving storm never actually made landfall, but pummeled some areas, with up to 18 inches of rain and heavy winds, flooding streets, snapping power lines, the whole bit. It's now only a tropical storm and slowly churning away from the coast of North Carolina. But when?

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thanks. We'll watch it. Also, we're going to talk more about Katrina's aftermath. It could take years to clean up all the garbage that's been left behind by the storm. So where exactly does it all go? We'll take a look at that, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Looking off to the east, East Magistrate Street in the village of Chalmette, St. Bernard Parish. Live pictures this morning. We're at the intersection of Magistrate and Palimicino (ph) Boulevard. Let me give you a sense of precisely where we are in the world. We're about four and a half miles from the center of New Orleans, from the French Quarter. St. Bernard Parish is the largest parish in Louisiana. One and half million acres. On a good day, before Katrina, a million of those acres were underwater or under swamp land.

Take a look at what this spot where I'm standing looked like before Katrina, and now look at after. This is the floodwaters. Floodwaters here exceeding 10, perhaps 15, feet. And now, this morning, take a look at what we're dealing with here now. A thick layer of mud. Debris everywhere, and houses that need to be leveled. It's an astronomical thought, when you start piling up all this debris, all this trash. And it's a big part of the logistical problem of coming back. And that is why parish leaders here are saying this is a 20-year rebuild for St. Bernard Parish.

Joining me to talk about how you handle all this debris is Frank Reddish. He is with the Miami-Dade emergency management. He's the coordinator there and has a lot of experience, obviously, in the wake of Andrew. Mr. Reddish, good to have you with us. You were cleaning up after Andrew for more than a year. What did you learn?

FRANK REDDISH, RECOVERY AND MITIGATION, MIAMI-DADE CO.: That a hurricane generates a tremendous amount of debris. That's what we learned. And what to do with it is extremely difficult.

M. O'BRIEN: Give us a sense of the kinds of things that -- you know, some solutions. It's hard to imagine 30,000 homes and the debris that would generate. I can't even imagine how you would handle that.

REDDISH: Well, in a major hurricane such as Katrina or Andrew, generally, FEMA gives a mission assignment to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. And it's a massive, massive undertaking. In a smaller undertaking like Katrina was in South Florida, we were able to handle that ourselves. But in the Gulf Coast, it's going to be years, quite frankly.

Andrew took more than a year, but Andrew was only confined only to the massive debris, which is up to South Florida and south part of our county here. Now you're looking at three states and miles inland. So it's going to be a massive undertaking.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, I saw one statistic which really caught my eye. If you took just the estimated debris in Mississippi and stacked it on a football field, it would -- the pile would be three and a half miles high. So where do you put all this stuff?

REDDISH: That's a major question. Probably a lot of it can be burned. These air curtain burners will -- they leave very little ash and very little pollution out of it. Or it may be, to some extent, that you have to do that anyway. I personally don't have any idea how the landfill situation is up in the Gulf states. Here, we had to open an entire new cell at one of our major landfills just to accommodate Hurricane Andrew debris. It's massive.

And you start off probably getting rid of vegetative debris and then as you go into these houses and start to clear them out, it's a combination of furniture and demolition debris. You know, bricks and boards and all of that. And in a lot of these older homes, you can have a situation with, like, asbestos an example, which really aggravates the situation beyond that.

M. O'BRIEN: I assume, given all of the damage, there's not much of an opportunity to do any recycling. Let me ask you this. Is this -- in a sense, it's good for business, isn't it?

REDDISH: Well, I guess if you're in the trash hauling business, it's good for business. They probably will hire everybody with -- for miles around to go in there. I mean, if people have a truck, you'll probably have work. I don't know if that's a very optimistic way to look at it, but there's going to a lot of work for a lot of people in that debris clearance. That was true in Andrew and I'm sure it's going to be even moreso in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana.

M. O'BRIEN: Frank Reddish, thank you very much. We're looking for every little shred of optimism we can find, and there aren't many. Thanks for your time.

Back to you -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks.

Still to come this morning, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." He's going to tell us how the IRS is giving victims of Katrina a break. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Business news this morning. The IRS is relaxing some rules to help Katrina victims. That's some good news. And Bob Dylan getting no love whatsoever from HMV in Canada.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Yes. We have all of the stories, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm sure that's very important, and we're going to get right to it.

SERWER: It is, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: What are you going to start with?

SERWER: Let's talk about the Internal Revenue Service. Not only helping victims of Katrina, but also relief workers. And, obviously, this is very, very, nice to see indeed. First of all, they're going to be waiving penalties for early retirement from 401(k) plans. If you wanted to get a hardship loan basically, Soledad, you had to go through a lot of red tape, and it could only be used for college education or for home or for medical expenses. They're going to be waiving that.

And then finally here, you can see this tax relief for relief workers. They're going to be having the tax -- excuse me, the extensions to January 3rd, just as the people who lived there. In other words, you could file January 3rd if you had quarterlies or estimates. They're going to do the same thing for people down there who are helping the people.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, that's nice.

SERWER: So that's nice to see that, as well.

S. O'BRIEN: God bless the IRS Today on this one issue!

SERWER: Exactly. On this one issue. Shifting gears. We have another story completely here. And this one has all the elements. Starbucks, Bob Dylan and angry Canadians. It seems that Bob Dylan -- Bob Dylan has signed an exclusive deal with the coffee chain to release an album of a 1962 concert. What's happened is that HMV Canada, which is one of the largest record stores...

S. O'BRIEN: Right.

SERWER: ... north of the border, has cried foul, saying this is unfair. And what they've decided to do is yank all of Bob Dylan's CDs from their shelves to retaliate.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, once people know that they can get Bob Dylan somewhere else, don't they, in the end, end up hurting their own bottom line?

SERWER: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: Like, wouldn't Starbucks then just start carrying all the Bob Dylan music?

SERWER: Right. Or they could tell their Starbucks employees never to go to HMV to buy music.

S. O'BRIEN: And there are...

SERWER: Or Bob Dylan could boycott Canada.

S. O'BRIEN: ... two million Starbucks employees around the world.

SERWER: Exactly. It just sort of doesn't make sense. Kind of funny.

S. O'BRIEN: Kind of crazy.

SERWER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.

Still to come this morning, President Bush has laid out his blueprint for rebuilding the Gulf Coast. We'll take you to the White House for a closer plan at how he plans to bring that region back to life.

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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