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The Situation Room
Hurricane Katrina: The Aftermath
Aired September 07, 2005 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's 5:00 p.m. here in Washington. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where news and information from around the world arrive in one place simultaneously.
Happening now, it's 4:00 p.m. Central Time in New Orleans where some survivors are still refusing to leave that city, despite a mandatory evacuation order.
A deadly threat. New information about what exactly is in the water that's covering so much of New Orleans.
As many as 1 million people displaced and now scattered across the country. We're tracking the evacuees this hour.
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
In the disaster zone, the mission is slowly turning from one of rescue and recovery to more of restoration and relief. Still critical, getting money to the evacuees. Just a few hours ago, the director of FEMA, Michael Brown, said the agency will start giving debit cards to the displaced. Each card will have at least $2,000, putting much- needed money in the hands of those who've lost everything.
Meanwhile, Katrina has turned a city that once had a high crime rate into what police now call one of the safest cities in the United States. Law enforcement in New Orleans say they're putting people in jail, even nabbing a shooting suspect firing on telephone workers.
Besides law enforcement, authorities are putting out warning not to drink the flood waters. The Environmental Protection Agency says initial flood water samples show high levels of E. Coli and other bacteria, as well as lead.
Now the situation in some of the states that we're following.
First, in Louisiana, officials think some 10,000, maybe 15,000 people remain in New Orleans. And adding to their danger, officials say they've counted 57 fires around the city so far.
Over in Texas, 240,000 evacuees packing the state's shelters and hotels. Eight thousand of them are staying on in the Houston Astrodome, the Reliant Center, and the George R. Brown Convention Center.
And on the state of Katrina and the U.S. economy, we're watching this. The Congressional Budget Office here in Washington says it could cost the U.S. more than 400,000 jobs in the coming months, and it could cost the nation's economic growth by as much as a full percentage point.
Let's go to New Orleans right away, where the holdouts are holed up in their homes. And those who serve and protect them are putting out this message: Voluntarily try to get out, or be forced out. Those residents will be given a few days to flee or else police say they could forcibly start removing them.
Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, is on scene for us in New Orleans. She's joining us with much more now. Christiane?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as we've been discussing over the last few days, the issue of the filthy water is now becoming critical, where there's, as you say, bacteria and other filth and spread-able diseases being discovered in the water.
It's not just decomposing bodies, but backed-up sewers that are flooded into there, garbage cans, gasoline from all the cars that are flooded and all the boats that are now on the water.
I mean, I've been on that water for the last couple of days. It is black, and green, and absolutely stagnant. It is really disgusting.
And these mostly on the water are people like the wildlife and game enforcement agents here in Louisiana, game wardens and others from around the country, basically, the units that have the boats. Louisiana didn't have enough boats, the officials here say, and so they're being helped by the ones who've come in to try to clear the houses now.
But even though the mayor has said that it's a state of martial law in a sense, it's a state of emergency here, and they have the right to evict people or, rather, to mandatorily evacuate them.
Those precise orders have not yet been handed down. So the law enforcement people, the rescue people, are actually not yet going and dragging people out. And when we asked them if they're going to be able to do that if it comes to that, they're very, very squeamish about it. They don't know how they're going to actually force people out who don't want to go. And there's still many people who don't want to go, many people who are very sad about the prospect of leaving their homes, as bad as it is here.
However, there are some units of the enforcement agents who have come from around the country -- we ran into a group of California Highway Patrolmen who were, in fact, taking the mayor's orders seriously and were starting to evict people by force. It didn't come to actual physical force, because the residents didn't actually physically resist. But they did have to go in and basically, you know, open doors, tell them to come out, say that this was their orders. And these people came out, but very reluctantly, in real -- some of them in tears -- and put on trucks mounted with armed guards, and basically trucked out. And they don't know where to.
Wolf? BLITZER: I assume they're still finding people alive who would very much like to leave but have been stuck in their attics or stuck on rooftops. I assume that's still going on, Christiane. Is it?
AMANPOUR: Well, it is. It is going on. We saw a group of people who, for instance, were sitting on the street side with bags packed, waiting to be picked up.
But the stubborn people, those who have really holed and held up here, because they want to, many of them tell us, they're carpenters, construction workers, and others who want to help rebuild the city. And actually, some of them are in parts of the city that have not been damaged. They're the ones who are putting up the most resistance, not physical resistance, yet, but certainly verbal resistance and wanting to stay.
Those who are, you know, in houses that have got water, in some instances we saw, really right up to the rooftops still, they obviously want to come out. In fact, most of those have already come out.
BLITZER: Christiane Amanpour, thanks very much.
I want our viewers to listen now to J.T. Alpaugh, the helicopter reporter. He's now resumed flying with his team over New Orleans.
J.T. ALPAUGH, POOL PHOTOGRAPHER: ... pouring out of where the original levee break occurred. You can see right where that wall has broken off there on the left side of your screen. That's where the original break occurred, and that water being funneled out of that area.
Now, we've been seeing about half a dozen, maybe up to 10, pumping stations working today, so they're starting to come online, slowly, one at a time. Out of the 148 pumping stations within the area, only about 10 of them or so of them are working.
