Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

State of Emergency

Aired September 06, 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: You're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where news -- new pictures are coming in, new information coming in, from the ravaged Gulf Coast. Happening right now. New flames shooting up above the floodwaters.
It's 3:00 p.m. Central Time in New Orleans, where first responders are confronting fresh challenges every single day. We'll get a unique view of the problems and the progress.

Also, it's 4:00 p.m. here in Washington, where President Bush is holding high level meetings on storm recovery and getting an earful from members of the U.S. Congress. Investigations are in the works to determine why the government didn't move into the disaster zone faster. And we're hearing Mr. Bush is preparing, as we just heard from Ali, to ask for many, many more billions in federal aid.

And a tribute to the U.S. chief justice. Colleagues and admirers paying last respects to William Rehnquist, including the man tapped to follow in his footsteps.

I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

The New Orleans mayor has a stern warning for people insisting on staying in his beloved city. He says it's simply not safe here. Mayor Ray Nagin says there's an unhealthy mix of toxic waste in the water and dead bodies and mosquitoes and gas.

A source for the mayor's office is telling CNN the floodwaters are now contaminated with E. coli bacteria. City officials deny reports they're preventing delivery of water to residents refusing to evacuate.

Another danger, raging fires, including one in the New Orleans historic Garden District. National Guard troops cordoned off the area as helicopters dropped water on the blaze.

Significant progress reported in the draining of New Orleans floodwaters. Mayor Nagin estimates about 60 percent of the city now is still underwater, but that's down from 80 percent only within the past few days. He predicts it will take three weeks to remove all the water. Others think it could take longer.

Across the region, the mission remains critical right now. Let's take a look and see what's going on.

In Texas, U.S. Customs and Border officials are delivering 100,000 pieces of clothing they seized to hurricane victims. A plan that's under way to move about 4,000 evacuees onto cruise ships has been postponed because many people housed in the Astrodome complex apparently don't want to leave.

Over in Mississippi, at least 100 looting suspects have been arrested. They could face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $10,000.

Up to 5,500 Navy and Marine personnel are on the ground, on the beach in Biloxi, helping with the recovery efforts.

Over in Alabama, more than 2,000 people are still without power. Electricity is down, but that's down from a high of 800,000 after Katrina hit. Good progress being made now in Alabama on that front.

And this note. One of NASCAR's best-known racetracks, the Talladega Superspeedway, has donated $100,000 to help hurricane victims.

Let's go to New Orleans right away. People are still struggling with every new challenge. They're bracing for new horrors that may find -- they may find once the floodwaters recede.

CNN international correspondent Nic Robertson is joining us once again with more. Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, let me update you from when we talked an hour ago. There is a new fire starting out just over my shoulder here, a little bit east of us. You see a fire boat here. You see some fire trucks hooked up to it. Just further along, past the warehouses there, just beyond the fire boat, we can see smoldering.

Now, this is where a fire was put out on Sunday. But we now see smoke coming from this particular warehouse. The fire boat, it seems, is passing water from the river, from the Mississippi, into the fire trucks so they can go tackle it. We just saw a fire truck head off in that direction.

But if we look across the skyline a little bit, going eastwards along the Mississippi further, the fire that we were looking at before, quite literally in the last couple of minutes, while I've been standing here, that fire has been put out. And the helicopters that were dumping those buckets of water on the -- on that fire have now filled up their buckets, literally in the last two minutes, and flown into the city. We can't see from here in which direction they're heading, but it does seem they've been able to put out that fire.

And if we pan around again, you can see, again, if we look down the river, back westward, back towards that Garden District of New Orleans you were talking about, where the fire was this morning with the National Guardsmen patrolling it -- I was there, I saw that fire. You see the USS Iwo Jima there with helicopters on deck. That is here in support of the some 300 helicopters that are operating in the post- Katrina environment. Many of them are flying over this city, still performing rescue missions. We heard the water is receding, beginning to recede.

I was out with National Guardsmen in the Garden District of New Orleans a little earlier. They told me that they're now facing a new problem; that as the waters recede from that area, as they pull back slowly, they are seeing groups of looters. And this morning, I saw them chasing a group of seven looters. They said the looters are taking advantage, that new houses are becoming sort of available or easier for the looters to get into, if you will, as the flood waters pull back and the looters are moving in.

And, of course, this just one of -- one of the problems that faces the security here, the National Guard, the police that are all involved trying to round up the looters.

But one of the biggest concerns is the health impact of people still living in the floodwater, and the looters going in just as the floodwaters recede. Because the mayor's office has now said that E. coli bacteria is present in the water. That could have come from contaminated sewage, but it presents the very serious possibility of serious illness possibly breaking out on a potentially very large scale for all those thousands of people that both the mayor's office and the police have said are still living in the city. Possibly even those people facing death from contamination with the E. coli bacteria.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Do you see any evidence, Nic, that public health officials are doing anything to provide antidotes or shots or pills or anything to deal with this -- the potential threat of disease?

