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The Situation Room
Fire Breaks Out in New Orleans; Run on Gas Stations in Georgia; Bush Mobilizes Cabinet to Help Hurricane Victims
Aired August 31, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: And another growing crisis: looting. Now word in of a massive new U.S. National Guard deployment.
I'm Wolf Blitzer, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
We're standing by to hear from President Bush. He's back in Washington and he's expected to speak momentarily about one of worst natural disasters to hit this country in at least a century, perhaps the worst one ever.
Among the latest developments we're following, two full days after Hurricane Katrina roared through, the situation in water-ravaged New Orleans is growing desperate, more desperate, in fact, by the hour. We've just learned that 10,000 additional National Guard troops are being deployed to the hurricane zone.
And amid the flooding, there's fire. A police officer just told us in THE SITUATION ROOM only moments ago he had no way to call for help. But help did eventually arrive. Firefighters got to the scene.
On his way back to Washington, President Bush saw the situation first-hand as Air Force One flew over the hurricane zone. The president called what he saw devastating. We'll hear more from him shortly.
More on the hurricane damage now, state by state.
Let's begin in Louisiana, where the mayor of New Orleans has told the Associated Press that perhaps thousands, probably thousands of people are dead. He also says that as many as 100,000 people could still be in the city. These individuals have to be rescued very, very quickly.
The state's lieutenant governor reports some 3,000 rescues so far, but that's not enough. Many more are needed.
Over in Mississippi, there are 110 unconfirmed deaths. That death toll could go up. Twenty thousand people are reportedly living in emergency shelters in Mississippi alone. A million people are still without power.
In Alabama, not as bad. Two people are reported dead; 375,000 people, though, are still without power. An amazing -- an amazing situation, a rig was forced about 66 miles across the Gulf of Mexico before it reached the Alabama shore. You can imagine what happened to those other rigs. Let's get more -- a little more on the situation with our producer Kim Segal is joining us. She's in New Orleans right now. Kim, give us an update.
KIM SEGAL, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Wolf, they finally found water to fight that fire and what they're doing is they're sucking it out of street. The flood water is being used to fight the fire.
BLITZER: And is it working?
SEGAL: That's difficult to say. It doesn't look like it, because there's more smoke, but I'm not sure if they actually got the fire out. The smoke is pouring out of this three-story building.
BLITZER: And the fear is, unless this fire is contained, and we're looking at the pictures, it could spread and it could endanger other buildings in area. You're in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
SEGAL: That's correct. Those buildings are so close together they're really worried about it spreading. So they're trying their hardest to get this fire out.
BLITZER: What -- give us a little -- go beyond the fire now, Kim, and give us a little sense of what's really happening in New Orleans right now. It's after 5:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 4:00 p.m. where you are.
SEGAL: Well, as you sit here and you watch the firefighters working so hard, you hear glass break everywhere. These are the looters. They're still out. They're still breaking into stores, grabbing the stuff they want.
At the same time you have all this going on, right not too far from the fire behind me is the Renaissance Hotel. That is one of the hotels they were trying to evacuate people from this morning. So you have three stories going on here, and none of them are good.
BLITZER: How does that evacuation work? Are buses trying to make their way into the area around the Superdome and elsewhere to try to get people who are stuck there and drive them out of town?
SEGAL: I'm not sure what's going on at the Superdome. It's about 10 blocks away, and it is totally flooded. So I'm not sure how they're getting out, but the National Guard has been in some of the hotels here to help people get out. The hotel that we were in, we saw just people in their personal vehicles, anyone who had a truck or an SUV. They're ferrying people out with whatever they can carry on their lap.
BLITZER: When you said the Superdome is totally flooded, you mean the area, the streets around the Superdome. You don't mean inside where the playing field is?
SEGAL: Yes, I'm sorry. I should clarify that. Yes. For us to get there, it's -- we tried to and you'd have to wade through waist-deep water -- I'm sorry -- chest-high water now. BLITZER: Are there any areas, as far as you could tell, around the Superdome where a car or an SUV or a bus or a truck could get in there?
SEGAL: Apparently, there is one road, and it's on the other -- away from where we are. That's why we can't get to it. We did have our producer Jim Stellman (ph) drive over there, and he was able to access it. And he said they were starting to already try to evacuate people.
BLITZER: We know the Coast Guard has rescued a lot of people from rooftops in New Orleans. How prevalent, how widespread are those images of helicopters flying overhead?
SEGAL: Well, where we are, we're downtown. So we're not near the residential area, although we were there the other day. I mean, it just goes on as far as I can see. There's helicopters buzzing over every minute, so you know they're still trying to get some survivors out. It was up to the rooftops. People are still on roofs, I would believe, now based on what we saw yesterday.
BLITZER: We know that the mayor and others in New Orleans and the governor have warned of the dangers from the looting that's going on. And we also know that many of those looters have gone into stores and stolen weapons and guns. How dangerous do local authorities, based on your conversations, think this situation potentially could become with tempers obviously getting hotter and hotter?