Now, just to give you an idea, if all 148 of these pumps were working, they would be able to pump out one foot of water per day. So that gives you an idea how much work is left here, billions of gallons of water still within this area.
You can see the sludge and the filth that's being poured into this canal leading out to the lake. Again, we're going to pull away -- the Chinook helicopter pulling out with three sandbags connected. He is actually on his way to work an area near the London Canal where there's another levee break.
Again, they don't have the access to that break, the ground access, I should say, that a lot of the construction crews in this area had to this particular break. So, over here at the London Canal, which we're going to follow this Chinook in and watch his drop, as it precision flying to lower these sandbags into place and then drop them into the London Canal.
The London Street Canal... BLITZER: All right, we're going to keep this picture going. I want to bring in our Alex Quade. She's on the phone. She's been embedded with the U.S. military in New Orleans.
Alex, you were involved in some of these chopper missions earlier today. Tell our viewers where you were, and what you saw and did.
ALEX QUADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. I'm actually right now on the tarmac at the Naval Air Station New Orleans at Belle Chasse. And this is where the Army's First Cavalry Aviation Brigade is positioned as part of Task Force Katrina.
Black Hawk and Chinook helicopter crews, they're basically doing whatever FEMA asks. And we just landed, returning from a number of task missions. The first one was what they call a S.O.F., or soft insert.
The First Cav helicopter came, basically dropped special operations forces into a neighborhood near the city park and Lake Pontchartrain area, to, as they called it, weed out people who are holed up in their homes, people who want to stay put.
Now, these special forces, they include special law enforcement agents such as SWAT team members, and agents working for Homeland Security. And these are folks that have come in from San Diego, from Tampa, from New York, from Washington, D.C. They are carrying M-4s, big weapons. They look very imposing. But I asked them how, you know, how exactly are you planning to do these, to get these people out?
And we watched them. We followed them through the rising waters, as they banged on doors, they banged on windows, trying to find people holed up in the homes. And when they did find them, they tried to be very persuasive.
They didn't force anybody out. They didn't, you know, yank anybody out of their homes. But they tried to be very verbally persuasive, saying that, look, this situation could last for 80 days. You'll be here without food, without water, without sewage, you know, with the waters and no electricity.
We followed them house-to-house as they kept looking for other folks. I also went on a second mission, which is what the First Cav is doing with their Chinooks. This is where they are (INAUDIBLE) helicopter reporter there.
They're scooping up sandbags and dropping them onto the levees. We also flew over to Hammond Airfield where more First Cav soldiers are still driving in on buses from Fort Hood, Texas.
So those are the foot soldiers that will be going out on present patrols. They'll be doing these foot patrols around New Orleans and also helping to fight the fires that you're seeing around New Orleans. We actually flew over a big house fire in the city today.
The soldiers of the First Cav, whom we're embedded with, they'll basically do whatever heavy lifting tasks that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, asks of them.
Wolf?
BLITZER: Alex Quade, reporting for us. It sounds like you had a fascinating day, Alex.
And these are live pictures that our viewers are seeing. These Chinook helicopters continuing to bring over the sandbags, to fill in the breaches, the holes in these levees, to stop the flooding, and to certainly try to get that water pumped out of this area.
J.T. Alpaugh is the helicopter reporter. Let's listen in.
ALPAUGH: So, again, we'll be watching this from a majority of the week, as he maneuvers that aircraft directly over the south wall of the break of this levee. Well, maybe he's going to the north wall. And he is. He's going to the north break. They're going to drop that right into position.
And that looks like a great spot. And the crew chief on board is going to give the signal to go, and all three away. And sinking to the bottom -- you can see the air escaping and the bubbles escaping as those sink into place. And that load (ph) sinks away here at the London Street Canal.
BLITZER: These are live pictures that you're seeing over New Orleans. They're trying to fill this breach in the levee. We're going to continue to show these live pictures to our viewers.
One of the reasons, though, that the mayor of New Orleans wants the holdouts to move out as quickly as possible is the vast poisonous pool in which the city is now swimming. Authorities want to focus in on getting rid of all of that nasty water, and the dangers that they represent for so many people.
Let's bring in CNN's Jeff Koinange. He's joining us now with more on this part of the story from New Orleans. Jeff?
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, you hit the nail on the head. Nasty water.
We've been in that water the last couple of days up to our chest, in some parts. And that water is dirty, it's filthy. It is fetid. It's filled with corpses, and also it's filled with sewage.
This is very important to hear, that officials are telling people to leave, because, if they stay and that water contaminates people, it will bring a whole new problem to this city.
Wolf?
BLITZER: You've been in other parts of the world, Jeff. And you've seen disgusting, dirty water. Give a little comparison, the water you've seen in the middle of New Orleans and the water you've seen in other stories that you've covered, specifically in Africa. KOINANGE: I'll tell you what, Wolf. First of all, the water we have seen here, at least they're draining it fast. Other places that I've been, they let that sit there. And what does that do? Someone is contaminated with it. They go, they either touch a door, or shake a person's hand, go and open a car door or a house door, and then someone else comes and opens that door. Cholera begins just like that.
