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American Morning

Rita: The Aftermath

Aired September 26, 2005 - 09:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Opening bell on Wall Street moments ago. The Dow Jones industrial average starts trading today at 10,419. Looks like it's at -- on a tear already, up 73, 10,492 and change. At the Nasdaq, meanwhile, composite index opens up 21, opens at 2116, up more than 6 points from the start of trading on Friday. Don't know where that is right at this moment. More on that with Andy in just a bit.
Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Let's go back to New Orleans now. Soledad is there.

Good morning -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Miles, what you're looking at here are some live pictures of these ambulances. At least 10 of them have showed up and their goal was to get right across this bridge where we've been reporting all morning.

And what you can see is clearly they're not going to make it. We've been showing you how the bridge is washed out on the other side when you get to the lower Ninth. Their goal is to get into St. Bernard Parish. A real problem, of course, they want to relieve the folks who have been working very hard who are literally exhausted. They also want to help out in the body recovery effort.

Inside each of these ambulances, two people, one of them at least a paramedic. And so they certainly could help out. The big question now is how do you get there? And it's a huge problem. They're going to work it out.

We're actually going to go with this team as soon as we're off air and head over into St. Bernard Parish. They're going to bring a ferry in to bring them across and check out some of the damage and hopefully get to talk a little bit about what they are seeing there today, as much of that parish, as you know, Miles, is still under lots of water.

Let's take a look at some of the other stories that are making news this morning, and Carol has a look at those.

Hey, Carol, good morning again.

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

"Now in the News." A historic announcement in Northern Ireland, the Canadian general who oversaw the disarmament process confirming, just a short time ago, the IRA, the Irish Republican Army, has laid down all of its weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. JOHN DE CHASTELAIN, INTL. DISARMAMENT COMMISSION: In the past number of weeks, the members of the commission have engaged with the IRA representative in the execution of our mandate to decommission arms. We have now reported to the British and Irish governments that we have observed and verified events to put beyond use very large quantities of arms, which, we believe, include all the arms in the IRA's possession.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Sinn Fein Deputy leader, Martin McGinnis, is expected to travel tomorrow to Washington to discuss U.S. political support for IRA's actions and the peace plan in Northern Ireland.

Three American troops have been killed today in violence in Iraq. The soldiers were killed in separate roadside bombings.

In the meantime, detainees from Abu Ghraib Prison are being set free. The Iraqi government has asked the U.S. military to release a total of 1,000 prisoners in the coming days. The release comes ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins next week.

Hundreds of thousands of people coming home to Houston now that Rita is history there. The southbound lanes of Interstate 45 are packed. This was actually the scene on Sunday.

Parts of southern Louisiana, some heavy damage and major flooding. Luckily that area was largely evacuated before Rita hit.

And the remnants of Rita bringing tornadoes to Alabama. At least two people were hurt when a series of twisters touched down on Sunday.

President Bush is expected to discuss fuel supplies after Hurricane Rita. The president, getting a briefing this morning at the Department of Energy. It's believed the storm did not have a huge impact on the oil refineries and rigs in the Gulf Coast. We are awaiting remarks from the president at 10:55 Eastern. CNN, of course, will have live coverage for you.

And "Flightplan" is soaring at the box office. The suspense thriller debuted at number one this weekend with an estimated $24.6 million. The movie stars Jodie Foster as a mom who loses her child onboard the flight. Tim Burton's "Corps Bride" took second place with just over $20 million.

And that looks like a wacky movie -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

COSTELLO: Yes. MYERS: I'll see that when it comes out on DVD, like usual.

Good morning, everybody.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Chad, thanks a lot.

You remember, of course, the man who came into New Orleans and really took control of the situation. That was Lieutenant General Russel Honore. Well, now he has moved his operations west, helping out where they have been very hard hit.

Randi Kaye traveled with him and a story you're going to see only on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. GENERAL RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY: We're going to leave here and go down to Cameron, get eyes on Cameron.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a man who knew where he wanted to go and we were going with him. Lieutenant General Russel Honore wanted to get a look at Cameron Parish on the southwest tip of Louisiana, the area hardest hit by Hurricane Rita.