SEGAL: And you have the tempers, not just from the looters, unfortunately, who have guns, but the tempers from people who are just -- they're hot. They don't have any water. They've just been cooped up here a long time. So that they're starting to flare as well. It's dangerous.
You know, people are in -- they're in a serious situation down here and they need to get out. And unfortunately, they're doing the best that they can to get as many out as best they can. But the other guys, you know, they want to stay. They want a, you know, a free TV or a T-shirt. So...
BLITZER: All right. I'm going to have Kim stand by. I want to continue this. But you know, this hurricane is causing all sorts of problems, not only in Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama but elsewhere around the United States.
CNN's Zain Verjee is joining us from the CNN Center. I take it in Georgia there's been a problem developing right now, Zain?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of people lining up at gas stations here in Atlanta, scrambling to fill up their cars, Wolf. One CNN employee just called in to say in town gas in Atlanta has jumped to $3.55 a gallon, and the quick trip stations are only selling $10- worth per customer.
Basically, you know, the two pipelines that bring in gas and jet fuel to the region are down because of Katrina. And essentially, they're powerless to pump. Those pipes, as you know, have been down for two days.
We're hearing that one of two pipeline companies that supply gas to the eastern seaboard of the U.S. says that it hopes to be back in partial operation soon. One official, though, saying that metro Atlanta has about a ten-day supply of gas in its inventory. And one of the Alpharetta based companies says it's now cut off from supplies on the Gulf Coast and now pumping gas from the storage tanks. And it's not exactly clear when those supplies could run out.
Wolf, let's bring in Ali Velshi for a little more on this. Ali?
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Zain, yes, you're right, that a lot of suppliers keep seven to 10 days worth of gas on hand to fill in on the pumps.
Now as I was driving back last night from Baton Rouge to Houston, to make it back to New York, I saw something I've never seen before -- a gas tanker being escorted by police. It was going toward New Orleans. I don't know what it was for.
We're hearing reports now that in Atlanta and some places, $4.99 for a gallon of self-serve gasoline. As you said, there are $10 limits in some places.
There are a couple problems going on. One is, as you said, the pipeline that feeds those states and north all the way out to here, because of the pumps and the electric outages, that's part of the problem. And the other is shear demand in some places because of these refinery shutdowns.
There is gas, but it's not getting to everyone who needs it, whether it's by pipelines or by trucks. So this is not something that is going to be isolated, necessarily, to Atlanta. If we don't find a quick solution to the problems of either getting the Gulf production back on line or whether the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Zain, that the government is talking about gets on line very quickly -- there are some discussions it could be as early as tomorrow.
VERJEE: All right. Ali Velshi. Thanks, Ali.
Here we're looking at pictures that we're receiving of cars lining up there just to fill up with gas, scrambling to get in. We're hearing now that in town gas in Atlanta jumped to $3.55 a gallon.
Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Zain. Thank you very much. Ali, thanks to you, as well.
Once again we're standing by. It's almost 10 minutes after the hour. The president of the United States expected very soon to go into the Rose Garden to speak about this crisis that has unfolded. We'll go to the White House live once he does.
In the meantime, let's go over to Biloxi, Mississippi. Our Rob Marciano is there with an update on the devastation in Mississippi. Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Wolf, I heard you speaking about the gasoline issue. Economically here in Biloxi, their bread and butter is the casinos. And most of them -- all of them have sustained some sort of damage, some of them completely wiped out.
The Hard Rock Cafe, I mean, if you've been to Vegas, you know about the popularity of that casino. They just recently built this one. It was supposed to open tonight, and it is 50 percent demolished. You can see, especially on the right side there, that's where the casino barge was -- well, used to be located. And it's been completely torn apart by the storm surge that was at least 25 feet coming in here just the other night.
Not only is Biloxi and the casinos the bread and butter for this town, but also for the entire state, as far as their taxes are concerned. Every day that these casinos are closed, the state loses a half a million dollars in tax revenue.
So you know, obviously, the loss of structure, the loss of life, the loss of property. And on top of that economically, there's going to be a ripple affect here, as well, in Biloxi.
One more point, Wolf. We touched on what's going on west of here, where there's a bridge completely blown out. That's where most of...
BLITZER: I'm going to interrupt. I'm going to interrupt. Hold on a second. The president is now speaking.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just received an update from Secretary Chertoff and other Cabinet secretaries involved on the latest developments in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
As we flew here today, I also asked the pilot to fly over the Gulf Coast region so I could see firsthand the scope and magnitude of the devastation.
The vast majority of New Orleans, Louisiana, is under water. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses are beyond repair.
A lot of the Mississippi Gulf Coast has been completely destroyed. Mobile is flooded.
We are dealing with one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history. And that's why I've called the Cabinet together.
The people in the affected regions expect the federal government to work with the state government and local government with an effective response.
I have directed Secretary of Homeland Security Mike Chertoff to chair a Cabinet-level task force to coordinate all our assistance from Washington.
FEMA Director Mike Brown is in charge of all federal response and recovery efforts in the field.
I've instructed them to work closely with state and local officials, as well as with the private sector, to ensure that we're helping -- not hindering -- recovery efforts.
This recovery will take a long time. This recovery will take years.