ROBERTSON: Well, certainly, health facilities are opening up. And we're expecting the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship, to arrive here, come down the Mississippi some time in the very new future, one of five vessels that's expected.

But medical facilities do exist here in New Orleans to help people who may have been contaminated. It's not clear if they're able to cope with the potential that several thousands of people could become sick from contamination with the E. coli bacteria. But there are medical facilities here.

But the rescue and recovery operations are still stretched to a limit, still stretched trying to pluck people from buildings, never mind go out and find those people who are not only stuck on buildings, but have no communications and who may fall ill.

Wolf.

BLITZER: E. coli, one of several diseases that officials have been deeply worried about, and one of those fears erupting right now. Thank you, Nic, we're going to get back to you shortly.

Southeast of New Orleans is the low-lying parish of St. Bernard. Waters still run deep after Katrina virtually sent the entire parish underwater. Our national correspondent Gary Tuchman is joining us now, live from the New Orleans Airport. You were just there, Gary. What was it like?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it may be the first news media visit to St. Bernard Parish since the hurricane, and it is utter devastation. Everyone who was there either got out or is dead. And I say everyone -- in this sense, almost everyone, because there are still some rescues taking place.

We have some pictures to show you. Helicopters fly overhead, looking for people who are still there. And while we were there, they found a woman, her neighbor, and her dog, who have been inside her house for the last eight days since the hurricane came. Her name is Veronica Piddo (ph). Veronica has severe arthritis, and the first few days, she thought she would ride it out. She realized over the last few days that she had to get out, but she saw nobody at all.

From what we're being told by officials in that parish -- everyone's talking to how late things came to New Orleans. Well, they got the federal help two days later than New Orleans did. The sheriff's office there was working on this all by themselves. Everyone has lost their homes. Almost the entire parish is under water.

But this woman and her friend were rescued. They had water for the first six days to drink. The last two days, they had no water left. So when she got out of the boat, out of the airboat, onto the back of a truck for a ride on the helicopter, we asked her --- we had some water with us -- if she would like a drink of water. She took a sip of water and I said to her, how did that water taste? And she says, it tasted just like ice cream.

They were taken by helicopter here to the New Orleans International Airport. This is where people are being treated, and then sent to other cities around the United States. Just an amazing tragedy. It's an amazing scene.

This parish, St. Bernard, which is to the east and southeast of the city of New Orleans. People moved there because it's isolated from the city, it's in bayou country. And it was so isolated that it was cut off from the rest of the world. And there are still an unknown number of people who have died, whose bodies have not yet been recovered, including from a nursing home, where it's believed people were not able to evacuate.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Did you see those bodies, large numbers of bodies, Gary?

TUCHMAN: The bodies and the nursing home, Wolf, are under several feet of water. There is no way yet to go by land. Almost all of the parish was under water until just the other day. Now we can see some of the parish, but they are not recovering the bodies right now. They just know they're there.

BLITZER: This lovely woman that you saw rescued, that must have been one of the most dramatic moments of your life. Eight days into this horror, an elderly woman is found alive and she's going to survive because of what happened today and you were there.

TUCHMAN: I think, Wolf, one of the things that was very interesting about it was -- I don't think they really know the big picture of what's going on. The gentleman who was with them, I said, are you happy you were rescued? He goes, no. He goes, I'd rather they have left me alone because I just wanted to go to Lake Charles.

Now, Lake Charles is in southwestern Louisiana. It's nowhere near here. So it was clear that not only did he not know what was going on by the big picture, but may have been a little delusional after being in his house for eight days without the proper nutrition.

BLITZER: And you point out that they took the pet along as well. This has been an issue. Some people simply are refusing to leave, even this late in the game, unless they can bring their pets. So, what is the general policy on that?

TUCHMAN: Well, it depends on who they're dealing with. This was a Georgia National Guard chopper that rescued them and they were happy to bring Susie the dog with them on the helicopter. Not everyone is. It depends on the situation.

One thing about animals, Wolf, that I want to tell you, as we're touring around the New Orleans area, we see packs of animals, packs of dogs. We were on Interstate 10 a short time ago and we saw six Labrador Retrievers all walking together in a pack, down the highway.

They all had collars around their necks. It was very sad. Obviously they were somebody's pets. They didn't know what to do. We gave them some water, but that's all we can do. It's rather pitiful.

BLITZER: What a story. Gary Tuchman reporting for us. Thank you, Gary, for that report.