When cholera starts, Wolf, it spreads like wildfire. This is what people here are trying to avoid, because this could just bring a whole -- open up a whole new can of worms in this city. This water here, at least, Wolf, is being drained slowly. There is so much of it, it's going to take anywhere from 36 to 80 days. It's important that they keep draining it, even more important that people leave the city.
Wolf?
BLITZER: One of the fears is the mosquito-borne diseases, like West Nile virus. Are you seeing a lot of mosquitoes where you are?
KOINANGE: Plenty of mosquitoes, Wolf. In fact, we're spraying up all day and all night, because they are there, Wolf, and they are looking for victims. They're looking for people to bite, and they're biting us all up and down these streets, Wolf, yes.
They are there because the waters are stagnant. They're stagnant, they're smelly, they're fetid. This is perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. And then they come over to Canal Street where we are, and they start feeding on us. So, yes, we have to keep spraying all the time, Wolf, because those mosquitoes aren't going to stop any time soon.
BLITZER: Jeff Koinange, reporting for us. Thanks, Jeff, very much.
We'll continue to show these live pictures to our viewers. These are helicopters, Black Hawk helicopters, Chinook helicopters, bringing in these huge sandbags, 2,000-pound, 3,000-pound sandbags to try to fill up the holes in those levees, to try to get this process back on track.
Jack Cafferty is joining us from New York. You're watching all of this, Jack. What's on your mind this hour?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: What a job, huh? I mean, it's just -- the proportions of this effort are just mind-boggling.
All right, here's the deal. Nine months into his first term, the terrorists struck. And now, nine months into his second term, it's Katrina. The effects on the president's agenda both times are far- reaching.
A lead editorial in the "Wall Street Journal," which is a paper usually friendly to the Bush administration, suggests that Katrina poses a threat to Mr. Bush's entire second term. His plans to overhaul Social Security, probably dead. Making tax cuts permanent, well, that's tougher to sell with an estimated $200 billion reconstruction cost in New Orleans. The deployment of resources and National Guard troops to Iraq will no doubt heighten the call to get out of there.
The president was seen as a take-charge guy in the wake of 9/11. The federal government currently is being viewed as weak and ineffective in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
So here's the question for this hour. How will Hurricane Katrina change the agenda for President Bush's second term? E-mail us at CaffertyFile@CNN.com.
BLITZER: All right. Thanks, Jack. I'm sure a lot of our viewers will do precisely that.
Coming up, the locals versus the feds. I'll talk to the president of the New Orleans City Council about conditions in his battered city and the finger-pointing that's been going on between Louisiana and Washington.
Plus bacteria, chemicals, and danger in the water. We'll have more on that. The flood may be easing somewhat in New Orleans, but there is all that toxic brew that is there. And where is it heading? What does it mean for this city in the years to come?
And later, hurricane survivors fanning out in Texas and far beyond. We're tracking the evacuees. We'll update you on the search for the missing.
Even corporations now anxious to get involved. We'll tell you what they're doing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. While many are criticizing the federal government response, or the lack thereof, as some of the critics are suggesting, to this storm, some state and local officials are also coming under fire for their roles.
Joining us now from Baton Rouge is Oliver Thomas. He's the president of the New Orleans City Council. Oliver, thanks so much for joining us.
First of all, what are you hearing from back home in New Orleans? How's the recovery situation, the search-and-rescue operation coming along today?
OLIVER THOMAS, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT: Well, I mean, I just got back today. I talked to the police chief, and the fire chief, and a lot of other essential personnel. It's moving a long today a lot better than it was.
Two days ago, I spent part of the evening with the Tennessee and Kentucky wildlife fisheries search-and-rescue squad. We were able to get quite a few people out. The major condition right now is that -- and the main thing that people around the country and around the area who are in shelters want to know is, is their property being protected? Are the streets being protected? That's the number-one thing that I hear from people who had to evacuate the city. BLITZER: You know, we're showing our viewers some live pictures of the aerial shots from a helicopter flying over the city, one of the airports. I believe this is New Orleans International Airport. We saw a lot of helicopters which are doing rescue operations...
THOMAS: Yes.
BLITZER: ... as well as the sandbagging of the breaches in the levee.
The mayor issued a proclamation last night, Mayor Ray Nagin, Oliver, in which he said, effective immediately, any public safety officer within the boundaries of the Parish of Orleans is hereby instructed and authorized to compel the evacuation of all persons from the city of New Orleans, regardless of whether such persons are on private property or do not desire to leave.
How far should law enforcement go in removing individuals who say they want to stay put?
THOMAS: I think they should go so far as to letting people know the urgency, not only the standing water, but the issues with mosquitoes, bugs, diseases, cholera, E. Coli, I mean, waste matter. The condition is such that it's a major health hazard in certain areas.
But should law enforcement people endanger the lives of themselves and the people they're trying to assist by going too far? I think you have to be careful there.
I will tell you about a lady. When I was riding with a guy from Kentucky, there was a lady sitting on the porch on Napoleon who was just waving at us, asking us if we needed anything. She said she had enough water and food, and she didn't want to leave her property, because that was the only thing she had.