Our efforts are now focused on three priorities.
Our first priority is to save lives. We're assisting local officials in New Orleans in evacuating any remaining citizens from the affected area.
I want to thank the state of Texas, and particularly Harris County and the city of Houston and officials with the Houston Astrodome, for providing shelter to those citizens who found refuge in the Superdome in Louisiana.
Buses are on the way to take those people from New Orleans to Houston.
FEMA's deployed more than 50 disaster medical assistance teams from all across the country to help the affected -- to help those in the affected areas. FEMA's deployed more than 25 urban search and rescue teams with more than 1,000 personnel to help save as many lives as possible.
The United States Coast Guard is conducting search and rescue missions. They're working alongside local officials, local assets. The Coast Guard has rescued nearly 2,000 people to date.
The Department of Defense is deploying major assets to the region. These include the USS Bataan to conduct search and rescue missions, eight swift water rescue teams, the Iwo Jima Amphibious Readiness Group to help with disaster response equipment, and Hospital Ship USNS Comfort to help provide medical care.
The National Guard has nearly 11,000 Guardsmen on state active duty to assist governors and local officials with security and disaster response efforts.
FEMA and the Army Corp of Engineers are working around the clock with Louisiana officials to repair the breaches in the levees so we can stop the flooding in New Orleans.
Our second priority is to sustain lives by ensuring adequate food, water, shelter and medical supplies for survivors and dedicated citizens -- or dislocated citizens.
FEMA's moving supplies and equipment into the hardest hit areas.
The Department of Transportation has provided more than 400 trucks to move 1,000 truckloads containing 5.4 million meals ready to eat, or MREs; 13.4 million liters of water; 10,400 tarps; 3.4 million pounds of ice; 144 generators; 20 containers of prepositions disaster supplies; 135,000 blankets and 11,000 cots. And we're just starting.
There are more than 78,000 people now in shelters.
HHS and CDC are working with local officials to identify operating hospital facilities so we can help them, help the nurses and doctors provide necessary medical care.
They're distributing medical supplies, and they're executing a public health plan to control disease and other health-related issues that might arise.
Our third priority is executing a comprehensive recovery effort. We are focusing on restoring power and lines of communication that have been knocked out during the storm.
We'll be repairing major roads and bridges and other essential means of transportation as quickly as possible.
There's a lot of work we're going to have to do. In my flyover, I saw a lot of destruction on major infrastructure.
Repairing the infrastructure, of course, is going to be a key priority.
Department of Energy is approving loans from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to limit disruptions in crude supplies for refineries. A lot of crude production has been shut down because of the storm. I instructed Secretary Bodman to work with refiners, people who need crude oil, to alleviate any shortage through loans.
The Environmental Protection Agency has granted a nationwide waiver for fuel blends to make more gasoline and diesel fuel available throughout the country.
This will help take some pressure off of gas price, but our citizens must understand this storm has disrupted the capacity to make gasoline and distribute gasoline.
We're also developing a comprehensive plan to immediately help displaced citizens. This will include housing and education and health care and other essential needs.
I've directed the folks in my Cabinet to work with local folks, local officials, to develop a comprehensive strategy to rebuild the communities affected. And there's going to be a lot of rebuilding done. I can't tell you how devastating the sites were.
I want to thank the communities and surrounding states that have welcomed their neighbors during an hour of need. A lot of folks left the affected areas and found refuge with a relative or a friend. And I appreciate you doing that.
I also want to thank the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army and the Catholic Charities and all other members of the armies of compassion.
I think the folks in the affected areas are going to be overwhelmed when they realize how many Americans want to help them.
At this stage in the recovery efforts, it's important for those who want to contribute to contribute cash; to contribute cash to a charity of your choice but make sure you designate that gift for hurricane relief.
You can call 1-800-HELP-NOW or you can get on the Red Cross Web page, redcross.org. The Red Cross needs our help, and I urge our fellow citizens to contribute.
The folks on the Gulf Coast are going to need the help of this country for a long time. This is going to be a difficult road. The challenges that we face on the ground are unprecedented. But there's no doubt in my mind we're going to succeed.
Right now, the days seem awfully dark for those affected. I understand that. But I'm confident that, with time, you'll get your life back in order. New communities will flourish. The great city of New Orleans will be back on its feet. And America will be a stronger place for it.
The country stands with you. We'll do all in our power to help you.
May God bless you. Thank you.
BLITZER: And so there he is, the president of United States walking back to his office in the West Wing of the White House, the Oval Office, addressing effectively the American people and the world on the situation in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama.
He says this recovery will take a long time. This recovery, the president says, will take years. He calls it one of worst natural disasters in our nation's history, and he's deploying all resources of the federal government to help local and state officials deal with the enormity of this situation.
One little nugget alone, the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Comfort, which recently has seen action in the Persian Gulf, now being deployed to the Gulf of Mexico to deal with the enormity of this crisis.
Much more coming up. The president was surrounded by members of his cabinet, all of whom have been tasked to do whatever it takes to save the lives of these people, perhaps another 100,000 people in New Orleans alone, who are stranded right now and potentially -- potentially threatened with disease and death.