President Bush today is promising an investigation separate from an investigation the U.S. Congress certainly will undertake into the federal government's response to this disaster. At the same time, he's insisting he won't play the Katrina blame game.

Let's go to our White House correspondent, Dana Bash. She's following this story for us. Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the White House knows what happens when Congress comes back to town, and that is the criticism that already has been going on gets louder and louder, closer and closer to the White House.

So, it was obvious that the president wanted to try to head that off. At his first event this morning of many events in the Cabinet Room, he said that he would lead an investigation, but was careful to say, over time -- meaning eventually he would lead an investigation.

Among the big questions, would he go for a 9/11 kind of commission; one that he initially refused to do and then eventually accepted? That's something that they're not answering right now. He's saying it's too soon.

And you mentioned blame game. That was the mantra here on lots of questions, on whether or not anybody in his administration should be held accountable for the sluggish federal response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think one of the things that people want us to do here is to play a blame game. I -- we've got to solve problems. We're problem solvers. There will be ample time for people to figure out what went right and what went wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, the president did later in the day, have a meeting with congressional leaders, Republicans and Democrats. The Democratic leader came out and said that they expect the president to ask for another $40 to $50 billion to fund the recovery effort. The White House is saying they're not exactly clear on the number.

But in terms of the whole concept of accountability, Wolf, Republican leaders came out and they essentially said what the president said, it's too early to point fingers. But the Democratic House leader, Nancy Pelosi, jumped in front of the microphone and said that she does think it's time for some accountability and she essentially said the FEMA director should be fired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: His credentials for fighting terrorism and protecting our country against a terrorist attack and the reverse responding to it may be appropriate, but in terms of humanitarian disaster of this kind and having FEMA under him, I think, that that should be changed immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, the White House has so far been very careful not to say that they're firing anybody. Essentially, Wolf, as you know, it's not the president's style to fire people, especially in the middle of this kind of a situation.

But you will notice that you haven't seen a lot of Michael Brown lately. The Bush officials say they recognize that him out publicly, talking about the fact that he, for example, didn't know that the Convention Center of New Orleans had the kinds of problems that it did, that, that, perhaps, crystallized the appearance that the federal government didn't know what they were doing.

You're not going to see Michael Brown -- you haven't seen him over the last couple of days and if you call the White House right now and ask for an interview, you won't get one.

BLITZER: We have, Dana and we haven't gotten it. Thanks very much. Dana Bash, reporting for us from the White House. Let's go to Jack Cafferty in New York. He's got another question on his mind. Jack?

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: We're talking about blame game. There are thousands of people dead because government officials failed to do what they're supposed to be doing. That's criminal behavior. I mean, that's no game. There are people dead in the city of New Orleans and up and down the Gulf Coast because people charged with seeing to their welfare, failed to do that.

I don't understand this reluctance to say, Mr. Brown, you failed in your assignment. You're out of here. Go away. Go back to Colorado and go back to work for the Arabian Horse Association, that we got you from. That's where he came from, by the way.

Anyway, we'll get to that later in the program.

In 100 years, New Orleans may no longer exist. Now, government officials and experts have been saying that for years -- long before Katrina came ashore a week ago.

One expert asks in today's "Washington Post," if we should rebuild New Orleans at all, 10 feet below sea level just so one day it can be wiped out again? A geophysicist by the name of Klaus Jacob, suggests we need to look at the geology of the region before we consider rebuilding at the price tags they're talking about. He says the city of New Orleans will keep sinking and global sea levels will continue to rise because of global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps.

So, the question is this hour is this. Should New Orleans be rebuilt? And if so, should it be rebuilt, I guess, in the same location where it is? The French Quarter, they're saying, is -- looks like it's going to come through this all right, but, gosh, I don't know. The rest of that area seems so vulnerable.

And who's to say we don't get another one of these Category 5 jobs in a year or two, Wolf?

BLITZER: They shouldn't rebuild it unless they fix that levee system and make sure this could never happen again. That will require some cash. But you know what? This country is a rich country. We have a lot of cash.

Jack, we're going to check back and see what our viewers think about this as well. Thanks very much.

Coming up, the president on hurricane damage control in Washington: What's his next move? Faced with more second-guessing and deep anger at his administration.

Plus, the president's mother speaks out about evacuees in Texas and gives fuel to those questioning her son's response to the disaster.

And later, the U.S. Supreme Court in mourning and in transition. The chief justice is remembered and his possible replacement gets ready for what's next.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: More than a week after Hurricane Katrina's deadly assault, we keep hearing officials say now is not the time for blame or for partisanship. But there's real anger in this country that help did not get to the region faster. And with that comes the finger- pointing and demands for answers.