There are a lot of people who are going to feel like that. They don't want to leave the only thing that they have. And they fear that the Guard, the police, the state police, that these special forces cannot protect their property. And the number-one thing that I've heard is they don't want their homes to be looted and burned.
BLITZER: So how do you balance this? On one hand, you want these people to leave because of the disease that you mentioned, the diseases prevalent and could get a lot worse...
THOMAS: We have a chopper that just passed over. Could you repeat that?
BLITZER: All right, well, I was going to say, how do you balance the need to remove these people for their own health, for their own well-being, while, at the same time, without using force, how do you let them stay?
THOMAS: Well, I think it's a fine line. I don't think you jeopardize that person's life. You know, you're going to have some people who are good, law- abiding citizens who are not going to want to leave. Should the enforcement agencies get into a gunfight with them? Should they drag them out of their houses through the water? Should they break into their properties? I don't think anyone should suggest that.
I mean, in a democracy, people have rights. And, unfortunately, there are a lot of people who have the right to stay with their life's possessions and the only thing that they own.
Should they leave? Yes. Should we say that the evacuation is mandatory? Yes. Should we jeopardize them or the enforcement agencies by getting into a very heated situation with them, to get them to leave? Personally, I say no.
BLITZER: Oliver Thomas, the president of the city council. Good luck to you. I hope we'll touch base in the coming days. And I hope things start to get a little bit better where you are.
THOMAS: Things have started to get a little better. If they hurry and get the water out, there are major portions of the city that can be saved, if they hurry, especially uptown. The housing stock is strong, and it's holding up real well.
BLITZER: Thank you very much. I appreciate you joining us.
These pictures that we're seeing now are live pictures, the pictures behind me, the pictures that you've been seeing. They're coming throughout this hour. We're going to continue to show our viewers these live pictures, various scenes, these scenes clearly outside of New Orleans.
There you see the runway at New Orleans International Airport. We're going to continue to show you these live pictures throughout this hour here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
The federal government is changing some of the rules because of the damage caused by Katrina. Let's bring in our Ali Velshi in New York for a little explanation of what rule changes are going on.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, we're trying to sort of follow what's going on. The House Energy Panel has been having some discussions now. A couple things are happening.
One is, they are looking very seriously at moving quickly on a U.S. refinery bill. You know, part of the problem with these refineries is, before Katrina, we were strapped, weren't getting enough gas, and we're hearing that they're looking at a new refinery bill.
They are saying, however, that there's no need to restrain gasoline profiteering and no need to look at stricter fuel economy standards for new vehicles. That last one makes me very curious, because, you know, in the end, we do actually have to look at this stuff, regardless of what the government is saying. The Department of Energy is saying, by the way, that four refineries have been damaged. And those refineries will be offline for months. But most of the pipelines bringing gas across the country are back online.
We're seeing the price of oil and gas pulling back a little bit. So we're starting to get some good news. But if we start to at least have a discussion about fuel economy and refineries, that might give everybody a bit of a break.
BLITZER: Well, that's obviously a critical issue, given the price for fuel right now.
VELSHI: Wolf, I wanted to just tell you there's another piece of news that we should bring you up to speed on. Three of the four largest airlines in the country have some news in them.
United, which is the number-two airline, in bankruptcy, has filed to get out of bankruptcy by February 1.
The number-three carrier, Delta, announcing 1,000 more job layoffs.
And number-four carrier, Northwest, which we know has been on strike, has had their mechanics on strike since August 20, going back to the table to talk to the mechanics on Thursday.
So that's sort of bringing you up to speed on what's going on in the world of business.
Wolf?
BLITZER: Stick around for a second, Ali. J.T. Alpaugh, the helicopter reporter, is flying over one of these oil refinery areas right now. Let's listen in.
J.T. sounds like he's taking a little break from narrating what he's seeing. But certainly some signs that there's a huge, huge infrastructure there, Ali, that is so valued, so much value to the American consumer.
VELSHI: You know, some of it's coming back. But there has been damage. And that is going to slow things down for us for a little while. You know, nobody's getting a big break on their gas prices. Heating oil prices will be higher for the winter, as well.
And for the rest who don't have to suffer the damage of the hurricane, it's bad enough. For those people are going to hopefully look forward to being back in their homes in the course of a few months, they've got that to contend with, too.
BLITZER: Thanks, Ali, very much.
Earlier, some of our viewers may have spotted some traffic. It looked like a little traffic jam going on in New Orleans, people trying to get out. I suppose that's an encouraging sign, that people are able to drive where they were driving. You probably saw those live pictures coming in just a few moments ago.
In New Orleans, roadways still look like they're under water, at least many of the streets in the city of New Orleans. Perhaps 60 percent of the area is still underwater.
Coming up, not only are they trying to pump out the water, we'll tell you how they're also trying to fix the roads.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: In New Orleans, the search for survivors now is a door- to-door operation, often very slow and extremely frustrating.
Our national correspondent Gary Tuchman went house to house with members of the New Mexico National Guard. And he's joining us now live from New Orleans with his story. Gary?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We were in Plaqumines Parish, which is about 15 miles behind me along the Mississippi River. That's where the hurricane actually struck first in the town of Buras which is in that parish. But people were very afraid when the hurricane hit that the entire parish would be destroyed and they were close to right. About two-thirds of it right now is under water.