Our special coverage will continue right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: These are new pictures we're getting in, aerial shots coming in to CNN right now -- aerial shots of New Orleans, showing the areas of devastation, showing the streets of this beautiful city underwater. It's a situation that gets worse by the hour. The mayor is suggesting that perhaps another 100,000 people are stuck in New Orleans right now. They're trying to evacuate all of them as quickly as possible.
There are so many dangers lurking ahead. We're watching all of this as we get these shots in from New Orleans. The immediate need, stop the water from coming in. The next need, get that water that's there, get it out. In the meantime, save as many lives as possible.
Let's go to New York and Jack Cafferty, who's watching the situation with us -- Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the American Red Cross has begun what it's calling its largest response ever to a single U.S. natural disaster. So far, the Red Cross has raised $21 million in a couple of days. That was as of about noon when I came to work. And that's comparable to the response to the tsunami last fall.
But with damage on the Gulf Coast running into the tens of billions of dollars, $21 million is a drop in the bucket, frankly. You may remember, after that tsunami struck Southeast -- Southern Asia last winter, the United States gave $350 million in aid.
Former Presidents Bush and Clinton spearheaded the effort to collect private money to add to the government's contribution. And they raised a ton of bucks.
U.S. based charities received more donations for tsunami relief efforts than for any other crisis before in history.
Now, the German magazine "Spiegel" reports today that the German Red Cross says it is standing by to help its American counterparts, but so far it has not been called on to do so.
Here's the question. should the international community help out the battered Gulf Coast? CaffertyFile@CNN.com.
And if anybody writes and says no, don't ever write to me again. Of course they should help out. We have helped every country and every people on this globe for as long as the United States has been in existence any time there's been a need, including our enemies. So yes, it would be nice if we got a little offer of help from some of the folks that maybe owe us a chit or two.
BLITZER: All right, Jack. Take a look at these pictures we're getting in right now. These are pictures coming in to THE SITUATION ROOM. This is outside the Superdome in New Orleans. You see the National Guard vehicles there. You see people who are streaming on the outsides. And they are clearly in desperate need to get out of this city as quickly as possible.
Ed Henry, our congressional correspondent, is getting some new information, Jack, on a subject that you just discussed. Ed, what are you picking up? ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. CNN has learned that, in fact, the White House has now reached out to former Presidents Clinton and Bush, asking them to reprise that role that Jack just mentioned that they did on tsunami relief -- launch an international campaign in order to raise money now for Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
My understanding is that no final deal has been reached between the current President Bush and the former presidents, but I'm hearing that very clearly, obviously, both former presidents want to make sure that this happens, Wolf.
BLITZER: I think there's also action to try to get the Congress to reconvene a little bit early? What are you hearing on that front, given the nature of this tragedy that has unfolded?
HENRY: Some people are pushing for Congress to get back sooner. As you know, they're on their August recess. They're slated to come back next Tuesday. They're going to be dealing with the Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
But also I'm hearing that they are definitely, obviously, crafting an emergency supplemental appropriations bill. I'm hearing that one number being tossed out is somewhere between $25 to $30 billion in order to try to rebuild these three states, Wolf.
BLITZER: Ed Henry, reporting for us as we see these new pictures coming in from the Superdome, the streets of New Orleans, people streaming out of the Superdome trying to get a little fresh air. God only knows what it must feel like inside that Superdome without any energy, without any electricity, any power over the past few days.
But they're waiting for buses, perhaps helicopters, to come and rescue them, literally rescue them, to get them out of this city before they face even greater problems. The immediate fear that they have, that health officials have, public health officials, that disease could break out, given the nature of flooding that has occurred in New Orleans.
As we've noted, chaos has taken hold in much of the -- New Orleans. Looters, specifically, many of them now armed, are on the loose. And they're roaming around the city. There's not much that authorities can do about it right now. They say there are other priorities, the number one priority being saving people's lives.
Brian Todd is looking into this situation of the looters. Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, from the reports we're getting, law enforcement officials in Louisiana are simply just overwhelmed right now. They are being bolstered by National Guardsmen and forces from other agencies. But clearly, as you can see from the reports we're getting all day, they're just not keeping up with it at the moment.
We have reports, of course -- you've seen it all day -- of looting going on all over New Orleans. The city's director of homeland security says guns have been stolen from stores, including that well- known incident at a Wal-Mart. And there are armed gangs roaming the city.
The mayor has reported that a police officer was shot and wounded when he surprised a looter. We also have reports of a number of attempted carjackings near the Superdome downtown.
And on top of all that, we're told law enforcement is having massive communications problems. Here's the Louisiana State Police superintendent talking about what they're up against.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. HENRY WHITEHORN, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: The biggest problem that we're having right now is communication. We're unable to communicate well with those responders that are in the field. We're having to piecemeal our communication network. We lost a lot of our communication system due to the flooding. We are trying to determine once we get down there and we encounter the looters, where we're going to put them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They don't know where to put them, because prison space, jail space in New Orleans and the surrounding areas is almost nonexistent right now.