(on camera): Compare this operation, if you would, to that of Katrina. How did Hurricane Rita compare?

HONORE: Rita was a girl compared to a big lady, mean lady named Katrina.

KAYE (voice-over): For a girl, Rita did plenty of damage, drowning the parishes along the coast. The general wasn't waiting for Cameron Parish to ask for help. That's not his style. He was going straight to them.

HONORE: When you get here, you've got to make stuff. People are not interested in filling out a requisition.

KAYE: As we made our way to Cameron, the general worked the phones, arranging for supplies before he had even assessed the damage. He knows what it will look like. He's done this before.

HONORE: Because I don't think we need one there. We'll need one in Cameron.

KAYE (on camera): This is where the road to Cameron ends. For the next five or six miles or so, nothing but water. In fact, most of Cameron is under 15 feet of water. The only way to get there these days is either by boat or helicopter.

(voice-over): We flew over Cameron Parish in the general's Blackhawk helicopter. It was getting dark, but the destruction below was clear. Water up to the rooftops, homes ripped off their foundations. In some areas of the parish, 100 percent of the homes were destroyed. In the town of Creole, the only building left standing is the courthouse. There is water everywhere.

FREDDIE RICHARD, CAMERON PARISH EMERGENCY MGMT.: I flew over and saw the slab where my home was two days ago. So, I mean, a lot of these guys that are looking at the same thing, we just saw slabs.

KAYE: Our mission was also a rescue mission.

HONORE: The other thing I want is I want Marines doing search and rescue in Cameron before nightfall with a presence, a 24/7 presence.

KAYE: Late into the night, we searched for two missing fishermen, no luck. General Honore continued to work to secure the parish.

HONORE: But you want your city off limits to anybody?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct.

KAYE: And to get supplies to those he knows need them most.

HONORE: Our job is to come in and help save life and limb.

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good to see you again, man

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Hurricane Rita, clearly much less devastating than Katrina, and yet utterly devastating in some regions as well.

You can see, Miles, behind me, the ambulances lined up on the Claiborne Avenue Bridge. Normally they'd be able to just go right over the bridge and get into the lower Ninth Ward and get in to St. Bernard Parish. Of course, people will start coming back today, and so they want to be pre-positioned to help out with any kind of 911 calls.

And also, they want to be able to relieve some of the folks who have been working literally without any kind of break for weeks at a time. Can't get across. So they're arranging for a ferry to come and take them across so they can get their day under way.

There are concerns from some paramedics that we have talked to about the folks who are coming back. In just a little bit after this short break, we're going to show you the Army's new field hospital. It's a state-of-the-art trauma center set up at the convention center. And they are hoping that they get no patients whatsoever. But after they reopen the city, that might not happen. We've got a look at that just ahead this morning. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. You're taking a look at the Hellenic choppers flying above. You can see where they are right over our heads, literally. And let's take a look at their shot, which is of the damage here on the Industrial Canal and also the damage to the Ninth Ward, flooded once again. Flooded the first time because of course Hurricane Katrina, and then a second time in the wake of Hurricane Rita.

There are people, though, who say they are coming back. They actually want to come into their homes this flooded or not flooded. They want to see the extent of the damage. And that has some of the paramedics in the area concerned. 911 up and running again, but they're worried about what these people will see and what kind of injuries they might sustain while they're trying to do recovery in their own homes.

The Army has now set up a field hospital essentially at the convention center. Keep in mind the convention center is a mile long. I mean, it's 10-and-a-half blocks long. So on the backside of the convention center, the Army has set up a critical care facility. And it's the only place that you can have an emergency room in Orleans Parish.

We had a chance to get inside and take a little look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN (on camera): It's a fully-functioning emergency room, like you would have in any major city hospital.

MAJ. OLIVER WALTON, U.S. ARMY: Absolutely. We can provide the emergency room functions that the city of New Orleans needs at this time until they are able to bring back their city to the way it was before the storms. And this is the emergency treatment room.