So today we went there, and we did see the New Mexico National Guard searching house by house for people who may have died. Three bodies have been found, but scores of people who did not evacuate are still missing. They literally pounded on doors, broke them down with axes and looked inside.
They didn't find anyone while we were with them. But so much of the parish is under water, they don't know what they will find in the days to come.
A very moving scene we saw today, Wolf, a VFW hall underwater, but at the VFW hall in front it on the flag pole, Old Glory and a Vietnam POW flag flying from the flagpole. So, the New Mexico National Guard took the flags down and presented them in a ceremony that they organized to the son of the treasurer of that VFW post. That particular man lost his home, was very moved by getting the flags that flew in front of the VFW hall.
Wolf.
BLITZER: So, were there signs of survivors in that area where you spent the day?
TUCHMAN: Where we spent the day -- and we went actually in a motor boat down the Mississippi River seeing where all these homes and businesses were under water -- no sign of survivors whatsoever. The people who run the parish do believe that almost all of people evacuated. But they are reasonably sure there are some that never made it out. And they are afraid they will find, eventually, their bodies. BLITZER: How does it look to you? You've been there now for several days, Gary. Does it look like the situation is getting better? Or as some suggest, maybe even more dangerous for disease and a secondary cause of death potentially erupting?
TUCHMAN: I think, Wolf, like everything else, we, the police, the military are getting used to the situation, but it's still very dangerous. You drive along Interstate 10 in New Orleans, and look -- the interstate is dry, because it's an overpass. But you look down and everything is in four, or five, six, sever feet of water: houses, businesses. And we've heard in your program right now so much the dangers in the water. So, the situation is still very dangerous and perilous. But the fact is, we're getting used to it.
BLITZER: Gary Tuchman, doing an excellent job for us as always. Gary, thank you very much.
Let's listen to J.T. Alpaugh. The helicopter reporter is flying over downtown New Orleans. Look at this, the Superdome -- look at this roof of the Superdome clearly severely, severely damaged by this hurricane. We don't know what's going on inside, if anything right now. Some suggesting that this whole structure should be torn down. But let's listen in to J.T.
ALPAUGH: I'm going to come back to the Calvin story. There is a gentleman named Calvin and his wife named Kim. Calvin has been holed up in his store. They own a convenience store here just north of town. And Kim and Calvin were communicating via two-way texting for the past week until that texting and communication stopped a few days back.
Well, Kim asked for a lot of help from a lot of different people, and they were so busy they just couldn't get to Calvin and help her out. So she -- they walked up to us and asked for our help. We were flying over the area and she came up and Ron Maggesi (ph) said I have got a woman by the name of Kim in the truck who needs our help desperately.
And when we -- when we -- Kim directed us to where the store was. She gave us the address. We popped it into our GPS and we flew to the area. And we explained to the Coast Guard the situation, that Calvin was locked in the store because he was afraid of looters, that he was armed and that he didn't want to come out, because he was afraid to be looted.
Well, there were no looters in the area. We checked the area. And we saw no sign of life -- or movement around there. So, we called the United States Coast Guard in, who dropped a rescue swimmer down on a hoist to come try to find him and pull him out.
And they came down and they found him on a porch across the street from -- in fact, I see the store right there -- across the street. And the rescue swimmer walked up to him and said, Calvin, let's go. We have got a helicopter overhead that's talking to Kim, your wife, in the truck. She says she's got the kids, she wants you to come out of there. And Calvin said, no, I want to stay behind to protect the store. And he pleaded with her. And Kim was passing messages to us. And we were passing those messages on to the Coast Guard. And Calvin just didn't come out.
Well, earlier today, you know, we checked on Calvin and he's still at this house. We're going to push in and show you the store. You see that red roofed tiled store. And you're going to say that probably looks familiar, because we have been here a quite a few times.
BLITZER: All right. We're going to break away from J.T. Alpaugh. He's talking about one individual who is refusing to leave. But there are a lot of people, so far, who are refusing to leave.
Let's check the situation online. The blogger, Michael Barnett, may be among the best known of the New Orleans hold-outs. He's been staying in his downtown office building since the hurricane struck, providing detailed information, some incredible pictures as well. He's joining our Internet reporter Abbi Tatton via web phone. Abbi, pick up the story.
ABBIT TATTON, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Michael Barnett has been camped out in his tenth floor office building and recording everything that's been happening in the last 10 days at MGNO.com, which for readers around the world has become the survival New Orleans Blog.
Michael joins us now by phone. Hi, Michael.
MICHAEL BARNETT, MGNO.COM: Hey. Thanks for having me.
TATTON: No problem at all. We have been following this for 10 days now. Tell us why did you decide to stay when the hurricane was approaching last week?
BARNETT: Well, first of all, the company that I stayed with, DirectNIC.com, runs about 2 percent of the Internet off it its servers. So, this company absolutely has to stay afloat, even in a disaster like this. If it doesn't, you're look at possibly 2 percent of the Internet going down. And that's an awful lot of commerce.
TATTON: And how exactly are you staying afloat? What are the conditions down there?
