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The Situation Room

Hurricane Katrina Causing Oil Price Spike; Gulf Coast Battered, Swamped

Aired August 29, 2005 - 16:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: But in addition to the lives that have been on the line, Katrina has also endangered offshore oil rigs at a time when gas prices already are sky high.
Let's check in with CNN's Ali Velshi. He's on the story for us from Winnie, Texas. That's east of Houston. Ali, explain to our viewers why this hurricane is going to have such an impact on the price of energy?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you'll know, Wolf, that while this made landfall at Category 4, it was Category 5 while it was in the Gulf of Mexico and it was spinning around those oil rigs and platforms, which make up a quarter of -- a third of U.S. oil production. And also Louisiana has the port which unloads the largest of the supertankers which bring imported oil into the United States.

So in expectation of landfall, oil traded up to an all-time high, $70 a barrel, above $70 a barrel before trading began in New York.

It pulled back a little bit. Oil has closed at $67 and change which is, you know, far lower than it was early this morning. But part of that is because during the course of the day, when it was reported that there might be damage to the oil infrastructure, rumor started swirling, and there were some suggestions out of Washington that the United States might tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is why I'm -- I'm here in Winnie, Texas, one of the four spots where the United States stores over 700 million barrels of oil to be used in the case of an emergency.

Just to give you a sense of that. That's 60 days' worth of oil, roughly, by some estimates. The United States keeps that for an emergency. Now, there's been no announcement about that yet, Wolf, but there is some discussion that if we find out tomorrow that there has been significant damage to the offshore rigs and platforms and deliveries and pipelines and refineries, the government may have to do this to keep everybody from being too panicked.

BLITZER: And there's fears those pipelines, which are underwater, they could have been affected by this hurricane and who knows how long it might take to replace, to repair those pipelines. Is that right?

VELSHI: Absolutely. It's actually going to take a few days just to assess it. What we do know is some of the rigs and platforms are equipped with satellite devices which will tell their owners what their state is. Well we have learned from Shell that at least two rigs have gone adrift in the Gulf of Mexico. One of them is owned by the company whose rig we were on, on Friday. You'll remember, Wolf, the rig we went on to get a demonstration of what they might do in an evacuation. It turned out to be a real evacuation. That company, Noble Drilling, is the owner of one of those rigs and we're trying to find out what the situation is there.

But, yes, there is some fear that there has been real damage to the oil infrastructure. You notice the markets closed higher today. Well, that's because, as it became likely that the government would consider releasing oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, traders figured, okay, this is not too serious. Oil won't spike.

You will feel it in gasoline, though. If there's any effect to the refineries -- as you know, we've had a rough couple of months in refineries, Wolf -- you'll feel that. I'm headed east toward the area that's been affected to get a sense of how bad the damage is.

BLITZER: All right. Ali, we'll check back with you. Ali Velshi reporting for us.

We're also getting new video that's coming into CNN right now. Want to show that to our viewers. Take a look at this. You see these automobiles crushed by bricks. Clearly those bricks coming from the structures, the buildings pounded by Hurricane Katrina. This is from our affiliate WFOR in New Orleans. You saw the damage to those cars. New video coming in. We'll continue to check in with all of our affiliates and all of our reporters.

Happening now, Hurricane Katrina, it's tearing up the Gulf Coast and barreling further inland. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where live pictures and horror stories from the storm are feeding in simultaneously.

Just after 3:00 p.m. across the widening disaster zone. Central Time in New Orleans. We're starting to get a better picture of how damaging and terrifying this hurricane was when it first roared ashore. Further east along the coast, parts of Mississippi and Alabama under as much as a foot of water. Thousands are still in shelters and at risk if they venture outside.

And right now, Katrina is pushing deeper into Mississippi. We'll check in live with the mayor of Jackson to find out how residents there are weathering this fierce storm.

I'm Wolf Blitzer and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Katrina is losing some of its punch as more of the hurricane churns onto land. But it's still a powerful, dangerous storm with winds near 95 miles an hour right now. New Orleans is emerging from the punishing rains and gusts that blew a section off the roof of the Superdome.

Emergency workers have begun moving into the heart of the city. There have been no immediate reports of deaths or injuries, but Mississippi's governor fears some people may be trapped or killed in hard-hit coastal areas. Gulfport is under about 12 feet of water. This hour, Katrina is plowing farther into central and northern Mississippi. Tennessee, Alabama, northwest Georgia and eventually Ohio, are expected to feel the effects of this storm.

In the enormity of this disaster there are hundreds of individual stories of fear and bravery. Look at this picture from New Orleans. Look at this. One man rushing to the rescue as a car drifts into the floodwaters.