Our congressional correspondent Ed Henry and our senior political analyst Bill Schneider are standing by. First to you with more, Ed?

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the bottom line is that after the 9/11 disaster, we saw lawmakers in both parties standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the Capitol steps singing "God Bless America".

But as you heard a moment ago, a much different scene at the White House this afternoon after congressional leaders of both parties met with President Bush. They came out and were basically trading charges about who dropped the ball, who's pointing fingers right now. And the bottom line is that Republicans here on the Hill privately feel that Democrats have been beating up on FEMA solely to score political points against this White House. That's a charge that Democrats up here flatly reject.

But earlier on Capitol Hill, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, in fact, tried to spread the blame a little bit here and say that congressional review should focus not just on the federal government, but the local and state government.

But Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy grew angry and emotional as he directed his blame at federal agencies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY, (D) VERMONT: What drives me up a wall, and when you look at what's happening at the Superdome, they couldn't get water in, they couldn't get doctors in, they couldn't get support in. Where in God's name were the people who were supposed to give water, support? People were dying there, they were losing hope there. And it just -- I find it -- I find it --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton today called for an independent commission like the 9/11 commission to investigate all of this, while Senator Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman today -- they have oversight over FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security -- they said they're going to have a series of hearings to explore all of these questions.

But Republican Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi who lost his home in this storm revealed today that he went to Senator Collins and said that he hopes these hearings do not fix blame, as he said, on federal officials or state officials. He said instead he wants to see creative solutions. He does not want to see these federal officials pulled back from the states that have been hard hit to testify on Capitol Hill.

Instead, Trent Lott said what he wants to see is a focus on money.

We've already seen Congress pony up $10 billion in relief money. We're hearing the White House may push that to $40 to $50 billion more in the next few days. Trent Lott said he wants to see in total, in excess of $100 billion, while Senator Democratic Leader Harry Reid says he wants to see $150 billion.

To give you an idea and put that in perspective, Wolf, after four hurricanes in Florida last year, Congress put together a package of about $14 billion. After 9/11, Congress appropriated emergency relief funds of $40 billion. So Harry Reid is now saying he basically wants to quadruple that. It gives you an idea of how staggering the magnitude of the devastation.

Wolf.

BLITZER: I suppose though, Ed, if the United States taxpayer can spend about $300 billion so far in Iraq, it can spend $100 billion to fix this part of our country.

Let's go to Bill Schneider, he's watching all of this as well. Bill, the debate clearly only just beginning. Set the scene for us. What are the main arguments?

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I hear three arguments, Wolf.

The first one is inept bureaucracy. The fact that there was government bungling, there was incompetence. The president pointed to that today when he said bureaucracy must not stand in the way of getting the job done.

A second argument you often hear from Democrats. They say wrong political priorities. There's been a philosophy of limited government in the country which has produced tax cuts for the wealthy, spending cuts on things like infrastructure and flood control, and the diversion of resources to other priorities like the war in Iraq.

And a third argument is the simple lack of leadership. That's the contrast with the response to 9/11, when the mayor, Rudy Giuliani, was on the scene giving voice to the people and talking about taking charge, and when the president rallied the stricken city. You didn't hear that kind of leadership in this case. And a lot of people say where was it? Where were the political leaders?

BLITZER: What about the whole issue of an investigation? The president calling for an investigation, but not necessarily an independent 9/11-type of investigation. When he says he wants to investigate, what are his critics saying, basically? SCHNEIDER: His critics are saying, investigate yourself? That doesn't make any sense. Because his critics are saying the president ought to be investigated along with everyone else. Of course they're the president's partisan enemies. But they say no investigation run out of the White House is likely to have credibility, at least not in their eyes.

The only thing I would say is there's going to be more than one investigation, you can be certain of that. The White House may try to control one of them, but there will be other investigations from other sources, and they're likely to come up with different conclusions.

BLITZER: Bill Schneider reporting for us. Thank you, Bill, very much.

Some comments from a former first lady are raising some serious eyebrows. Barbara Bush and former President Bush were meeting with evacuees at the Houston Astrodome yesterday. Later the former first lady spoke on National Public Radio's "Marketplace." Mrs. Bush said that evacuees told her they were overwhelmed by Houston's hospitality. And then she went on to say this --

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BARBARA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Almost everyone I've talked to says we're going to move to Houston. And so many of the people in the arenas here, you know, were underprivileged anyway. This is -- this is working very well for them.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BLITZER: Barbara Bush's comments are getting a lot of reaction on the Internet. Our reporter Abbi Tatton is checking the situation online. What are you finding, Abbi?

ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Those comments by the former first lady not lost on the blogosphere, which has been following Hurricane Katrina for the past week.