S. O'BRIEN: What can you treat here?

WALTON: Well, all traumas. You know it's cardiac arrest, gunshot wounds, you name it. If it's -- whatever a regular emergency room can treat, we can treat in here as well.

S. O'BRIEN: Are you concerned, though, Monday morning when people are allowed back in that the citizens who are climbing through their windows to get into their homes or are climbing over downed trees or power lines and things like that, are you going to see a lot more injuries than you've seen?

WALTON: Well we anticipate seeing more injuries. Of course we hope that we don't. We hope that everyone comes in and does their events safely. But if they come in, we will be prepared to treat them, there's no question about that.

S. O'BRIEN: And this is it? This is the only place to get emergency care in New Orleans right now?

WALTON: We're the only show in town right now. The actual O.R. suite is over here. S. O'BRIEN: Now how do you get an operating room, you know, smack in the middle of the convention center, the back of the convention center in New Orleans?

WALTON: The whole operating room is a box. When we transport everything, we put it in between those two green lines and just close the box up and then...

S. O'BRIEN: So this roof becomes the wall of a box?

WALTON: That's right.

S. O'BRIEN: And there's a wall, there's a wall, and the other side becomes a wall of the box?

WALTON: That's right.

S. O'BRIEN: This is a container?

WALTON: This is a container. And this you put it on top of an 18-wheeler truck and line haul it out.

S. O'BRIEN: How long does it take to pop open the container and set up your operating room in the field?

WALTON: If it was just the operating room, it would take about an hour. But the way we function, we put together the whole critical core door, which includes the emergency medical treatment area, the pharmacy, the lab, the X-ray, and that takes about six hours.

S. O'BRIEN: What's that?

WALTON: That's the water blimp for our -- that's where we get the water that we use from, because the water in the convention center is nonpotable, so we have to bring our own water.

S. O'BRIEN: So this is just a big plastic bag of water?

WALTON: Yes -- ma'am.

S. O'BRIEN: How much water is in here, do you know?

WALTON: It's 300 gallons.

We brought two dentists with us, so we have two dental chairs. Go ahead on in.

S. O'BRIEN: It's pretty amazing.

WALTON: All of our X-ray equipment is digital. And these soldiers here are the ones that perform those X-ray services. They have up on the screen right now an example of what we have, the capabilities that we have.

Here's your pharmacy right here.

S. O'BRIEN: Right here.

WALTON: Once they come out the operating...

S. O'BRIEN: Now this isn't a regular pharmacy? This is not where general people can get medicine?

WALTON: No, no, this is -- we dispense the pharmaceuticals based on the patient's need while they're in our hospital. Again, our role here is to perform emergency medical treatment for the population and then they will convalesce in other hospitals in New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: So, I guess, in a perfect world, no one would show up. That would be an indication, as much as they have a state-of-the- art facility, they really don't want to be treating people.

There are concerns that, actually, Miles, that they will be treating a lot of folks. And those concerns are because the conditions, as you have seen of those homes, even if you have a key, often you can't get in with a key, you've got to kick the door in or break the door in or climb through a window. And that means debris and glass and serious injuries.

And, in addition, there are concerns that some folks who already have been living under incredible stress for four weeks will come back and see literally that they have lost utterly everything and may have heart attacks and other devastating problems like that, too. So they are prepared to take them if that's the case -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, Soledad, you mentioned that. And talked to a lot of people who have gone back to their homes and every time they see those aerial shots or the footage on the ground, until you actually you know open up that door and are presented with the reality, it really it doesn't dawn on you until that moment, does it?

S. O'BRIEN: I don't think you have any way to really empathize with people who have lost everything, everything. And, you know, we were talking off camera with the chairman of the St. Bernard Parish, which, again, is right behind the flooding that you can see right here. And he said, you know, people just need to get in there after four weeks and see it and just come to terms with the fact that it's gone before they can move on.