Look at this. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is in the Big Easy, as it's been called, coping with the big one. But look at this, Jeanne, as we wait to see this man. He sees a car going into this area, which once had been a street. Clearly the floods make it look like a river. But as we see what's happening. This man, a very courageous man going up to the car and he's going to try to help that individual inside get out of that automobile. Look at this. He's taking his own life into his hands as these waters clearly emerging. These going about just simply, simply trying to save this guy's life.

WWL our affiliate bringing us these pictures. We'll continue to watch these pictures, Jeanne and let this story play out. But from where you are right now, is it getting worse? Is it getting better? What does it look like from your location?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's definitely getting better. I want to show you something. This -- I hope you can make it out on the video phone -- this is a piece of glass. And this glass is all over the streets in this part of New Orleans. The glass came out of the buildings behind me. These are skyscrapers. They look bad from this side, but we went down and walked around. You can't imagine what they look like from the other side. In some of these buildings, every single window blown out. It's just eerie and a real statement about the startling strength of this storm.

And pieces of glass like this are still hanging out of windows and there is still wind, and it's one reason it is so dangerous to go on the streets of New Orleans right now.

Of course, the wind was strong enough to take the membrane right off the top of the Superdome. You asked me last hour, Wolf, about what was happening inside.

I had a chance to talk to a couple of National Guardsmen who were in charge of -- not in charge of, but part of the security effort over there. They told me that all in all, things are going okay. They say there is some water getting in there. One of them indicated you could see a little bit of sky. They said there was a variety of reactions to what was going on in there. But by and large, they thought things were going fine.

One thing they said was that there's a big flap of the membrane hanging off the side of the Superdome. It is still attached, and it whips in the wind and smacks up against that building. They said, people inside can hear it. They don't know what it is. It is very alarming. In fact, the guardsmen didn't know what it was. That's one reason they came out to look around. Now there's also the matter of flooding. When we were walking around, we went up the street a couple of blocks and I would say the water was about calf deep. It clearly has receded from where it was. But it is nothing like the flooding that we might have anticipated. This was clearly a horrific storm. Clearly, there was structural damage. Clearly, it is going to be a mess to clean up. But, Wolf, they were expecting Armageddon here. Armageddon it wasn't.

Wolf?

BLITZER: As far as you know, Jeanne is there still a mandatory curfew on the streets of New Orleans? They aren't letting -- they ordered an emergency evacuation of the entire city, half a million residents. Have they been allowing people to come back?

MESERVE: Wolf, as I have mentioned to you before, our communications capabilities are just about nil at this point in time. But from what I am seeing, I guess the answer to that question is no. We see an occasional vehicle. But most of them appear to be official. When I was down on the street there were a few people walking around and police were coming by and weren't stopping people, weren't arresting them or anything like that. Weren't even speaking to them. But frankly, the police have bigger things to worry about than the people who come out to sight see and see exactly what Katrina left behind, Wolf.

MESERVE: All right. Jeanne Meserve reporting from New Orleans. We'll check back with her.

Let's move over to Mobile, Alabama. Under water -- at least a good chunk of it -- and under curfew. CNN's Kathleen Koch is there. And she can give us a little flavor of what's going on. How bad is it, Kathleen?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the latest that we have in some of the local affiliates here in Mobile are reporting that some sort of a floating oil platform has come loose from a local shipbuilding yard -- Vendor Shipbuilding (ph). And apparently, in -- as the storm surge came in, this was ripped loose from its moorings and has become wedged underneath one of the very important bridges -- U.S. 98 going across the Mobile River.

So we haven't been able to get out. We're sort of in the same situation as Jeanne. We're trying to stay safe and trying to stay on the air so we can bring images of what's happening in Mobile. But as soon as we can, we're going to try and check it out. But again, something that could be a very dangerous situation if it takes out one of the major bridges that Mobile relies on.

Mobile has already shut down a causeway bridge, also one of its main tunnels that goes under the Mobile River. Something that they do, do generally when they have these storms so that that isn't entirely on usual. But they do it for safety's sake. They just don't want it to fill up with water and become unusable.

And speaking of water, that is becoming an issue for some of the communities around here. Villages like there's sort of a fishing village, Bayou Labatrie (ph). Now their water supply has become compromised. So now emergency officials are advising them to boil their water before they drink it or cook with it. And of course, that's assuming they have any electricity, because more than 186,000 people in the Mobile area have lost power. Our hotel included here. So that can make it difficult for people who are under that sort of boil water order.

A lot of areas are losing water pressure. So they are advising -- emergency officials are advising people in the Mobile area to use as little water as they have to. But as you can see, Wolf, we're still seeing these winds whip around, coming and going on and off. But again, I think Mobile is in many ways, like New Orleans. It could have been much, much worse. But we're still feeling some of it here. Back to you, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Kathleen. We'll check back with you in Mobile, Alabama. Very hard hit as well. Our meteorologists are tracking Katrina at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Dave Hennen is looking ahead.