BARNETT: Well, we're doing pretty well, actually. We had a stockpile of food and water and enough fuel to run our generator for awhile. And we have gotten some resupplies as we needed it for the fuel aspect.
TATTON: And the mayor of New Orleans has now ordered a forceful evacuation of all the -- of all the people still in the city. How are you responding to this? Do you plan to leave?
BARNETT: No. We don't plan to leave. Right now, I think we're providing -- we're more of an asset than a liability to the city. And we have been trying to help the city out, re-establishing their communication, especially for their police force and for the mayor's office.
TATTON: What is the scene on the ground? Last week -- on Thursday I believe, you said it is the law of the jungle down here. I'm going through some of your pictures right now, Michael. Of the looters, of fires just a couple blocks from you. What is it like? Is it still "Lord of the Flies" out there?
BARNETT: No. The civil unrest has pretty much been completely stamped out. The military rolled in a few days ago. We have got the 82nd Airborne out here now. All that stuff ended, I'd say, a couple days ago. You know, it's still a disaster out there. It's a huge mess and it stinks and it's going to take a long time to rebuild it.
TATTON: Michael Barnett, Wolf, has been blogging MGNO.com. And he says he's not going anywhere.
Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Abbi. Thank you very much. And thank Michael -- thanks to Michael as well.
There's a developing story we're following. Our Soledad O'Brien is joining us on the phone right now from St. Bernard Parish. What are you picking up, Soledad?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you. Yeah, this is what they describe as the worst of the very worst. Right now we're at what has become -- essentially, a point for getting supplies.
We will update you on some details about a nursing home, St. Rita's Nursing Home. They are confirming for us now that somewhere between somewhere between 25 and 30 people have been found inside that nursing home, Wolf. They are dead.
That nursing home still under a lot of water. It's unclear at that time if those are ambulatory patients who just wouldn't leave, if those are patients who are bed ridden and just couldn't get out. It's also unclear if the staff are among the dead, or if the staff took off and abandoned the elderly patients. Obviously, lots is not known.
More information also from this area. It turns out the jail, which they evacuated relatively early -- early on -- the prisoners got out. Jail actually didn't get a whole lot of water in it, which was sort of surprising to some of the deputes that we've been talking to.
Right now, they're receiving lots of supplies. But also, as you can see, with this updated death toll of at least 25 to 30 elderly people dead, certainly that's kind of more of the focus today. That grim task of recovering bodies and counting bodies is what they're really doing here.
This is a parish -- I've got to tell you, Wolf, this is a parish where the numbers of dead are going to be absolutely staggering. This is the devastation. And we have seen a lot of dead. The devastation here is horrible -- horrific.
BLITZER: Who are you traveling with, Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Who am I traveling with? Right now we're with the sheriff of Jefferson Parish. His parish actually wasn't hit so badly. And so what he has been doing early on, he was helping out of the city cops, giving them supplies because they were utterly decimated by the storm, hit them pretty much straight on. His parish was spared.
And now he's come here and he has been doing what he can to help them out with supplies, because frankly all of their squad cars are underwater. They lost essentially everything.
He also -- he's been the sheriff -- Sheriff Lee has been the sheriff for 26 years. He has a lot of friends in high places. He's been on the phone with Willie Nelson, thanking him for water. He's been on the phone with Steven Seagal, telling him, hey, big thanks, but we're not going to need you to come in. Lots of infectious diseases in this area. So he's really been using his connection as well to try to bring in as much aid as they need and they need a lot.
BLITZER: Soledad O'Brien is reporting from St. Bernard Parish, a very, very badly hit--
O'BRIEN: Hey, Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Can I add one quick thing for you. You know, Michael Chertoff just drove by us, the secretary of Homeland Security. He is meeting with the sheriff of St. Bernard Parish. We're going to try to grab him for a quick interview when they come out of that meeting.
BLITZER: All right. Good. We'll look forward to that. Soledad, be careful over there. Soledad O'Brien joining us from New Orleans on the phone.
Much more coverage coming up. Surely families are looking for their loved ones, but there's another component to this missing persons story. Companies are looking for their employees. We'll tell how some companies just want to know where their workers are and whether they're safe and sound. We'll tell you what's happening on that front. Stay with us.
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BLITZER: Welcome back to THE SITUATION ROOM. Throughout this hour we've been watching these live pictures coming from a helicopter. Reporter J.T. Alpaugh has been telling us what they're seeing. I want our viewers to check in. These are live pictures. Let's listen in briefly to what J.T. is reporting.
ALPAUGH: ... so get these barges and -- need to be removed. We're going to show you the pumping station as we move here to the northeast. And ...
BLITZER: As we watch these live pictures, Tom Foreman is here and he's watching these. He's spent many years in New Orleans as a younger reporter. Show -- you know these areas. Show our viewers where this is and what's going on.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. This is the Industrial Canal. An important part of New Orleans. Look at here on this picture. You can see the canal. And as I pull out you'll see those bridges. Canal cuts from the lake up here, Lake Pontchartrain, you follow it down it gets you into the river down below. So you see that it's to the east of downtown New Orleans. One of the places where we had flooding in the area. And the flooding continues to improve.
