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American Morning

How at Risk is New Orleans From Future Storms?; Bird Flu Could Be Devastating

Aired October 05, 2005 - 09:30   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. Just about half past the hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
Coming up, President Bush addressed reporters on Tuesday about the potential for mass casualties in the event of an outbreak of bird flu. In just a few minutes, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will take a look at just how fast a bird flu pandemic could spread and how many people could be affected.

First, though, let's get right back to Rob Marciano. He's reporting from Mississippi today.

Hey, Rob. Good morning again.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad.

Five weeks later. You know, you see the pictures on TV and you start to get numb from the destruction when you see it time and time again. Even I did that. But coming back now, the same feelings I had five weeks ago, a day after Katrina rolled ashore are still with me. It's just unbelievable to see this, how cinder blocks and brick buildings absolutely get torn apart, churches hollowed out, two, three stories high, established Rite-Aid thousands of square feet wide, a secure structure, just completely blown to bits with this. All from the Gulf of Mexico coming in.

It just -- it just -- I suppose it's good to see because if you're just reminded of the power of a hurricane and what a storm surge can do to a community. And this community is certainly reeling. They are frustrated. They feel, most of them feel, like FEMA hasn't gotten the money here quick enough. They're worried about going bankrupt.

There is some good news. They've got power to the houses north of the train tracks that are actually still there. South of the train tracks everything's pretty much gone. So no sense in hooking up power here.

And school started on Monday. So even though there's a couple schools that are too damaged to go to, other schools are sharing the school, doing split shifts. Some of the kids come in the morning; others come in the afternoon. So this community is getting by, slowly but surely. But it is really, really slow.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Time to get another check of the headlines with Carol Costello. Supreme Court busy day today.

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

Now in the news, the state of Oregon is defending its assisted- suicide law before the U.S. Supreme Court today. At issue, where state's rights end and the federal law begins.

In the meantime, President Bush is calling on Congress to confirm his nominee, Harriet Miers, by Thanksgiving. But some lawmakers are just being cautious, saying her judicial record is a blank slate.

Federal investigators in Upstate New York are trying to figure out if extra weight may have caused a tour boat to sink. The Ethan Allen was virtually full at the time of the accident. Officials are planning to test a similar boat today. At least 20 people were killed.

Today's young people are more educated than any other generation in history, but some 130 million are still illiterate. Those are the findings of this year's Youth World Report released by the United Nations. The study also shows that more than half a billion young people live on less than $2 a day, and a record $88 million are unemployed.

Actress Lindsay Lohan is recovering from a car crash, her second one in four months. Authorities say Lohan's black Mercedes-Benz collided with a van. Word is the actress was apparently trying to three from a group of paparazzi. Authorities say Lohan and at least two others suffered minor injuries. A similar incident happened back in May. And by the way, you wonder why those photographers want pictures of her? That story has been number one on our Web site for at least three hours now.

O'BRIEN: Good for Lindsay Lohan. We hope she's fine.

COSTELLO: It's crazy, though, isn't it? People are so interested in this young woman.

O'BRIEN: That's why the paparazzi chases that poor kid. And apparently she doesn't seem like she's a good driver when she's being stressed by the photographers.

All right, Carol, thanks.

Well, let's talk about New Orleans again. For most -- for the most part is what I'm trying to say, New Orleans is dry again. The breached levees are fixed, the pumps working; hurricane season, though, not over yet. So how at risk is the city from future storms, even minor ones?

Colonel Duane Gapinski, commander of the Unwatering Task Force for the Army Corps of Engineers, he's is at the London Avenue Canal, which is in New Orleans.

Nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us. COL. DUANE GAPINSKI, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: Hi. Good morning, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: How close are you to drying out the city now?

GAPINSKI: Well, the city proper is dried out, and has been for, well, over a week now. Out east, Lower Ninth Ward, by the Six Flags area, we're within a day or two of having that completely dry, as well.

O'BRIEN: So you're pretty close. You know, we just heard from Chad a moment ago that it could rain Thursday and Friday. Are you confident that with the fixes that you've made, rain will not be a problem?

GAPINSKI: Yes, unless we get a lot of rain, we should be fine. We've built up the expedient repairs to about 10 feet, which should protect against any kind of storm surge. And then you know, we're ready to operate the pumping system to evacuate any rain water.

O'BRIEN: It's got to be pretty stressful that every single time someone talks about rain in the forecast, potentially, you have to think about whether or not the levees of the city that are keeping the city dry are going to hold up.

GAPINSKI: Well, I guess it's just part of the job.