Jacqui Jeras is monitoring the storm right now. Let's check with Jacqui first. Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Wolf we were just hearing from Mobile. We just recorded a wind gust at 74 miles an hour. So that's hurricane strength. They are still going to get the squall lines as they push through and see those strong wind gusts. The center of the storm now, though, has moved just to the north of Hattiesburg. So the worst of the weather is over for Hattiesburg. The worst of the storm conditions way up here yet.

But you are still likely seeing at least tropical storm force sustained winds, possibly some hurricane force winds, especially on the north side of town. But we don't know for sure and I'll tell you why. Because the conditions went down so badly that it knocked out the automated observing sites. So we aren't getting any official information there. In fact, a number of the radar sites have been wiped out for now -- Slidell, Louisiana, into Lake Charles. Slidell. by the way, is a New Orleans site. Jackson, Mississippi is out as well. Mobile, though, still reporting right now. So we're holding on to hope that we still get that because we don't get as much information in when some of that stuff begins to go down.

Storm's still incredibly huge. There you can see those rain bands extending all the way across the Southeastern United States. Tornadoes remain a threat. And there you can see the watches still in effect. And check out some of these rains extending all the way up to the north and to the east. This storm, north to south is more than 1,000 miles long. The hurricane-force winds go out about 200 miles. Tropical storm-force winds still extending out about 400 miles wall to wall. That's from west to east.

Here are the warnings coming in with those feeder bands. We'll see those particularly across eastern parts of Alabama over the next couple of hours. So be aware of the potential for those warnings. Forecast track has it weakening, continually, now that it's over land. Still likely a Category 1 for another couple of hours. Those winds sustained at 95. We'll likely still tropical storm-force winds sustained as it moves into Tennessee. And we may even see tropical storm-force gusts as it makes its way into the Ohio Valley late on Tuesday and into Wednesday.

Wolf?

BLTIZER: Jacqui, the good news, it's going to weaken as it moves over land. The bad news is these hurricanes can create tornadoes in their wake. So far, what is the situation as far as tornadoes spinning off from this hurricane?

JERAS: Well, we've had a number of them. In fact, we've had about 12 at any given time I think, throughout the afternoon hours. However, so far, we haven't had any ground truth. We haven't had any reports of a tornado touching down and causing any damage. Usually in a hurricane, the tornadoes that are spawned are relatively weak, maybe F-0 or F-1 tornadoes that cause a little bit more modest damage. So we'll keep our fingers crossed. But there are a number of warnings, and the watch area we think will continue throughout much of the night.

BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much, Jacqui. We'll check back with you.

Let's check with Dave Hennen now and see what he's tracking as far as Hurricane Katrina is concerned. Dave?

DAVE HENNEN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. Thanks, Wolf. We're actually looking at the flooding. And that will be the major threat once we get past the winds which will continue to be strong throughout the night and into tomorrow morning. And then the main threat will go towards flooding. And believe it or not, as the hurricane moves inland, it's the inland flooding that typically kills more people in a hurricane than the storm surge or the high winds and the debris flying around.

I'll show you this radar behind me. Incredible rainmaker, this hurricane. Many strong hurricanes that are this strong do not produce this much in the way of rainfall. For instance, last year, Charley was a small hurricane, did not produce much flooding. This is going to be a whole different story.

Let's show you a forecast animation of what we're expecting to see by tomorrow. The rain well to the north into the Ohio River Valley. We're looking at isolated amounts up to 15 inches of rainfall. And 59 percent of deaths, Wolf, occur from inland flooding. Kind of a surprising stat when you think of all those high winds that are usually associated with a hurricane.

BLITZER: So no time to rest, at least not yet. Still plenty of danger out there for our viewers. Dave, thank you very much.

President Bush is promising the federal government's help for the places and the people suffering because of Katrina. He spoke about the storm during a speech about Medicare in Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our Gulf Coast is getting hit and hit hard. I want the folks there on the Gulf Coast to know that the federal government is prepared to help you when the storm passes. I want to thank the governors of the affected regions for mobilizing assets prior to the arrival of the storm to help citizens avoid this devastating storm.

I urge the citizens there in the region to continue to listen to the local authorities. Don't abandon your shelters until you are given clearance by the local authorities. Take precautions because this is a dangerous storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president added he's praying for the health and safety of everyone in the storm's path.

Let's check in with Jack Cafferty once again. He's following this hurricane together with all of us. He's joining us in New York. Jack?

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR Thanks, Wolf. Hurricane Katrina is causing some migraines short term for the insurance industry. But there may be a silver lining. One forecaster said Katrina may be the most expensive hurricane ever to hit the U.S., costing insurers between $10 billion and $25 billion with a B. Those estimates don't include damage to oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

Now if you compare that to Hurricane Andrew which hit back in 1992, the cost then, in inflation adjusted dollars, about $21 billion. Insured property in the city of New Orleans and surrounding areas alone totals more than $110 billion. That's according to a risk forecaster.