If you look at this site here, Technorati.com, this is a search engine that tracks the big stories out there online, looks at some 16 million blogs. What are the themes, what are the main searches? Number one, as it has been for days is Katrina. Number two today, is Barbara Bush.

Looking at what some of them are saying. Some of the big liberal blogs linked to her comments last night, CrooksAndLiars.com has the audio. HIS.blogspot.com (ph) also weighing in. And then lots of liberal bloggers started weighing in on this. The overwhelming reaction, this is utterly insensitive. One comment we're seeing over and over again, Barbara Bush was doing her best impression of Marie Antoinette.

But it's not all politics out there. It's not all outrage. People are also acting online. What we've seen over the last week is the blogosphere really coming together left and right to raise money. TruthLaidBear.com got together some 1,800 bloggers to fund raise. They did a drive over the weekend that ended yesterday that raised over a million dollars.

Some bloggers like Skippy here at xnerg.blogspot.com was weighing in on Barbara Bush, but at the same time urging all his readers to donate as much money as possible. A personal drive there raising $10,000. Someone like InstaPundit.com, many, many more readers, $319,000. So action as well as commentary, Wolf, in the blogosphere.

BLITZER: And we should point out, Abbi, that we checked with a spokesperson for Barbara Bush to see if she wanted to clarify her remarks, and they decided to say, no. The remarks will stand alone, at least for now.

Coming up a very, very personal rescue story from one of our own CNN family members. You heard Donna Brazile yesterday tell us about her missing sister. She's going to join us in a few minutes to tell us what has happened since her interview on this program here in THE SITUATION ROOM yesterday.

Coming up also, as the Capitol says goodbye to the late chief justice, there are new developments in the fight over his successor. We'll update you on that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here in Washington, a public show of grief today for the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist. And a new start date has been set for confirmation hearings for Rehnquist's would-be successor, John Roberts.

Let's get the latest from our congressional correspondent, Joe Johns. What happened today, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. First, out here in front of the Supreme Court, I just wanted to give you an idea of the number of people, the line that's waiting out here to file past the casket of the chief justice. There's been a steady stream all day, just plain folks coming to walk through the Great Hall of the Supreme Court.

There have also been a number of dignitaries, Wolf, including the president of the United States himself, along with Laura Bush, escorted by Justice Antonin Scalia, associate justice, of course, of the Supreme Court.

Now, earlier today, when the body of the chief justice was brought here to the Supreme Court for the last time, we also got a glimpse of John Roberts, the man who has been named to replace him on the Supreme Court. Roberts was one of eight pallbearers to take the casket up the stairs to the Supreme Court, walked around there for a while.

Later, I actually ran into him inside the Supreme Court building, asked him about the preparations for his confirmation hearings. He said, of course, we're going to use the next few days to honor the late chief justice.

Now, as you said, Wolf, there have been developments on the Senate Judiciary Committee. What we do know is that the schedule has now been changed. They've now moved those confirmation hearings for Roberts until Monday.

The chairman of the committee, talking to reporters earlier today, saying he's gotten a lot of input from a lot of people about when these hearings should be held.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN: There have been a great many requests to postpone the hearings for some period of time. The mayor of New Orleans weighed in on the subject with a telephone call over the weekend. He's the head of the legal cities. And Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Council, was looking for a postponement. And then events overtook us with the passing of Chief Justice Rehnquist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: The funeral for the chief justice is scheduled tomorrow here in Washington at St. Matthew's Church, that's a Catholic Church of course. The chief justice was Lutheran, but they have arranged for it to be held at there at the Catholic Church. We are expecting the president and the vice president both to attend.

Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Joe Johns, reporting from the Supreme Court. Thank you, Joe, very much.

Up next, more on what has happened over this remarkable eight -- these remarkable eight days, the urgent hurricane recovery efforts. We'll get an extraordinary view from the sky -- a unique perspective of aerial efforts to fight those raging fires in New Orleans and beyond. We'll speak live with helicopter photographer/reporter J.T. Alpaugh. He's standing by. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Let's pull back a little bit right now and get the big picture of the devastation in New Orleans as you can only see it from the air. We're joined, once again, on the phone by helicopter reporter J.T. Alpaugh, who is doing a remarkable job with his team.

J.T., thanks very much. What about today? First of all, just update our viewers. What were some of the dramatic scenes you saw today? I know one of the dramatic scenes was that stadium you flew over.

J.T. ALPAUGH, POOL PHOTOGRAPHER: Good afternoon, Wolf. How are you?

One of the stadiums we flew over -- again, the stadiums we've been judging and looking at some of the water levels. We're trying to judge how the water is actually leaving the area. And one of our markers or our benchmarks, for lack of a better term, that we're using is a football stadium that is in the middle of the flood basin area.