O'BRIEN: The goal, as you mentioned the last time I talked to you in person, that you're going to get rid of the water, then you're going to repair the levees, get them to pre-Katrina levels. How close are you to that?

GAPINSKI: Well, to get to pre-Katrina levels, it's going to take till June. In fact, there's another task force working on that right now.

O'BRIEN: OK, then beyond that, you're going to want to possibly make those levees even stronger than pre-Katrina levels, like enough to sustain a category-five hurricane. What's the status of that? How far are you away from being able to do that?

GAPINSKI: Well, that's obviously going to be a political decision with the administration and the Congress. So we'll do a design, we'll see how much it costs, but that's going to be a political decision.

O'BRIEN: When I was in Saint Bernard Parish last week, many of the people claimed about the Mistigo (ph) Canal, that essentially digging a canal only increased the devastation to the area. As much as there was a natural disaster, that was really a manmade one, and to a large degree, brought about by the Army Corps of Engineers? Do you agree with that? They're not engineers. Do you agree with their take on that?

GAPINSKI: Well, you know, I've been out to that hurricane levee. And clearly that storm surge that destroyed that hurricane-protection levee north of Saint Bernard Parish came from Lake Borgne (ph). I mean, there's no other way. So I don't agree with those claims.

O'BRIEN: You don't think that there's any way that the storm surge was increased by the force of sort of running up the canal?

GAPINSKI: I don't believe so.

O'BRIEN: What happens next? What are you guys working on now?

GAPINSKI: You can see right behind me, we're building up one of those temporary repairs, up to 10 feet, so that we can operate pump out of this canal at the max capacity that we have, and then we're build other levees up to 10 feet, as well.

O'BRIEN: All right, got a busy day ahead.

GAPINSKI: That should get us through -- oh, sorry.

O'BRIEN: No, go ahead -- that should get you through what?

GAPINSKI: Yes, that should get us through the rest of hurricane season.

O'BRIEN: Oh, gosh. Well we certainly hope so. We know another tropical storm is on its way. And hopefully we won't have many more hurricanes to talk about.

Colonel Duane Gapinski, thanks. Nice to talk to you.

GAPINSKI: Bye.

O'BRIEN: Let's get right back to Rob Marciano. He's in Mississippi today.

Hey, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad.

Yes, not having any more hurricanes would certainly be welcome relief for the folks here in Mississippi. We're in Long Beach, Mississippi. Haven't seen a whole lot of media coverage for whatever reason. It's just as devastated as waylaid as Bay St. Louis, as Gulfport, Biloxi, for sure.

You know, some people rode out the storm and survived. I have with me, you know, two folks who did exactly just that, Mike and Millie Gilligan. You not only rode out the storm but you also took pictures of it, which we're grateful for. And gives folks at home an idea, you know, what you experienced when you were going through the storm. So describe for us a little bit what the video shows.

MICHAEL GILLIGAN, LONG BEACH RESIDENT: Well, we're looking out our front door there. The winds were pretty hellacious at times. It didn't seem too bad most of the time, though. I mean, we weren't really fearing for our lives at this point.

MARCIANO: Well, at what point were you -- you had to be pretty scared at some point.

MICHAEL GILLIGAN, LONG BEACH RESIDENT: We were looking around at, you know, the horizon. But, of course, we didn't know what was going on two blocks in front of us. But, we were back far enough and up high enough that we weren't really seeing the devastation that the people in front of us were.

MARCIANO: Millie, where exactly is your home?

MILLIE GILLIGAN, LONG BEACH RESIDENT: About a block and a half from the beach.

MARCIANO: So a block and a half that way. So, I mean, how high did the water get up at your house?

MICHAEL GILLIGAN: Well, it topped over the street in front of us, and basically came running back down the backside of -- there's a ridge there in Long Beach.

MARCIANO: So you lift up a little bit higher...

MICHAEL GILLIGAN: Yes, it came up a little bit on our property. But it basically, at that point, the water was breaking over this ridge, and sort of, there's a creek back behind us, and it was flowing down towards that creek.

MARCIANO: How did your neighbors make out?

MICHAEL GILLIGAN: Everybody on our street did pretty good, as far as structural damage to their house. Some of them got a little bit more water than other people. We fared pretty good in that department.

MARCIANO: There was a mandatory evacuation. I -- most of the time I do weather, I tell people when they are forced to evacuate. And you chose not to. Is that something you would do differently next time?

MICHAEL GILLIGAN: Yes, we probably would not stay next time. We'll be more prepared to leave.

MARCIANO: Why did you stay this time?