Here's the question for this hour. Should the insurance companies cover people who live in high-risk areas? The email address is CaffertyFile -- one word -- @CNN.com.

You know, Wolf, there's a kind of a perverse phenomenon that occurs with the insurance companies in times like these, often. While short term they are hit with paying out sometimes billions of dollars in damages, they inevitably raise their rates during times like this or shortly thereafter so that longer term they recoup what they pay out in damage claims and then some. So sometimes you'll see the stocks of publicly traded insurance companies rise during times of disaster such as a hurricane.

BLITZER: Very interesting. Very interesting indeed. I've also heard some insurance people say they -- this is good for business, even though they have to pay out millions or tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars in claims.

CAFFERTY: That's because they are allowed then, without a lot of argument from the state regulators, to go ahead and jack the premiums up. So they, you know, they look on this as a short-term problem. But long term, once those premiums go up, the insurance companies never call you and say, we're going to lower your premiums because ain't nothing happened in awhile. They don't do that.

BLITZER: All right. Very few people do that. Jack Cafferty, we'll check with you shortly. Thanks very much.

There's much more ahead in our coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Coming up, what the federal government is doing now to provide the basics to people in the disaster zone.

And as Katrina keeps pushing north, we'll check in with the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, to see what kind of damage the storm is doing there. Much more coverage right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're tracking this hurricane -- Hurricane Katrina still a Category 1 hurricane -- as it pushes inland north of the Gulf Coast. Here are the latest areas. You see Mobile and New Orleans, Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans, Louisiana, but not far away, this hurricane moving north beyond those cities.

Unfortunately in Mobile, Alabama a bridge has apparently collapsed over Highway 98. Let's bring in Tony Harris, the chief of the Department of Transportation in Alabama.

Mr. Harris, what do we know about this disaster?

TONY HARRIS, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (on phone): Well, Wolf, luckily, the bridge has not collapsed. We do have an oil platform of some sort that has broke loose in Mobile Bay, and is jammed under the bridge. We're waiting to get our people in to do some damage assessments and we'll keep that bridge closed until we know more.

BLITZER: So walk us through what you suspect might have happened.

HARRIS: Well, it's not unusual for platforms such as this one to be moored in Mobile Bay, either to escape hurricanes or for work to be done on them in the shipyards in Mobile Bay. So we don't know why this one was there. But we know it has broken loose and it drifted north and has somehow become wedged under the bridge, and is in contact with the structure. And we'll have to leave it there until we know more about what we're dealing with and how to get it out.

BLITZER: Is this the worst of the transportation area's problems that you've seen so far as a result of Hurricane Katrina?

HARRIS: Well, this could be one of the longer lasting ones in terms of its impact, if there's damage to the bridge. And we won't know that until we get our people on the bridge. We have some pre- positioned that are waiting to get them in there.

The good thing right now is this bridge connects to the causeway, and bypasses Interstate 10. And the causeway right now has water over it. So it's not going to be a hindrance to traffic. We'll just have to wait until we get our people in to determine whether there's damage.

BLITZER: Good luck to you, Tony Harris of the Alabama Department of Transportation. Appreciate that update.

The National Weather Service has a number of facilities to track Katrina and its aftermath. One of the centers is in Camp Springs, Maryland, and that's where CNN's Brian Todd is standing by. They are tracking this hurricane, Brian, I understand, as it moves inland.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. We're at a place called the Hydro-meteorological Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Maryland. This is a division of NOAA that is tasked with tracking hurricanes as they make their way inland once they make landfall. As you can see, we have some monitors and maps behind us where these gentlemen are working this storm. And they call themselves the National Forecast office because they disseminate information for the National Weather Service and for the networks.

Now, one of the key tasks here is to forecast and track precipitation. Inland flooding, inland rainfall. They tell me that two-thirds of the people who die during hurricanes die during inland flooding. So right now is a particularly dangerous time during Hurricane Katrina.

I am here with Jim Hoke. He is the director of the Hydro- meteorological Prediction Center. Hi, Jim.

JIM HOKE, DIRECTOR, HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL PREDICTION CENTER: Hi.

TODD: One of the things you told me that really struck me earlier is the sheer size of the storm when it made its way on to land and the radius of it. Talk about that.

HOKE: That's right. This storm is very impressive for its size, for the radius of the winds, and also for its strength. The hurricane- force winds extended out over 125 miles from the center of the storm before it made landfall. And until fairly recently -- it lasted for maybe four or five hours after landfall -- that large area of hurricane-force winds persisted.

TODD: Now, we talked about earlier, and we -- some of our CNN meteorologists have also predicted that by tomorrow morning it's going to be in Tennessee, by Wednesday morning in Ohio. But where do you expect the rainfall actually to be the worst?