Now we have heard all afternoon from our producer Kim Segal. She is down on Canal Street in New Orleans. She's been giving us a window into what's going on. Aside from reporting on that fire down there, she says that the police presence in that area is sporadic.
There is, of course, looting going on everywhere even when the fire's going on. And many police if they see a so-called peaceful looting, are not interceding.
Wolf, there's really not much they can do. You've heard Jeanne Meserve talk about this. You've heard Kim talk about this from downtown New Orleans. There is not much the police can do. They don't have radio help. They cannot call for backup. It's extraordinary. They're in the middle of downtown New Orleans and they are isolated.
BLITZER: They're going to need thousands and thousands of National Guard troops to go in and take charge of that city. Brian, thank you very much.
Mary Snow is watching this situation as well. Mary, you're taking a closer look at the evacuation of how the city is planning to get this underway. What are you picking up?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we're just getting new pictures in now as you're looking at. We saw some of these pictures yesterday of prisoners who were taken outside of the jail in New Orleans. And as you see those orange jump suits there, they are sitting outside there now. We also, just a few moments ago, got some new shots outside the Superdome where we saw some buses parked outside. People waiting. That is part of a mass evacuation effort under way to transport 23,000 evacuees who have been in the Superdome. They are being taken to Houston's Astrodome.
Now 500 buses provided by FEMA are transporting them. They will travel 350 miles. The driving trip takes seven to eight hours. The first arrivals had been expected this evening. It is unclear how far along this process is.
Officials in Houston are scrambling to prepare for what they are calling a small city. One of the organizers of the effort says he only got the official green light for the plan at around 3:00 a.m this morning. Cots are being transported in. The Astrodome's floor is going to be used as a sleeping area. It will have what evacuees have been without for days -- food, water, showers, air conditioning, a nursery also being set up.
Now the schedule for the Astrodome has been cleared through December for these evacuees. At this point it really is impossible to say how long they will remain there.
Now there is also an effort under way for children to enroll them in local schools in Texas. The governor says there are trains and stores nearby the Astrodome for evacuees, and he also stressed that there will be tight security. And he made it clear that anyone who is not coming from the Superdome in New Orleans will be turned away.
The Red Cross in Houston says 1,000 evacuees fled to Houston before the storm hit. That number is expected to triple today. There are people who have been going to Houston staying at motels. The Red Cross expects that at some point they're just going to run out of money and show up at these shelters.
BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much, Mary Snow, for an update on the evacuation.
Michael Brown is the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, he's speaking to reporters right now.
MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security -- for that matter all of the federal agencies -- are going to have to change their way of thinking, change our rules, probably do a little thinking outside the box, push the envelope.
Let me put it this way. Everything is on the table in terms of what we're going to have to do to recover from this disaster.
That, though, is going to require your patience. FEMA, for example, typically, immediately after a disaster, within 24 hours is able to get checks to people who need financial assistance. For those of you who have evacuated, for example, from St. Bernard Parish or Arabi or some of the places closer to downtown New Orleans, we understand that you don't have access to your banks. You probably don't have access to your checkbooks. You don't have access to anything. And so we're going to ask you, for the time being, to turn to the American Red Cross, charities, Salvation Army, local churches, others who can provide for your immediate needs. The Red Cross, we will work very closely with the Red Cross to make sure that they have the financial resources to help you immediately.
To those of you in the more rural areas, perhaps of Alabama and other places, we would encourage you to call the FEMA 800 number, 800- 621-FEMA. We can at least get you in the process and start getting financial assistance to you just as rapidly as we normally do. This is going to take some time, and so I want to tell you realistically what you can expect.
I surmise that there are folks who live in New Orleans who will not be able to get back to their homes for months if not forever. The devastation is that widespread. The Army Corps of Engineer and others are doing everything they can to take care of the flood waters and to fix that situation. But that's going to take time.
And I just talked to General Riley out in the hallway and said, General, what are we going to do? He's got lots of ideas and it's going to take lots of experiments. And he's going to work on it. And there no doubt in my mind that that brain trust at the Corps of Engineers will be able to put something together and make it happen, but it's not going to happen tomorrow.
I want to thank Secretary Rumsfeld and Northern Command for their assistance and their willingness to come and work in the civilian system of doing disaster response and recovery. We will have a whole cache of military resources at our availability to do whatever we need them to do. And I appreciate that.
I also want to speak to the civil unrest and some of the disturbances that we've seen. It's just not acceptable. And I understand that the attorney general, the governor of Louisiana, the National Guard troops, the local law enforcement, all of those will do everything in their power to minimize that.
I call upon you to recognize that this is an extraordinary time that requires people who might not -- who might be tempted to behave in that inappropriate way. I understand that. Stop it. This is not the time for that.
We're going to recover from this. Let me tell you a story very quickly. I've seen in other disasters. I want to take it to an entirely different level, where I have seen a community, a small community completely destroyed by a tornado. A small rural community that I thought, personally, would have a very difficult time coming back. And they've come back stronger and better than ever before.