And these flood waters have maybe gone down maybe a foot or so, but have not gone down significantly enough. And you can see the stadium here as we push in. We're using the goalposts as a measurement stick to see how far that water has come down. And I can tell you, if you can see this -- the goalposts, the water has not come down very much; maybe about six inches in the past 24 hours.

BLITZER: Because yesterday we saw that remarkable video of yourself -- of showing that water was beginning to pump out. Take a look at these pictures. This is one of those rescue workers, a helicopter pilot, who is literally begging these two individuals to leave. What happened here?

ALPAUGH: Well, this man's family came up to our remote truck here on the freeway and said -- begging for help to find her husband. Her husband, Calvin, owned a convenience store right across from the street from the house you see here, and was believed to be locked inside that store.

He was afraid of looters. He had weapons and said he didn't -- he was text-messaging his wife back and forth and telling her that he didn't want to come out because of the looters. Well, she became concerned when she lost contact with him the day before yesterday and trying to get people to help him and pull him out of there.

Well, she called us and came to our remote truck where we went over and we put her into the audio. She told us where the store was. And we put rescue -- a Coast Guard rescue ship on that rooftop. He climbed down and found Calvin, that you see right there in the blue hat, her husband.

Well, Kim saw him and saw that he was OK and pleaded with him to go, but he did not to want leave. And we're hearing stories like this all throughout this area. These people don't want to go.

BLITZER: Why didn't he want to leave? What did he say?

ALPAUGH: Well, he wanted to protect his livelihood. You can see that the Coast Guard here, talking to us and giving our messages back and forth. And Kim was talking to us over our microwave system and begging him to come.

So, we were going back and forth, but he didn't want to leave the store behind. He didn't want to leave his livelihood. And she pleaded with him that the family's more important and we were going to reunite him with her and his kids and it just didn't happen.

But she was very pleased to see that he was OK, because she had lost contact with him. So, at least we helped out in that regard.

BLITZER: Another dramatic story that you reported on today and you showed our viewers the images, the fires that are erupting in parts of New Orleans. Talk a little bit about that.

ALPAUGH: Well, you can see right here. This was about a two- block area, just south of the downtown area. And the only way they're really fighting these fires, because they can't get proper amount of fire apparatus in these areas, is they're fighting them by air.

This is a Chinook CH-46 helicopter that you see on the screen right now, with what's called a Bambi bucket, filled with thousands of gallons of water. And they come in and they've been doing these strategic drops over right over these fires to control them from spreading.

And they cannot get apparatus in there. They can't get those fire trucks -- you see one fire truck there. But not enough personnel can get in to fight the fires, so -- to stop them from spreading, so they're battling them from the air.

We have a few fires around the city. It's not widespread, but they are popping up here and there.

BLITZER: What about the whole issue -- there was one dramatic scene, I saw a tree that literally split a house almost in half. I want to get that video and show our viewers. Yes. Take a look at that. This has been, I take it, on the scene since the hurricane came ashore?

ALPAUGH: Right. This is an area just north of Lake Pontchartrain in the area between Mandeville and Bogalusa -- I believe that's Bogalusa -- and it was a very large tree, about a 200-foot tree that snapped and actually sliced this house nearly in half, almost like a piece of bread. It was a very clean break, as you can see. And I'm just hoping that no one was in that house when that happened. But a very dramatic looking -- we haven't seen anything like this type of damage. As you see, as I choked up and I pushed in the clean break off this tree was just enormous, just taking this house right apart.

BLITZER: One final thought before I let you get up in the air. I know you're going to be up in the air in the next few minutes, and we'll showing our viewers live pictures that you'll bringing us from this chopper. Do you visibly see evidence of progress over these past eight days?

ALPAUGH: Well, the biggest progress we've seen, Wolf, is that levee break. And the 17th Street Canal levee is finally shored up. And they have got very large pipes that are sucking the water out of the basin area, the area below sea level, and throwing that water back into Lake Pontchartrain. They're making some headway there. And we think we're starting to see some of the waters, although slightly, it's a good sign that some of the waters toward the southeastern area are starting to come down. So it may look like they're starting to get a lot of the water pumped out, but it's still going to be a very, very long time before this water is all gone.

BLITZER: All right. J.T. Alpaugh, get back up in the air. Our viewers are anxious to see your live video and we'll be showing a lot of it during the next hour here on CNN. Thanks very much for coming into THE SITUATION ROOM. Good luck.