HOKE: Well, so far there's been over 10 inches that have fallen in certain places. We expect over the course of the next 24 hours, for four to eight inches to fall in the Mississippi Alabama area. Then as the storm continues further north, there will be places in the Tennessee Valley and Ohio Valley and then up into Canada that will get two to three to four inches.

TODD: Let's blank it one more time. I want to talk to you about what you call the cone of uncertainty. We talked about Tennessee and Ohio in the coming days. But show me the cone of uncertainty of where it could go if it doesn't go there. HOKE: This is the approximate forecast path right now. There is some uncertainty exactly where that storm is going to go. And it is possible the storm could go as far east as this line or as far west as that line. So this is the cone. The storm could be anywhere within that area.

TODD: So Kentucky, even parts of Indiana, possibly parts of Illinois could be vulnerable to this.

HOKE: For sure. And we're worried about flooding especially in the southern part of this cone.

TODD: All right. Wolf, they staff this place 24 hours during the hurricane season, actually all year round. But during hurricane season it's a very active place. They'll be working this storm, obviously, through the night. So a lot of important work going on here, Wolf.

BLITZER: But just ask him -- I want to make sure, as it goes further and further inland, it weakens and weakens and presumably, the further north you are, for example in western New York State, the less rain you're going to get.

TODD: Let me relay that to Jim Hoke.

Wolf said that as it goes further north it weakens and weakens. So in the northern states, people up here in Pennsylvania, parts of Ohio, possible New York are going to be less vulnerable to flooding?

HOKE: That's right. There's much less chance of flooding as the storm goes further west. We don't expect at this time, for instance, for the Ohio Valley to flood.

TODD: All right. All right. There you have it, Wolf. Again, working the storm, the cone of uncertainty. Take a good look at it, because anybody in these regions could be vulnerable in the next 24 to 48 hours.

BLITZER: All right, Brian. Thanks very much. Brian in Camp Springs, Maryland. Pretty -- appreciate it.

Hurricane Katrina marching on. The storm is now well inland. But it's still potentially deadly. Coming up, I'll speak with the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, under the gun right now.

Plus, where is Katrina heading next? We'll track the storm here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: This hour, emergency crews are trying to get out where they can and where they are needed most. Areas slammed by Hurricane Katrina, very significant damage.

Electricity out in much of the Gulf Coast region and downed power lines and the floodwaters are adding to the very serious danger still out there. From Louisiana to Mississippi and on to Alabama, people are assessing the storm damage or still coping with heavy rain and wind.

This hour, Katrina is barreling farther inland as a Category 1 hurricane packing sustained winds near 95 miles an hour.

Here in Washington, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is in full-blown disaster mode. Let's check in with Tom Foreman. He's joining us from FEMA headquarters in Washington. Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, they've been in that mode for several days now, around the clock, no more so than today.

Reports like you were getting earlier from the Alabama Department of Transportation, information we've had a little bit of police, firemen out starting to move somewhat in these areas. Very critical right now.

Because what FEMA is looking at the hardest right now are these black holes of information. What I'm talking about mainly are those areas along the Mississippi coast, Gulfport, Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis, the Regalese, Slidell, Louisiana.

There's a little cluster of areas there where we're not getting a lot of information yet. That is critical right now because we just don't know what's needed there.

FEMA needs to know. They have stationed trucks with ice and water and food and bedding and all sorts of things around the disaster area. But before they can move those in, two things have to happen.

The storm has to die down enough that they feel it is safe. They don't feel that yet. They are hoping to this evening. But, of course, they'll be battling darkness in a very few short hours here. That could delay them until tomorrow morning for safety's sake.

The second thing they need to know is exactly where those resources are needed. In disasters like this, as you know with roads closed, power lines down, trees down, the difference, if you place a truck full of supplies, even two or three miles from where it ought to be, it can be enormous in terms of those resources getting to the right people.

So this information right now is what they are after. They've been scrambling all afternoon in here collecting it, collecting it from CNN, from cell phones, from Internet, from any source they can, and of course from their own people on the ground. As they pull that together this evening and overnight, by morning, I think they'll have a much better sense of where the resources are needed and where they're sending it.

BLITZER: So the most important thing right now is to get a full assessment of the damage done to know where to direct these resources which are in place. They are standing by but they are not yet sure where they have to go. FOREMAN: Absolutely. They have tremendous resources out there. Probably more than they've ever had. They staged them in a giant arc from Texas all the way up through Tennessee back down to Florida, and they've moved them in a step at a time as close as they can to the disaster area.

But still, they have to do this final staging. As I said earlier today, it's still true now. The two most important things right now for FEMA are transportation and information. They are getting the information now. The second part of the transportation will be how well they can traverse roads that may be closed for any number of reasons and get these supplies where they are needed.