And there is no question in my mind that the citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama will come back stronger and better, more robust than they ever have in the past. But that's going to take all of the cooperation of all the federal partners, all of the state partners, all of the local partners, and, frankly, it's going to take the cooperation of the media, too. So I ask all of you for that patience, that understanding and for that endurance. We are here for the long haul. We will stay here for the long haul, and we will get it done.
And as an example of the complete integration of the federal departments with state governments and the local governments, what I want to do next is introduce General Riley from the Army Corps of Engineers to briefly give a description of their efforts, how they're integrated with us.
And we'll go through three or four of these, briefly, and then I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.
GENERAL DON RILEY, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: Thank you, Director Brown. We are working, the Army Corps of Engineers, directly for FEMA and we're responding to their taskings. We also have the commander of the Joint Task Force for Hurricane Katrina -- that's Lieutenant General Honore. And he is now setting up his command post in Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
We will respond to all three of the states in debris removal, and certainly in flood control, and support of FEMA, and temporary housing and also provide temporary roofing for many of the homes that have damaged roofs.
In addition, in particular here in New Orleans, we're working very hard, as Director Brown said, on removing the water from the city. The levels have equalized with the lake and now we are working with contractors to get the pumps working and to also swell deliberate breaches in the levees to allow the water to flow out.
And so as he said, though, this will take some time and a lot of effort. Now we have a great, team effort, certainly, with the state of Louisiana and all their agencies. And superb team effort with the National Guard of Louisiana that's been a tremendous help to us in this effort. Thank you.
BROWN: (INAUDIBLE) of the American Red Cross.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir. As we transition now into this role of supporting those that have had to evacuate from this horrible disaster, the Red Cross plays the short-term role of providing people with food, clothing and shelter. During the interim period of time we're working with our partners with FEMA, with the state government, with all state government agencies, and other local non- profits to muster every possible resource that we can to give people what they need to carry them through this long ordeal.
FEMA picks up behind the Red Cross with the longer-term housing issues.
Our role is to support these people for the first 30, 45 to 60 days though this issue. We are working rapidly to put systems in place where we can provide them with the means necessary to support themselves, as well as use the use the shelters we have available. Quite honestly, I mean, a situation of that magnitude puts us in a situation where we're entering into sheltering beyond anything we have experienced before. And as we go through that, we are trying to find ways to make sure that people have the resources that they need, both in the public shelters that we provide and financial resourses that we can provide to them to support themselves with food, clothing and shelter. These plans are underway in partnership between us and FEMA and will be further finalized over the next 24 to 48 hours.
BROWN: General, do you want to make a few comments about --
GEN. BENNETT LANDRENEAU, LOUISIANA NATIONAL GUARD: Thank you, Director Brown. I'm very proud of the coordinated effort that is ongoing. We have been receiving tremendous support from our neighboring states with resources and as well as from DOD. We have some 5,000 additional National Guard soldiers that have been identified from states, to come in and assist us through the EMAC Agreements.
It was mentioned that General Honore was assisting with some additional DOD assets to include some medical and a lot of aviation assets and many other types of equipment that will be very, very helpful to us in being able to accomplish the missions that have been assigned to the Louisiana National Guard.
Thank you.
BLITZER: We're going to move away from this news conference, this FEMA news conference. We'll monitor it for you and make sure we get all the latest information on what the federal government is doing to try to deal with the enormity of this tragedy that has unfolded: The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Some survivors are now caught up in a nightmare few of us can ever imagine. Earlier, our Miles O'Brien spoke with one woman. I want you to listen to this interview because it underscores only one story, but there are many stories like this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ASHLEY MARCUSSEN, HUSBAND MISSING IN HURRICANE KATRINA: The morning of the storm, me and my children, we were at my mother's house right off of Gause (ph) and we took -- well, the morning of it -- the morning before it even happened.
The night before we took in -- we left to go from our mobile home and my husband was still trying to fix things around there and find my little girl's cat that she got for her birthday. And we found up going -- bringing my kids to my mom's house and some of the stuff that I had.
And I was -- I was going to go back and get him. And by the time I was able to go back and get him, it was too late and he told me, "No, just stay." Because the winds were starting to pick up and my step-dad and mom said, "No, don't leave." And we stayed there. And I had contact with him all through the storm. And he called me quite a few times and he was in the bathtub and I could hear the wind going around the trailer and it was horrible sounding. I mean, it didn't sound like that where we were at, but it was horrible sounding.
And it was -- when I finally was able -- you know, during the eye of the storm was the last time I talked to my husband and my kids told him that they loved him and they wanted him to with us. And he told them as soon as the storm was over and he could get out, he was going to come to us, but I haven't seen him since.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: That's only one story. There are thousands and thousands of stories. Our heart goes out to that woman. We hope she finds her husband and those kids, we hope they find their father.
Much more of out special coverage right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We're continuing our coverage here in THE SITUATION ROOM, with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Let's immediately go back to New Orleans. CNN's Chris Lawrence is now on the scene. First of all Chris, where exactly are you?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we're right on Canal Street, right in the heart of downtown New Orleans. And I'm watching just multiple, multiple fire trucks trying to put out a huge fire at a commercial building.