Many families have been watching CNN for any sight or word from their displaced loved ones. Coming up, we'll find out how one of our own CNN contributors was able to find her family after appearing right here in THE SITUATION ROOM 24 hours ago. We'll have the happy ending to Donna Brazile's amazing story. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We've all heard the desperate pleas going out from people who can't find loved once who were in Hurricane Katrina's path. One appeal was made right here in THE SITUATION ROOM yesterday from a member of our own CNN family, Donna Brazile. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN ANALYST: As of today I want to say that my sister, Sheila's, still missing. I talked to her a week ago, and I encouraged her to fill her bathtub with water. Sheila is 46 years old. She was last at Tulane and South Jefferson Davis Parkway. Sheila is in an assisted living facility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We're thrilled to report that Donna's sister has been found and rescued.

Donna Brazile is now joining us to tell us what happened. Donna, I just -- I'm so delighted. But tell our viewers what happened. You left THE SITUATION ROOM yesterday. Walk us through the next step in your life.

BRAZILE: I got back to my house, which is my own war room. And I received a phone call from Mitch Landrieu, who is the lieutenant governor of Louisiana. He said, Donna, we heard about where Sheila was. We have someone from the wildlife and fishing industry there. They have a boat. And he said, we're trying to get her. About 30 minutes later I heard from the governor's office, and they told me that they saw my sister, they talked to her, but she wouldn't leave.

Now, of course, at that point, my family became alarmed that, you know, given her state that perhaps she needed some medication or something. I mean, this is a lot of trauma going on, as you know. And this is a hospice type facility. My brother, Chet, who's within a 30- mile radius, we contacted him, and this morning, early this morning, along with my cousin, who's a New Orleans police official and a Louisiana wildlife and fishery. Wolf, what amazed me what my brother Chet told me is that you cannot get downtown. The water is still pretty high.

And so they went in on a boat, and when he saw Sheila, he didn't know what to expect, and Sheila screamed out and she said, Chet, we have to get Lionel -- that's my father -- and Zeola -- that's my sister. She didn't know that they had been rescued two days before. And so she was standing, waiting for somebody to rescue not only her, but her other family, because that's the Brazile family motto, we stick together.

Chet said, Lionel is fine, everyone else is OK, you're the only one. Are you ready to go? She said, I'm ready to go. Being a Brazile, she found four other people stuck in their apartments and they all went together.

Now during the boat ride back to what they call the Command Center, I talked to her the whole time, because she didn't want her and some of the other patients in the boat to see dead bodies floating all around the Canal Street area, South Jefferson -- we call that Midcity. But she's with my brother. She's had a hot meal. She's had a hot shower. She's in great condition. And she will be reunited with my sisters and others tonight.

BLITZER: So there were four people who survived a week of this hell, and including your sister, which we're thrilled, but there were other people, unfortunately, in that same building who didn't survive.

BRAZILE: That is correct. And there are still a couple people there, she told me. My sister's very articulate. She knows what's going on. And she said she got to the roof when she would hear water -- whenever they would drop water and rations over the last 24 hours. And she went and she got it and she distributed it to as many people as she could. She said she used the water to wash her dishes, wash herself up. But she said that they had run out of food.

BLITZER: And so where is she exactly right now?

BRAZILE: She's physically en route to Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge is -- you know, as a family person, I'm trying to relocate everyone temporarily. Those that are not outside the state, to Baton Rouge, which is the capital where I went to school, and I have friends there and others that are helping me find apartments and temporary housing, so that I can reunite my family this weekend.

BLITZER: You actually went and bought a house in Baton Rouge.

BRAZILE: Yes. Well I never thought I would be a proud home owner in Baton Rouge. I love the state, but Kathleen Blanco, I guess I'm coming home this weekend. And yes, we go to closing pretty quick. I have two apartments. Still looking.

Look, I want to help a lot of other people, like my sister who went back and got four people, my brother, who's been helping out. I want to go and help out the people. I'm collecting clothes, and canned goods, and food. They're my people. Louisianans, New Orleans, we stick together.

BLITZER: The great news for your family and for these four other individuals, whose lives were saved, because they probably could not have held out a whole lot longer where they were. But people are going to be watching you and saying, Donna Brazile, you know, she's part of the CNN family, she had an opportunity to come here into THE SITUATION ROOM. But there are so many other people who don't have that opportunity. And we've been getting a lot of e-mail like that. They're thrilled for you. But what do you say to the other people whose hearts are still in agony?

BRAZILE: You know, I say to them what I say to people from day one. The people at the Superdome are my people. The people at the Convention Center are my people. That could have been me. That's how I was raised. When I saw the people at Charity Hospital, that's where I was born. I have a moral obligation to speak out and to help other people.

But, Wolf, my sister is a special situation. She's my sister. I waited one week. And after what my father told me in terms of his own rescue, a 75-year-old man trying to help his family, a Korean veteran who said this was worse that Korea. I felt it was more important yesterday to go find my sister.