We'll see that over the next couple of days and figure out how well it works as we get a full assessment of what's going on.

And, again, the important thing for everyone to watch right now are these black holes of information, the areas that we're not getting a lot of pictures out of. Not a lot of information. Often, that is a sign that big things have happened there. That's why we don't have that information.

So let's keep watching over the next few hours and see what we get.

BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much. Tom Foreman reporting for us at FEMA headquarters.

We're also standing by for a news conference. The FEMA director, Michael Brown, expected to speak in Louisiana together with the governor there. We'll go there live once it happens.

As Katrina pushes deeper inland, residents of Jackson, Mississippi, are seeing firsthand what this storm still can do. We're joined on the phone now by the mayor of Jackson, Frank Melton. I know this is a very difficult day for all of your community. But what is it like right now?

MAYOR FRANK MELTON, JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI: Wolf, we're in a very dangerous window right now. We were out until 5:00 this morning. We've been out all day today. We're seeing a lot of tree damage. We have a lot of kids over at Jackson State University. They are also housing the students from Tulane University. Those kids got in yesterday. They are all safe and everybody is secure.

But we've had a loss of electricity over there and I'm somewhat concerned about that. We've had a loss of electricity in many areas of the city, and we do have some trees down. Some of them are blocking public access for emergency vehicles.

So we are removing those trees as we speak. But we are in a very dangerous window for about the next four, four and a half hours.

BLITZER: Where are you, Mr. Mayor, right now?

MELTON: I'm at the Emergency Management Center here, the Heinz County and city of Jackson has a joint center here.

BLITZER: And presumably that's in a safe, secure location?

MELTON: Yes, it is. And I only came over here to do this interview. We'll be going back out shortly after this interview to check on our shelters and to make sure that everybody has everything that they need while they are here in the capital city.

All of our hotels, of course, are booked up. The Coliseum has thousands of people there. And our public facilities are also very heavy with people from the Louisiana area, particularly the New Orleans area. They started coming in a couple of days ago.

BLITZER: So what you are saying is that Jackson was a refuge, if you will, for people that could have been in harm's way in New Orleans and some of the areas closer to the Gulf Coast.

MELTON: Yes, sir, that is correct. As late as 2:00 this morning, there were people who were heading from New Orleans all the way to Memphis, just to find shelter. And we were able to accommodate just about everybody here that came in from the state of Louisiana. But the city of Jackson, the population has doubled overnight.

BLITZER: Are people out on the streets Mr. Mayor, or have you told everyone to stay inside?

MELTON: We did run across a family of about 15 from New Orleans last night that were given permission to sleep on the grounds of a hotel. And, Wolf, I just was not comfortable with that. So the police department went over and escorted the entire family to a shelter and they are doing fine.

BLITZER: Good for that. Mr. Mayor, good luck to all our friends in Jackson, Mississippi. Frank Melton is the mayor. Appreciate your joining us. We'll talk with you throughout this storm.

Escaping the Big Easy. For some people, the price to flee New Orleans was incredibly expensive. Our Jack Cafferty has the details. That's coming up next.

Plus, the hurricane's moving north. But it's still very, very dangerous. We'll go live to the agency that tracks storms as they move inland. Stay with us.

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BLITZER: Want to head out to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, is speaking out right now. Let's listen in.

GOVERNOR KATHERINE BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: ...personnel to be staged on standby and ready to clear critical access roads to help emergency teams and utility crews get to the affected areas.

I've also ordered the Louisiana State Police, again in coordination with local law enforcement, to block re-entry to the affected areas except for authorized emergency personnel.

We know that parts of Orleans, parts of Saint Bernard, Plaquemine and Jefferson Parish, and St. Tammany Parish have been devastated by high winds and flood waters, but the reports are still preliminary. High water and strong winds are making it too dangerous for emergency workers to reach some of these areas at this time.

Katrina is by no means over.

We're hearing reports of major wind and water damage, as I said, in St. Tammany and in Washington Parishes as it moves northward.

Wherever you live, it is still too dangerous for people to return home. If you evacuated and you're in a shelter, if you're with friends and family, please, please stay there. Stay safe. It's too dangerous to come home. The roads are flooded, the power is out, the phones are down, and there is no food or water, and many trees are down. So chances are, if you try to come in, you wouldn't be able to get your vehicle through anyway.

So give us some time, and please, I'm begging for patience one more time. Stay where you are, while the professionals assess the situation.

I ask for your patience. We are working hard to get you home, but not until it is safe.

State police and National Guard and local law enforcement agencies are all working together. We have a lot of people who have been ready, ready to go out, as soon as they possibly can, to search the hardest hit areas.

The storm knocked out phone service and some cell phone systems. But thanks to a coordinated communications system, we have been in touch with every single parish in the region.