I want to show you a couple of images that we found very interesting to look at in this whole thing. This is a picture of the levee in New Orleans along the Industrial Canal after it failed. You will see a difference in the flow rate of water here. This is fairly early on. We're going to zoom in to this. And once we get in close, I will show you that we have a difference in the flow rate, when you see how much water is in there.
Look at this, that's the levee. You see how much water is flowing right here? That little white area right there. It's an important thing because that tells you that there's a lot of water flowing. And interestingly enough in this case, it was flowing out of the neighborhood back in. But if I change to this other view of the levee, you will see that the same picture much, much less water flowing. An important thing.
Let's go back over to the other levee, which we looking at the other day. The one on the 17th Street Canal. That's the one that's flooded so much of New Orleans East, so many people were worried about. And when we get back over there, I want to show you a series of pictures that are very important, very encouraging to people in New Orleans. This is the 17th Street Canal. I'll have to pull out on it just a little bit and that will give you a better sense of where that is. This is the canal that, if we can go to these pictures I'll show you what we're dealing with here.
This is the canal that had all the flooding that went into New Orleans East. And there are three pictures from this that are very telling for us at this moment. They are pictures that give you a sense of how much they have repaired this.
Can we go to those pictures right now? They show you the canal on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. If we can pull those images up. And apparently we can't at the moment. But nonetheless, a lot of -- a tremendous -- there we go. Here they are.
Look at this. This is the canal on Sunday with just a few bags dropped into it. There it is on Monday.
BLITZER: The one on the furthest to the left.
FOREMAN: Right. The one on the left right here. This one is Monday with just some of it filled in. A little bit of those giant bags, those 2,000 -- 3,000 pounds of sands dropped in. There it is on Monday,, Sunday, Monday, and now. Look at it now, a full road built across it. That's rebuilt to kind of what a levee is really supposed to be. Very important. That's what's allowing all the water to be pumped out now. And ultimately is going to clear up areas like where we saw that barge a short while ago.
There's one other thing that's we want to talk about today that I think is pretty important at this point. I want to look at the roads in and out, because all of these things we're dealing with, everywhere there is going to rely on what they can do about these roads. And we're flying out here to a very important part of what we're dealing with here. It has to do with I-10 -- talked to the transportation department today.
I-10 -- bridges across some of these roads are in very bad shape. This one is from beforehand, so you don't know what the details of it are. But nonetheless it's an area that we have to be concerned about. And here's the big bridge on I-10. That's the road that follows along the coastline and cuts into New Orleans from Slidell, which is important. And as we zoom in here, I want you to look at the damage on I-10. This is I-10 before the storm. After you storm you see all those breaks in the road. We can go way in on some of these and give you at least an idea of what we're talking about. All those breaks. There are two spans of this.
And when I talked to the Department of Transportation today, what they're trying to do is a trick that they learned after Hurricane Ivan over in Pensacola. They are going to pick whichever span is the most stable. They will go to the opposite span and steal portions of the bridge that are in good shape, and plug them into these holes. If they successfully do this, that will allow them to then make a working span all the way across the lake in that area. And that's very, very important.
BLITZER: Stand by, Tom, for a moment. Rusty Dornin is watching a very important part of this story for us. She's joining us live. Rusty, you're taking a look at the water that's being pumped out of the city into Lake Pontchartrain. But that's very disgusting, dirty, toxic, heavy water. Tell our viewers what you're picking up.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the whole thing, Wolf, that of course you have to get it out of the city. It's presenting its own set of very dangerous health problems, which we've talked about. Toxins and of course bacterial toxins and of course bacterial toxins and that sort of thing.
But pumping it into Lake Pontchartrain creates another set of problems. We have spoken with some biologists from Louisiana State University who have said that what's happening with all the dead animals, dead leaves, all the bacteria in the water, it's consuming all of the oxygen. And when you put all of that water back into Lake Pontchartrain, you are creating the potential for a fish kill there. Now this is a lake that has been historically polluted for many years. In fact, they only let people --
BLITZER: Rusty, hold that thought for one second. Our helicopter is flying over an area where it looks like a fire is erupted. Let's listen in to J.T. Alpaugh.
ALPAUGH: We're coming up on a street named Clearview. So it's actually just west of a street named Clearview, just north of Highway 61. There's quite a bit of apparatus here. We're seeing at least two, three, four engines, a couple ladder trucks. And they're starting to fight this fire, which is a good thing. Pan out left. Single family dwelling. It looks to be pretty well involved on the internal. We're going to see these firefighters start to battle this fire.
We aren't seeing any water being put on it yet. That doesn't mean that there isn't an internal attack going on. We're going to come around the south side to try to get our aircraft into the wind and give you a really good look here at this fire. We do have some visible flame here on the south side of the roof. If you just pan left from there, Dave. We have got some water coming in. And there's your fire. You can see that firefighters working this blaze.
And this house is surrounded, it's very interesting because this is a rear house that's surrounded -- we pull out just a little bit, Dave. I'm going to show you this, what appears to be an industrial warehouse. So it's kind of blocked in by several other houses -- that's good there -- and very hard to get to. So they're using the ladder pipes to extend over the top of these buildings. They're fighting it from above because they're trying to get access in. And you can see that black smoke there starting to turn into gray smoke, which is a good sign. We saw some visible flame here, but that line that's being put in right there at the bottom of your screen, that line right there doing some real good.