BLITZER: You did exactly the right thing, and no one can begrudge you at all. One final word on your dad. How is he?

BRAZILE: He's been to the shopping center. The people of San Antonio are taking care of my dad. He's had several hot meals. And he told me that he's liking mariachi bands in San Antonio. They've taken him to buy some clothing. And he told me this morning that he finally had an opportunity to shave.

BLITZER: Here's an idea and think about this, you don't have to answer it. If you want to, every day come into THE SITUATION ROOM, tell us a story of someone who's still missing with a potential location. We'll put it on the air and maybe we can save some more lives.

BRAZILE: Wolf, I am obligated to do that. And you know, let me just say this. I've been in touch with FEMA, the governor's office, every federal official, every local official. And as people e-mail me and they know how to reach me and reach CNN, I've been able to contact those officials and we're looking for families all throughout the city of New Orleans.

BLITZER: Donna, we're thrilled.

BRAZILE: Thank you. Thank you. All right, Sheila. Hey, boo!

BLITZER: As we've been saying, New Orleans is one of America's most favorite cities. Coming up, after Katrina wiped away people, property and the promise of a quick recovery, should residents simply relocate or rebuild?

You've sent us your thoughts. Jack Cafferty is going through your e-mail. He's standing by to share some of your thoughts with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Jack Cafferty is joining us once again. Jack, are you getting some e-mail?

CAFFERTY: We're getting a few, Wolf, one or two. The question this hour is this. Should the city of New Orleans be rebuilt?

There are people that suggest that it should not be because it's below sea level, because global warming will continue to raise the ocean levels and eventually we'll be dealing with the same kind of catastrophic situation all over again. But not everybody thinks that. Here's some of what you've written.

Dr. Vektro in Chicago: "New Orleans should be rebuilt as an historic landmark, but people should not be allowed to live there."

Gary in Miami, Florida: "I think New Orleans should be rebuilt and restored to its exact original grandeur. I had a reservation to go there on September 9 of this year and obviously it was canceled. I would like to see what I missed."

Birgitta in Mansfield, Pennsylvania: "How about restoring the French Quarter and housing tourists on cruise ships -- letting them take trips to see that part of New Orleans? Level the rest of the town. Let it go back to being wetlands, the way it was historically."

John in Oswego, Illinois: "Absolutely, in the same place, as a tribute to this 300-year-old jewel of a city. There is no other place like it on Earth, the birthplace of jazz, and should music cannot be rebuilt anywhere else."

And Franklin in Roseville, California, writes this rather twisted message: "The geophysicist says it may not be advisable to rebuild New Orleans due to global warming. However, the Bush administration does not recognize global warming, so you have to rebuild the city."

BLITZER: All right, Jack, thanks very much.

CAFFERTY: A little humor there.

BLITZER: We're going to check back with you in a few minutes. Much more of our special coverage, coming up. We're going to go back.

We have live pictures coming in from the helicopter pilot that was just on this program, J.T. Alpaugh. He's about to resume flying over New Orleans. We're going to go there and watch what he's seeing.

Much more of our coverage in THE SITUATION ROOM, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: For evacuees, that are needing help locating housing and donors are ready to provide it, the Internet offers some answers. Our Internet reporters, Jacki -- Internet reporter, Jacki Schechner, is standing by with the situation on-line Jacki?

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the generosity has been outstanding online. I just wanted to show you some of the many resources we have been finding in the past week or so.

The first one, nola.com. We've told you about this site before. This is the Web site of the "Times-Picayune" newspaper. They've been doing excellent reporting, by the way, on what's going on in New Orleans. There is a message board with homes available. The numbers are outstanding -- 4,000 posts at this point.

What they've done now, though, is coordinate, which is really interesting. They are creating a spreadsheet out of these posts. And what they're doing is taking that information, posting it at another Web site, DanielsImage.com. And what you can do there is search housing by state.

They are actually also printing out these spreadsheets, taking them to shelters and helping match people up.

Some of the other sites we wanted to show you, Craigslist.com. We've brought this up before. People, not only offering housing, offering clothing, offering transportation; really offering to help people get back on their feet. It has been incredible how generous people are.

Another one from MoveOn.org -- HurricaneHousing.org. They have close to 170,000 beds available at this point.

Also, wanted to bring you this -- very important, Wolf -- a phone number that people can call: 1-800-6-3-8-4-5-5-9. That's 1-800-6-3-8- 4-5-5-9. We'll try to get the stuff up on CNN.com. There's some other links that people need to know about -- information for people who want to donate and for people who are looking for housing.

Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much, Jacki. Very useful information during these critical times.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com