Men and women of our emergency services are making a concerted and heroic effort to find everyone who's trapped. But high water is keeping us out of some areas, as I've said. High winds are keeping our aircraft grounded. We have not been able to fly any aircraft in at this point in time to make a good assessment.

But rest assured that they will all work through the night, answering calls for help and looking for those who have notified us in some way or another or, if their friends and family have notified us, we will be making every effort to find those people who may be in need of our help.

The damage has been great. We know it could have been worse. And I urge you to keep helping your neighbors, to pray for the victims, and also to pray for our friends in Mississippi. They've taken a hit right alongside ours and we know what that means. They're suffering and they'll need our assistance. And they have helped us all through this preparation, so we are extremely grateful. I am extremely grateful to Governor Haley Barbour and I wish him the best in his recovery operations as well. Today, we are very blessed to have Mr. Mike Brown, the national director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- you might know that as FEMA. Director Brown has been with us a good part of this day and his professional staff has been assisting us here and across the southern region of Louisiana for the past several days. We feel a lot of confidence with them here.

And, indeed, President Bush has told Director Brown to do all in his power and capacity and given us all the authority to do everything that is necessary.

Director Brown, I hope you will tell President Bush how much we appreciated -- these are the times that really count -- to know that our federal government will step in and give us the kind of assistance that we need and are in desperate need of.

So thank you for being here.

MIKE BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: Thank you, thank you.

BLANCO: Director Brown.

BROWN: Thank you very much, Governor.

Let me first say, on behalf of President Bush and the first lady -- extend their condolences and their prayers to everyone in Louisiana who has suffered from Hurricane Katrina.

As a former governor, he understands exactly what it's like to go through these kinds of disasters and I know personally that his heart aches when he sees these kinds of things.

But I spoke to the president while he's traveling on Air Force One, Governor, and he has given me the verbal OK to let you know that he will be signing the presidential disaster declaration to make this a major disaster declaration, giving us the full authority to exercise whatever we need to do and to spend whatever we need to spend to help the state of Louisiana recover.

So that's a little bit of good news for you today, I hope.

I want to say a couple of things about Governor Blanco and her team. I have the best job and the worst job in the federal government. And I get to travel around and see some of the worst things that happened in this country. But I also get to see communities and states that come together and work together as a team.

And I can tell you, Governor, that what I've seen here today is a team that is very tight knit, working closely together, being very professional doing it, and in my humble opinion, making the right calls.

We often tend to forget that we had hurricane-force winds still blowing through downtown New Orleans as short a time as an hour ago. And so you're making the right decisions about encouraging people not to move back in yet, to stay away. Most deaths, most injuries from hurricanes occur after the storm has passed. So I would say to all folks in Louisiana as you return to your homes when you're allowed to return to your homes, be careful. Don't get in that water. Watch for downed power lines. If you're going to use a chainsaw, know how to use the chainsaw. If you're going to have a generator, know how to exercise and how to operate the generator.

Be very, very careful.

The storm is not over. Again, because of my unfortunate experience with hurricanes, everyone in Louisiana is going to get tired. You're going to get worn out. And so I say to everyone, be patient. Be calm.

My guarantee to you is that FEMA will stay here as long as we need to be here to help you in every way possible that we can help you. And you've got a good team; you've got a good start. Let's say that right now you're on the road to recovery.

Governor, good luck.

And I'd like to introduce Senator Landrieu and let her make a few comments.

SENATOR MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: Thank you very much.

We are indeed fortunate to have an able and experienced director of FEMA who has been with us now on the ground for some time, and as he said, will provide all the resources necessary for a full recovery. It will take weeks, possibly months, but the resources will be there.

I want to thank the president for a preliminary, before the storm, declaration, and now a full declaration for the emergency assistance we need.

I also want to compliment the governor and this Louisiana team -- lieutenant governor, all the local elected officials. I have witnessed, through the governor and the statewide elected officials, local officials literally putting their lives on the line over the last 48 hours -- parish presidents, sheriffs, firefighters, mayors. And we still don't have a complete assessment of all of the damage.

So with the local teams still under search and rescue, the federal team is now ready to step in and provide the recovery assistance necessary, primarily through FEMA and also through the Red Cross.

The final note, I spoke to the Red Cross director this morning, Marty Evans. The Red Cross team has been on the ground here. She may be able to come in herself. She's also a very experienced leader.

The Red Cross and FEMA will be in full force to help us through the recovery.

Let me finally add, I want to support the governor in her order and request for people not to return to the state, to these areas, until it's safe to do so, and give our emergency personnel the time they need to get the search and rescue mission completed so recovery can begin.

I'd like to ask Senator Vitter to come forward and add his remarks as the senator from the state as well.

SENATOR DAVID VITTER (R), LOUISIANA: Thank you, Mary.