We've got a Firehawk coming in. He's going to make a drop on this. And you see his Bambi bucket come into frame. He's going to come back around here. OK. This Firehawk helicopter obviously been called in to do a dump because of the difficult area this is in. UH-60 Firehawk.
Firehawk coming in for his final approach. He's done his reconnaissance orbit. And you can see that he's going to slow this up here. Now he's actually probably going to do one more reconnaissance orbit before he drops. Taking a look on the fire, and maybe trying to make a determination whether he's going to maybe make a drop or not. That remains to be seen. He -- I think he's actually going to pull off. He sees that the ground firefighters possibly have a good handle on this. Not really sure he's going to make a drop.
He's coming around to the right but -- they don't have to dump all that water and possibly damage some of the nearby homes, they won't do that. That's one of the reasons that they don't use these aircraft for your normal everyday firefighting activity. But he's coming around east of us and it looks like he may be lining up to put one in there.
But again it's a very confined fire, surrounded by three or four homes. And we're trying to give you a shot of him as he comes in from the east to the west. A blue and red. I'm not sure if he's -- there he is right there. We'll give you a line. Let 'see if he's got water in that bucket. I'm pretty sure it is by the way it's sinking. Yes, that's a full bucket. You can see the water just trailing out of there as the CinePlex goes in to grab that tight image.
Making the decision, maybe talking to the firefighters on some of the radios to let them know that he's coming in, so they can grab cover. Because let me tell you, when you get dropped on by one of these it hurts. And I have been dropped on by one of these. It's a lot of water that comes down and it can knock you off your feet. That's the last thing he wants to do is injure any of these firefighters working this house fire just about ten -- eight to ten miles west of the downtown area.
Give you a good look at this Firehawk crew. A tight shot in, and they've got eyes on us. It may look like we're close, but we're not because of that lens, our CinePlex in tight on those firefighter. He's going to come around on one more orbit. It looks like he may be lining up. He's going to come around the backside of us or right under us. And it looks like he's setting up for a drop. We have to give you that unique straight look down angle that we can give you with a CinePlex camera. And it is -- looks like he's made his announcements. He's going to be coming in and slow it up here in a second. And he's probably going to dump on that fire.
Well actually we're going to let him come around one more time. He's trying to give them one more. You can see that high school in the background as we pan through. I'm not sure what high school that is. I'm trying to get --
BLITZER: All right. As we watch this, Tom Foreman, it looks like this helicopter is going to dump that bucket of water. It's a huge bucket. Where is this location?
FOREMAN: Yes. He mentioned it's some way to the west of downtown. I'm pretty sure it's out in this area out here. You're getting pretty close to being outside of the Orleans Parish area when you get over here. This is getting into Jefferson Parish and into Metairie. So this is a fire, actually, where we haven't seen one so far. Generally, we've seen some uptown. We've seen some on the river front. We've seen some in New Orleans East a little bit. But again, it's back over in this area a little bit.
BLITZER: All right. We'll continue to watch this but let's bring in Jack Cafferty who's been checking your e-mail. Jack, what are you picking up?
CAFFERTY: That's pretty neat stuff, isn't it, watching that chopper go around.
BLITZER: It's amazing.
CAFFERTY: Very compelling pictures. A lot of credit to the guys who are flying those birds down there.
The question this hour is this. How will Hurricane Katrina change the agenda for President Bush's second term?
Tom in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, writes, "Hopefully this disaster will make us reassess our role in Iraq and get us out of there. Has it dawned on anyone that the same idiots who can't get a bottle of water into a major American city in less than three days are trying to win a war?" He signs it "a disgusted and an embarrassed Republican".
Casey in San Angelo, Texas, "It might make it a harder sell but I don't think the president is just going to give up either. He made promises in his re-election campaign and he's not a quitter."
Ann in Tucson, Arizona, "Hurricane Katrina will not change President Bush's agenda. That would mean responding to actual facts and circumstances not ideologies and slogans. He will stay the course and stay surrounded only by the voices that will not question anything he says or does."
Ray in Bradley, Illinois, "As with any other business, the agenda will expand and items will be re-prioritized. Whether President Bush will be able to address every item on the expanded agenda remains to be seen. But it's a good question."
And Sherrie in Camarillo, California, "How will it change his agenda? Maybe his agenda is going to be keeping himself in office from this point on. Big waterway trumps Whitewater." And she writes, "P.S. I changed the hours I work so I could watch you when you left the morning show."
That was a nice thing she said, which is why I read her letter.
BLITZER: Jack, one final thought. How did you feel when you saw those New York firefighters working in New Orleans today?
CAFFERTY: Well they have the best firefighters in the world down there now. There just isn't any better group of individuals than the New York City Fire Department and the New York City Police Department. And the experience they had with 9/11 puts them head and shoulders above probably any other firefighting organization in the world.
BLITZER: We'll see you tomorrow, Jack. Thanks very much. We're here in THE SITUATION ROOM every weekday 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.
LOU DOBBS TONIGHT starts right after a quick break.
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