MICHAEL GILLIGAN: Well, part of it was a calculated risk. Looking at all the data that was coming in and storm surge height, and, you know, our elevation, where the hurricane was going to hit. Part of it was, you know, protecting, trying to protect our assets, boarding up real good. There wasn't a lot of time to evacuate by the time we finished boarding up. And looking at some of the news reports on all the traffic.

MARCIANO: Right.

MICHAEL GILLIGAN: You know, we were -- part of it we feared getting stuck on the interstate, at that point. MARCIANO: Well, we're happy you made it through. But the days after, Millie -- I know you don't want to talk too much -- but I'm curious what , you know, what did you feel in your heart when you saw your town torn up like this?

MILLIE GILLIGAN: Oh, I couldn't believe it. We went out, it was like, I had no idea, the devastation. It's horrible.

MARCIANO: And Mike, are you -- there's been some frustration with, you know, the lack of response from outside of Long Beach. Do you feel that way?

MICHAEL GILLIGAN: Well, the initial response was from the local community, which was fairly rapid. I mean, people were in shock, basically. I could look around and see some people didn't know what to do. Other people, you know, had a clear vision on what needed to be done. But, the -- the first response from the local community was pretty good. It took a couple days, but after this kind of devastation, I mean, that's kind of expected. It caught people off guard, I think.

MARCIANO: Well, I tell you, from talking to you folks and the other people, it must have been a tight-knit community and it's tough to see this happen in Long Beach. And we wish you the best in rebuilding. I know it's going to be going to a long road. Thanks for joining us this morning.

MICHAEL GILLIGAN: Yes, thank you very much.

MARCIANO: So, just another survival story. Plenty of those. Obviously, there's a lot of death involved with this, especially down towards New Orleans. I think the key is here, if you said -- had to stick around or make that decision again, Soledad, he'd evacuate. And we certainly saw that when Hurricane Rita came ashore, all those people getting out of town. And if there's anything positive that came out of Katrina, it's that folks seem to take these hurricanes seriously.

O'BRIEN: Yes, people learned their lesson on that one. All right, Rob, thanks.

Still to come this morning, Dr. Sanjay Gupta makes a house call. How devastating could a human outbreak of bird flu be? You can look at a health crisis from 90 years ago for some sobering answers. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: President Bush says he is concerned about the deadly Asian bird flu and the possibility that it could spread to the United States. Just how bad could a flu pandemic be? Global outbreaks in 1957 and 1968 killed millions of people. But as Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us, that was nothing compared to the horror of 1918.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The so-called Spanish flu struck in the final months of World War I, rapidly killing more people than died in that entire bloody war.

JOHN BARRY, AUTHOR, "THE GREAT INFLUENZA": This disease killed more people in 24 weeks than aids has killed in 24 years.

GUPTA: As many as 100 million people perished worldwide, and the suffering was horrific.

BARRY: Your skin could turn so dark blue from lack of oxygen that one physician reported that he had difficulty telling African- American troops from white troops. People could bleed from -- not only from their mouth and nose, but even from their eyes and ears.

LAURIE GARRET, FLU RESEARCHER: The only thing I can think of that could take a larger human death toll than virulent pandemic influenza would be thermonuclear war.

GUPTA: And Laurie Garret, who studies the flu, is worried it could all happen again.

LAURIE GARRET: The problem with flu is it is orders of magnitude more contagious than the dreaded ebola virus, than smallpox, than just about anything except common cold.

GUPTA: A single sneeze ejects millions of flu viruses into the air, and the virus can live as long as two days even on a cold surface like a door knob. In some ways we're better off than in 1918. Antibiotics can stop pneumonia complications. But anti-flu drugs such as Tamiflu or Relenza offer just partial protection. There's an experimental vaccine against bird flu, but no one really knows if it will work. And remember, back in 1918, the virus couldn't hitch a ride on a plane.

GARRET: It circumnavigated Earth three times in 18 months, when there was no commercial air travel. There were a lot fewer human beings. We did not have a globalized economy. Americans rarely went outside of America. Now look at us.

GUPTA: Today's deadly bird flu is literally less than 24 hours away.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: A possible U.S. outbreak of avian flu is one of the reasons that the president's asking Congress for the power to use the nation's military in law enforcement roles.

Well, "CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up next. Daryn, good morning to you. What are you working on?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Soledad. You've been talking about bird flu. Well, we have news of another disease outbreak to tell you about. This one is very close to home. It's in Canada. A killer virus has claimed ten lives. Dozens more are ill. More ahead on this mystery illness that is focused in Toronto.

And they are targeting teachers. A very scary situation developing in Iraq. We'll have more on that story live from Baghdad.

Also, much more ahead in the next three hours on "CNN LIVE TODAY." Back to you.

O'BRIEN: All right, Daryn, we'll see you then. Thanks.