Today has been a day of just enormous human suffering. And so Wendy and I join everyone here in saying that our hearts and prayers go out to all the families of Louisiana who have suffered so much, who, in many cases, continue to suffer so much. And our prayers continue, particularly on those horribly hit areas like St. Bernard, the lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans East, Plaquemine and perhaps eastern St. Tammany. I'm very concerned about that area.

BLITZER: Both U.S. senators, the governor, the FEMA director, other local authorities in Louisiana, assessing the damage of hurricane Katrina. New Orleans, other areas along the Gulf Coast, very hard hit. They're trying to gather as much information as possible. But remember this remains a very, very dangerous storm.

It's now been downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane, but that's still very, very powerful. That powerful, as it moves farther inland. We'll continue our special coverage of Hurricane Katrina right after this short break.

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BLITZER: We're back in THE SITUATION ROOM monitoring Hurricane Katrina. We're getting some new video coming in right now from Mobile, Alabama. Check this out: Flooding in Mobile. This is video. Our camera crew on the scene, got these pictures for us. It shows the extensive damage to what was a downtown area of Mobile. Horrendous situation as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Let's bring in Jack Cafferty. He's been getting responses to your e-mail -- to questions. Jack, what do our viewers think about all of this?

CAFFERTY: Mobile looks like it might have gotten the worst of it; even worse than New Orleans, Wolf, based on those pictures. Hurricane Katrina could wind up being the most expensive hurricane ever to hit the United States. Insurance claims by some estimates could exceed $25 billion.

So the question this hour is whether insurance companies ought to cover people who live in high-risk areas. Here's what some of you have said.

Michael in Columbus, Ohio: "It doesn't matter where you live. Any area can be risk to something. Whether it's floods, snowstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, mud slides, even volcano blasts, people still need to have their property protected from unfortunate events." Crystal in Buffalo, New York: "Yes, insurance companies should cover people in such areas, but it should cost people a lot more than in low-risk areas."

Clay in Alameda, California: "Those of us who live in California are resigned to the fact we cannot get earthquake insurance because we have earthquakes, yet the chances of a major hurricane hitting a metropolitan area are greater than that of an earthquake hitting a city here. So why should they get high-risk coverage, when we cannot?"

Austin in Kansas City, Kansas: "I live in Kansas City. Why should my tax dollars pay for someone dumb enough to buy a house in Florida?" Austin not feeling particularly charitable.

Michael writes, "If my insurance company were to drop me, I think it would only be right if you would pay for my insurance since you were so ridiculously retarded for asking this question." OK, Mike.

Well, I'm not going to pay for your insurance, whether you think I'm retarded or not. You know, we tried to emphasize, maybe I didn't make it clear, Wolf, high-risk areas. I mean, parts of the Gulf Coast and Florida peninsula seems like -- and the Southeastern coastline, get whacked by some kind of hurricane or tropical storm every year. Some place along that geographical area, there are claims almost every year it seems to me like.

BLITZER: All right. I think it's a fair question. Thanks, Jack, very much. We'll check back with you in the next hour.

Heavy damage and flooding, but could it have been worse for the Big Easy? We'll go live to New Orleans right at the top of the hour, only minutes away.

Katrina slamming into the Gulf Coast in Mississippi and Alabama as well. We'll survey the damage throughout the area. And where is the hurricane now? Where is it heading? We're tracking this storm. Still very, very dangerous. We'll take a break. We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: Hurricane Katrina, certainly a major topic out on the Internet today. Let's check in with our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner. She's checking the situation online. Jacki?

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf, we wanted to show you how local news organizations were using Web logs to keep people updated during this storm.

We start out in New Orleans. This one, from Nola.com: N-O-L- A.com. This is Jon Donley blogging from the hurricane bunker at "Times-Picayune" building . He talks about how the gusts of wind are slamming into the windows and people are ducking because they're afraid that they're going to break; then talking about the Superdome. We heard about how part of the roof had come apart there. He took this photograph in a time of calm, about 10:30 this morning. This is from the third floor's roof of the "Times-Picayune" building. Then we got to AL.com. This is a consortium of Alabama newspapers. They have now a Web log they call Storm Central. They're updating people, talking about how a local Marriott hotel is now under 12 feet of water. We were curious, we Google-mapped it. Take a look how close that is to the shoreline.

We also wanted to show you another one. This blog, EyesOnKatrina --this is from the "Sun Herald" in southern Mississippi. They have two of their reporters who are blogging. What's so interesting about this -- first of all, they say if you're coming back to south Mississippi, don't. Wait for emergency management to tell you to come back.

They other thing we wanted to show you is lots and lots of people, hundreds of thousands of people without power right now, Wolf. And I just want to tell you real quickly what's interesting about this is, is it's not long articles from these news organizations, but short little blips to give people information as it comes in.

BLITZER: All right, Jacki, thanks very much. We'll check back with you.

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