The street in front of me is completely flooded, water probably not quite knee deep, but a little bit less than that. And what they're doing, is they're siphoning the water right out of street, trying to put this fire out. Because, you know, you've got no working fire hydrants around here.
BLITZER: While thousands of people are trying to get out of New Orleans, Chris, you just drove in yourself. Tell our viewers what it was like, because I understand you had one harrowing experience.
LAWRENCE: Yes. It was pretty difficult. I mean, it was just checkpoint after checkpoint. And then, I'm driving by myself, so I'm -- you know, I'm driving and I'm trying to pay attention to the road and I'm checking the map. I'm not from New Orleans. So, I'm just trying to figure it out as best I can.
And so many of the roads -- you know, you get so far and they're completely flooded. So, you have to go around another way and I just kept stopping and asking people, hey, do you know where this street is? Do you know where that street is?
At one point, I wish I could tell you exactly where I was, I passed so much looting on the way. I mean, just multiple stores. You saw people running out. I saw one person throw a rock through a window in broad daylight, but there's no one around.
And I do want to say this. Some of them are just taking food and water, not everybody. Some of them are going in, they're taking guns out of some of the hardware stores and things like that.
One police officer said that's been a real problem. Some of these people are just trying to survive. They're taking food, water and juice. But as I passed this one store that was being looted, you know you could just hear -- I just heard two gunshots like pop, pop.
And I don't know if they were shooting at me. I'm driving in an Expedition, towing a boat downtown. So, I don't know if I was the target or if they were shooting somewhere else, but I just hit the accelerator and kept going about a mile down and then tried to regroup.
When I got down here, I literally saw people trying to walk out of the city. One woman was just carrying her baby, maybe four or five months old and I stopped and I talked to her and I gave her one of my waters. I don't have a lot of them. And she just said -- I said, what are you trying to do? She said, there's just nothing back there for me. There's no hope. And she was trying to walk her way out of the city carrying her baby.
When I got down here, Wolf, I was talking with one of police officers. And he said from his point of view, the police department here is in absolute chaos. He said they have no communication whatsoever. Many of them have had to siphon gas out of abandoned cars just to keep the police cars running. He said, they're on their own for food and water, scrounging up what they can from anybody who is generous enough to give them some.
He said organization has completely broken down. They have no communication whatsoever. And he said, I'm trained to be a police officer, so that's what I do. We gather together in a little group of maybe six, seven, eight guys and we do what we can. But, you know, we patrol, we sleep.
But it's a very, very tough situation. I didn't quite realize how bad it is here until standing down here and talking with that police officer who is honestly very, very afraid.
BLITZER: I'm amazed, Chris, that you're a courageous -- you're a very courageous guy, that you made that dangerous journey by yourself into New Orleans. Did you -- you clearly did not realize what you were getting yourself into.
LAWRENCE: No. I mean, I knew about the flooding. And I thought that would be the major thing is trying to maneuver around the flooding. You know, in a big SUV trying to tow a boat down here is pretty difficult. And I got to admit, I lucked out. I ran into the one of local reporters who is from Louisiana. And I was trying to get someplace. And she said, you know, you're completely turned around. Come on, follow me. And she took me down to a bridge. Once a got over the bridge, I kind of got back on the right track. You know, some of the streets, the street signs are gone in some places. There's no traffic lights. And people are just wandering around. It's very hard to keep kind of keep your bearings and know where you're going especially if you're not from the city itself.
BLITZER: I'm going to let you go, Chris. But just give us your initial impression now. Button this up for us. What you're seeing in the heart of New Orleans, in the French Quarter, where are you right now.
LAWRENCE: The most important thing I'm seeing right now is I'm seeing thousands of people, children, babies, women. They don't have food, they don't have water. It's not clean here. And they have no hope of what to do next.
BLITZER: About careful over there, Chris. Chris Lawrence, one of our courageous journalists making the trek into New Orleans by himself. We'll check back with you.
Speaking of babies, on the phone right now is the Laura Lee Demmons, the chief transport nurse for the Children's Hospital of Alabama. She's trying to help some of those babies in New Orleans get to Birmingham and become safe. How much of a problem do you have, Laura Lee?
LAURA LEE DEMMONS, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF ALABAMA: Well, our main problem has been with communication. When we got the request yesterday, we were ready to go. But we had trouble finding out information as to exactly where we could get into and what the facilities were at the airport.
BLITZER: How many babies are we talking about? Babies in neonatal condition, babies needing extensive help simply to survive. How many are we talking about?
DEMMONS: When we first got the call, they were talking about trying to get 26 babies. This was at Ochsners (ph). And when we went down last night, we picked up four of those. We have a team down there now, three nurses and two respiratory therapists that are getting two more babies out. They're picking them up in a helicopter and then flying them over to our fixed wing jet to be flown back up here.
BLITZER: What about the parents?
DEMMONS: The parents, we don't know about. The four we brought in last night, only one they've been able to locate the parent. The other three, they've been trying to reach their parents. We've been told are in Mississippi. But efforts have been unsuccessful to reach those parents.
BLITZER: And are there other hospitals, based on what you know, in the area trying to do the same thing with other babies in a similar plight?