Still to come this morning, would free iTunes get you to join the National Guard? Andy Serwer has a look at that story as he minds your business, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Rumors are flying about a new advance for the iPod. That story, plus a check of the markets this morning with Andy.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

Always news about the iPod and the iTunes, the hottest consumer product on planet Earth.

Let's talk about the markets, first of all, though, Soledad, and go down to the Big Board. Stocks trading a little bit lower, down 14 points on the Dow Jones Industrials. Higher energy prices and continued concerns about inflation.

Turning to iTunes. The Army and the National Guard having a tough time recruiting these days, using all sorts of techniques, free DVDs, free Internet service, also a $2,500 finder's fee if you can get someone in to the Armed Forces who goes through basic training.

But how about this one? Three free iTunes. If you sign up at this Web site to be contacted by the National Guard, simply contacted, you get three free iTunes.

O'BRIEN: What does iTunes cost about?

SERWER: Ninety-nine cents per tune.

O'BRIEN: That's what I thought it costs, $2.98.

SERWER: Yes, you're getting a letter. It says you're getting a letter. And then you can also sign up friends who also might be interested.

Meanwhile, October 12th, Apple is announcing something big for the iPod. And Apple watchers think it's going to be video on your iPod, and this has been long rumored.

O'BRIEN: Wonder what that would cost?

SERWER: Yes, I have no idea.

O'BRIEN: The prices are just dropping and dropping and dropping.

SERWER: That's right, and will it be little music videos? Who knows.

And finally, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a fish. It's a flying fish. Get ready for the salmon plane. This was introduced over the weekend, Soledad, Alaska Air. It is a -- on a 737, 120-foot chinook painted onto the plane, as you can see, the most intricately painted plane ever produced. Took weeks and weeks to do. And it's kind of cute. But guess what? The editorial writers in the Seattle papers this morning are calling this fish pork.

O'BRIEN: Oh, no. Why?

SERWER: And here's why. Because guess who paid for the fish plane?

O'BRIEN: Let me guess, let me guess. You and me, would that be right?

SERWER: You and me, yes that would be right.

O'BRIEN: Oh, man, for the salmon plane? I paid for that? How much did a pay?

SERWER: The salmon plane. It apparently was paid for a $500,000 grant by the federal government to encourage the eating of Alaska seafood, prompting the editorial writer to suggest that we throw the plane back. Guess you can't really do that. It is a very cute- looking plane. There it is, the fish plane, once again, in case you didn't see it, the 120-foot chinook salmon.

O'BRIEN: I feel like salmon for lunch.

SERWER: I really do. Makes me want to run out and buy a lot of Alaska seafood.

O'BRIEN: That doesn't make anybody want to buy seafood.

SERWER: No, and you can't see it when it's in the air.

O'BRIEN: For half-a-million dollars. Right, and it's in the sky. You can't see it from a distance.

SERWER: It's a flying fish.

O'BRIEN: How much did that cost me again?

SERWER: Five-hundred-thousand dollars apparently.

O'BRIEN: At least it was cheap.

SERWER: Yes, right.

O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks, again. Thanks for all the good news. Appreciate it today.

SERWER: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: Coming up tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING, Katrina's aftermath has forced lots of elderly evacuees to live out their final years in towns that are unfamiliar to them. So how are they adjusting to life after the storm? We're going to take a closer look at that tomorrow, starting at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

A short break. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCIANO: It's been five weeks since Hurricane Katrina came ashore here in Long Beach, Mississippi, people still patriotic. You see flags up all around this town as they lie mostly in the southern part in rubble.

But a sign of optimism. It's just tough to be optimistic when you see scenes like this. This hasn't changed much from five weeks ago, simply because it's just completely destroyed. They're concentrating more on what's going north of the tracks where people can actually survive and live.

I'm not sure how much longer this will be like this, Soledad, but people are certainly frustrated that it's not happening soon enough, and I certainly hope that a month or two months from now we hear better news, that things are starting to recover here in Long Beach, Mississippi.

Back to you.

O'BRIEN: Yes, and, you know, frustrating, I think, from our vantage point, too, people on the Northeast who aren't even involved in the storm, because you see that scene, where you are, over and over and over again in towns all along the Gulf Coast, and in the city of New Orleans and elsewhere. I mean, it's just a lot to accomplish in five weeks that past, as you said.

All right, Rob, thanks. Appreciate it.

MARCIANO: You bet.

O'BRIEN: We are out of time, and that wraps up AMERICAN MORNING for this morning.

Daryn Kagan is at the CNN Center, going to take you through the next two hours of CNN LIVE TODAY.

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