M. O'BRIEN: But be ready.

S. O'BRIEN: So I was asking whether it was...

M. O'BRIEN: They have got to be ready for such an emotional hit.

Now, by the way, I just want to tell you we're looking at some aerials, live pictures now, lower Ninth Ward, just east of where you are, Soledad. I don't think anybody can fully prepare for this.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, I would completely agree. Although, you know, I think his point, I was asking him what he thought about the re-population plans when you, as you know, there's no street lights, there's no running water, there is no sewage, there is no -- the phone service is spotty. People are coming back. They're not fully prepared emotionally or even with the gear to get back into their homes.

And he said, you know after some point, after four weeks, you just have to come and eyeball it yourself and understand that you have lost everybody before you can move on in any kind of positive direction. And I think there's a lot of truth to that as well -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: I think we're seeing almost exactly where you are, as a matter of fact, in that aerial now, as you speak, Soledad, who's along the Industrial Canal there where that breach was. I think you saw it briefly upper left of your screen. And there you see, that's the wet side of that breach, and filled with water once again.

And, you know, it is a reality that also plays a real psychological effect on everybody in the city of New Orleans, to know with those storms still brewing out there in the Atlantic what may lie ahead with those levees compromised as they are.

"CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up next. Daryn Kagan is here for that. And she has a preview for us.

Good morning -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles.

Starting at the top of the hour, the traffic flowing into New Orleans this morning. The major, Ray Nagin, letting residents of some neighborhoods return. And that begins and it starts being allowed at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Warning, though, that they enter at their own risk. A look at what the Big Easy returnees might face.

Also, how have the hurricanes affected oil and energy and oil supplies? President Bush is getting a briefing this morning. We'll hear from him later on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

For now, back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Daryn, thank you very much.

Still to come on the program, Andy Serwer, "Minding Your Business," early estimates on just how much Hurricane Rita will cost the insurance companies. Talk about a one-two punch. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's check Wall Street this morning. Actually, a rally, a post Rita rally.

Andy Serwer here with that.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Indeed. Let's talk about what's going on on the street right away, stocks up 59 points at this hour, the Dow Jones industrials that is. Price of oil is down about 55 cents. Gas prices up a little bit, but we keep telling you how they lag oil prices, so look for them to drop -- $2.80 a gallon for unleaded nationwide right now. That could fall.

Now, we want to talk about the tally of insured losses for Hurricane Rita and get this screen up and see how it compares with other hurricanes that we've had. Now you can see Katrina, obviously, number one. And that is still an unknown. Look at the gap there between $40 and $60 billion. Andrew after that, then Charley. Then Rita comes in, and you can see there's quite a big gap from $2.5 to $7 billion there, then Ivan.

The startling thing about this screen, Miles, is that four out of the five of the worst hurricanes in this nation's history have occurred over the past 13 months, because Charley was in August of '04.

Now, why is that? Well bad luck, a string of bad weather. Is it global warming? No one knows.

The other thing that's important is that, and we've said this before, but it bears repeating, I think, is that more and more of the nation's population is choosing to live in these areas that can be hit by hurricanes, Florida, the Gulf Coast. And that means more homes, more stores, more pipelines, more airports and they're all subject to this damage.

M. O'BRIEN: And it's all, really, if you look at it, federally subsidized, because the Flood Insurance Program is paid for by the government. You have to ask that question...

SERWER: That's right.

M. O'BRIEN: ... if that's the right thing to be doing?

SERWER: Yes. And it's something that we're going to have to address as a nation, I think, going forward.

M. O'BRIEN: People want to live near the water, it's a big price.

SERWER: That's right.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

Andy Serwer, thank you very much.

Back in a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Clock tells me we're out of time. I'm Miles in New York, on behalf of Soledad in New Orleans.

Good job today -- Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, we'll see you tomorrow.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll see you tomorrow from New Orleans.

And now we've got to send it off to Daryn Kagan at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Good morning -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Good morning to you, Miles.

Get ready for another three hours of a lot of news packed in. Let's start by taking a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

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