DEMMONS: Yes. We have been coordinating efforts with Lifesaver here in Birmingham, and also Arkansas Children's transport team to shuttle the patients out that we can by helicopter. And then fly them out by our six-wing jet.
BLITZER: Laura Lee Demmons doing very important work trying to save the lives of these most vulnerable, these tiny little infants. Thank you very much for the work that you're doing.
Our Internet reporter Jacki Schechner is finding other amazing stories. What are you finding specifically, Jacki?
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we heard the gut-wrenching story earlier about the woman looking for her missing husband. There is a lot of that online. A lot of organizations trying to help people find their loved one.
This is Nola.com. This is the "Times Picayune" in New Orleans. They actually had to evacuate their own building due to rising waters yesterday, but they're trying to be a resource for people trying to fine their loved ones.
I need help trying to locate our family, one person writes in. Another one, a local affiliate, WWLTV, searching for a message board where people can post who they are looking for. They also have there an, I'm okay board. If you're all right, you can go there and tell your loved ones that you are doing find.
Another one is KatrinaCheckIn.org. They have the same, an I'm OK forum. And they also have a looking for forum. Also, NewOrleansPundit.com -- there's a bulletin board where you can post who you are looking for. This one actually is by parish. If you're going by area to find out how people are doing in a particular location.
And then we also wanted to bring you, again, Craig's List, the online community where people do all sorts of looking and shopping and missing persons in terms of people that you'd like to connect with, lost over time. Their lost and found section, Wolf, today in the hundreds. We scrolled through pages and pages of people looking for loved ones.
And I will say, that the biggest problem we're finding, Wolf, is that it is scattered online. There is not one particular location that you can go to to look for a loved one. You actually have to page through several different resources online to try to find anything about someone you might be looking for.
BLITZER: What a heartbreaking situation. Thanks very much, Jacki Schechner. Let's go over to Jack Cafferty in New York.
You getting responses to that question you asked, Jack?
CAFFERTY: Since we have been on the air at 3:15, Wolf, there have been 6,000 e-mails come into THE SITUATION ROOM. This hour, the question is, should the international community help out the battered Gulf Coast?
Some of these are kind of interesting. Robert in Pheonix, Arizona, "This shouldn't even be a question. The shoe is on the other foot for once. We are the ones in need of help. We have helped so many for so long, I guess we will now see who our real friends are by who helps us in our time of need."
Steve in Palmetto, Florida, "Of course the international community should offer help. But almost all of those tsunami victims who are doing their best to recover their own lives with what we gave in aid and support. Of course, it's safe to assume Mexico will send people this way."
Jim in Charlotte, North Carolina, "It's about time somebody asked this question. Absolutely, the international community should be looking to help out. I won't be satisfied until I see the South Korean army in the street of New Orleans helping us. And where are the Dutch? Aren't they the masters of building levees and dikes. And what about the French? This used to be their city. Oh, that's right, they're French."
Josh in Cambridge, Ontario, "As a Canadian and member of the human race, I feel it's our duty to help support the Gulf Coast refugees. They're out neighbors and are in need. The U.S. has not stood idly by in the past when it came to helping others."
And Bob in Brady's Bend, Pennsylvania writes, "Would it be too outlandish to expect help from President Bush's family friends, the Saudis, who have benefited from our rent-an-army to defeat their enemies and continuously squeeze our oil dependent nation for their own gargantuan wealth?"
BLITZER: Let's put this in some sort of perspective. If the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, is right and thousands of people have died in his city alone, they won't know until they get that water out of there. Presumably there are bodies underneath that water. This could be the worst natural disaster in American history in a century.
CAFFERTY: It's mind-boggling. We talked earlier about coming to work every day, and the frustration being you find out every day that the story is bigger, much bigger, much sadder, much more tragic than you thought it was the day before.
Monday, we sat here while the winds blew and the rains came down. We saw pieces of flying debris and reporters standing up out in the high winds, and we thought to ourselves -- or at least I did -- OK, it's another hurricane. We've seen lots like this 100 times before.
The next day, Tuesday, we got the news that the levees weren't holding and that there was some flooding.
And we got the report from Biloxi, Mississippi, about that one complex where about 30 people have been killed. But still, you're thinking, all right, a few deaths, maybe a couple of hundred, some flooding. The Superdome, people were evacuated in there. At least they're safe. There's no air conditioning, there's no pluming. But you know, they weren't killed, they weren't injured, they're going to be OK. People who chose to ride out the storm...
Then all of a sudden, we saw pictures of people poking through their roofs and crawling out on the roofs of their homes trying to get breath of fresh air. And we got this word that the waters kept rising. And then the potential for disease. And then the fact that there's no power and people are unaccounted for all over the city.
And by today, the death toll is beginning to approach something in the thousands. And I'm almost afraid to come to work tomorrow to find out what the hell's going to be going on down there then.
BLITZER: Unfortunately, Jack, we're going to have to do this again tomorrow. And thanks very much, you'll be back with us.
To our viewers, stay with CNN. Complete coverage. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.
LOU DOBBS TONIGHT starting right now. Kitty Pilgrim sitting in for Lou. Kitty?
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