Return to Transcripts main page
The Situation Room
Vice President Visits Disaster Zone; Thousands Line Up For Debit Cards
Aired September 08, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where news and information arrive in one place simultaneously.
Standing by, CNN reporters across the Gulf region to bring you complete coverage on the state of emergency.
Happening now, it's 2:00 p.m. Central Time in New Orleans, where troops fanning out across the city. Holdouts are being told to leave or else. That poisonous water which surrounds them is being forced out back -- pumped back into the lake from which it came.
Amid some stinging criticism of the federal response, the vice president visits the disaster zone and calls the relief effort -- and I'm quoting now -- "very impressive."
And as evacuees find housing or find their families, Houston's Astrodome is emptying out. But thousands are lining up for debit cards worth $2,000 each.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Up first, I will show you some live pictures we're getting in right now. Look at this, aerial shot, a house on fire. Look at all that smoke that's emerging. These are live pictures we're getting from New Orleans right now, an all-too familiar scene, those wooden structures coming under a blaze. Once again, it's happening. I expect to see some of those helicopters with those huge buckets of water begin to slowly come over that area and try to douse this fire.
All along the stricken Gulf Coast, the mission is critical; 25,000 body bags ordered by FEMA, they've arrived in Louisiana. And the White House is warning -- and I'm quoting now - "of a very ugly situation" as the waters recede. While some pumps are back online and beginning to de-water the city, water is still coming into New Orleans through a break in a floodwall. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says wild dogs at that site have hampered repair work.
Officials in Mississippi say more than 24,000 cords of wood have been damaged by Katrina, dealing the state's timber industry a possible loss of $1.2 billion.
Let's go straight to a developing story we're following in New Orleans, where more than a dozen bodies have been found in a hospital.
CNN's Karl Penhaul is joining us now live with more on this situation. What are you learning, Karl?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, in the last few moments, in fact, shrimp fishermen who have been called in to help the relief effort have found 14 dead bodies at the Memorial Hospital in east New Orleans in the Lake Forest area.
Now, one of our cameramen, Alfredo DeLaura (ph), has been on the scene and he has been following those shrimp fishermen. He says that Memorial Hospital is still flooded up to one story high. So far, there's no word on the identity of the 14 dead, whether they were patients or whether they were staff. But if you add this incident, together with yesterday's incident, where 30 old folk were found at an elderly person's hospice across in Chalmette, then you are starting to get a picture of some of the elderly and infirm, the ones who couldn't run when the floodwaters started to rise, and it seems the ones that these are the first being found, the ones that seem to have suffered some of the most in this situation, Wolf.
BLITZER: As we continue to watch, Karl, these live pictures, we're showing our viewers a helicopter carrying one of these huge buckets of water moving towards that fire that has erupted, a wooden home in New Orleans, another one, yet another one. We see this almost every day, several times a day, unfortunately.
They deal with these fires by having these helicopters fly over with a bucket full of water, a huge bucket and simply drop that water on that house, try to pinpoint it as much as possible. This is what they do in forest fires oftentimes as well.
But continue telling us about this grim discovery today. You said 14 bodies were found in this one hospital?
PENHAUL: Fourteen bodies in one hospital. As I say, the discovery was made by shrimp fishermen, because, right now, it's all hands on deck, so to speak. And law enforcement officials have been helping -- or drafting anybody with boats into service.
And so, in this sector of New Orleans, in the eastern area, it's the shrimp fishermen that have been out looking for survivors. But in the course of looking for survivors, they came across these 14 dead in Memorial Hospital. Now, some of those bodies are now being brought to dry land. They'll be handed over to the sheriff and then they'll go through the mortuary procedures.
But there are still bodies in that hospital. It could be, when the hospital is further searched, there could be more bodies than the 14 that we initially know have been discovered there, Wolf.
BLITZER: And we're continuing to show, Karl, our video, firefighters on the scene, on the ground now as well, as they deal with yet another fire in New Orleans.
In the past few days, they've discovered several -- a lot of bodies, shall we say. Are they sharing the information with us, FEMA officials, first-responders, others who are there, as quickly as the news media, shall we say, Karl, would like? PENHAUL: It's very difficult to talk of FEMA and the way that they are handing out information or any other agency down here on the ground handing out information. It seems to be an ad hoc basis.
Even the relief effort itself is tremendously difficult to coordinate because of the lack of communication. And so, for that reason, yes, there are occasional press conferences here. It is possible to get grabbed comments with one or two of the officials. But, essentially, everybody is out there hunting for information. It's not like it's being served up through the normal press conferences or anything like that, Wolf.
BLITZER: We're going to keep showing our viewers these pictures, these helicopter pictures, live pictures coming in.
Karl, give us a little sense of the rest of the story today in New Orleans, where you are. What is going on?
PENHAUL: Well, pretty much as you describe those pictures, Wolf.
Fires are a daily occurrence here. You are seeing one right there now. And this morning, the head of the firefighters department here said, yesterday, firefighters fought 11 blazes. Six of them, they had to fight from the air, because there was no way of getting fire trucks on the ground to that.
In addition to that, you are seeing a lot of water still. About two-thirds of the city is still flooded. They say that, in parts, the flood -- the level of the floodwater is receding. Of course, in St. Bernard's district, where the elderly person's hospital where all those dead people were found yesterday, well, they say water levels have receded about five feet there, but still a lot of water lying around.
And it's fetid. It's filthy and the risk of outbreaks of disease growing by the day, according to city officials, Wolf.
BLITZER: Karl Penhaul is literally on the streets of New Orleans right now. Karl, thank you very, very much.
Criticized for being slow off the mark in responding to the disaster, the Bush administration is now making a very visible show of support for hurricane victims. Just a short while ago, the president announced steps taken to put emergency money right into the hands of evacuees. He promised survivors that the federal government will be with them -- and I'm quoting now -- "for the long haul." The president also declared next Friday, September 16, a national day of prayer and remembrance.
In Mississippi today, the first lady, Laura Bush, addressed the plight of children displaced by the hurricane. She urged parents to make sure their children are safe in school. And earlier, she visited a school in Iowa that is taking care of children of evacuees.
Vice President Dick Cheney was also in Mississippi today hailing what he called significant progress made so far in devastated areas. The vice president saw a housing development in Gulfport that was leveled by the hurricane. He later moved on to Louisiana. That's where he is right now.
There are still more than 250,000 customers without power in Mississippi and urgent efforts are under way to house them -- house those people without homes. As we just noted, the vice president got a firsthand look at the state today.
Our senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is live in Biloxi. He's got more. Allan?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we're only 12 miles away from where the vice president visited. And the devastation here, as you can just see from behind me, is almost complete, the houses really destroyed here. The death toll for Mississippi right now stands at 196. It's actually been lowered by five. That's the relative good news.
The vice president today did try to lift spirits here. He said, we face a tremendous challenge. But he also said he believes the country is up to the task and he certainly was very encouraging in terms of offering federal support.
Wolf.
BLITZER: Did the people respond favorably to what they heard, at least those who gathered around the vice president, Allan?
CHERNOFF: Well, Wolf, it's one thing to be right around the vice president, generally positive crowd. But it's another thing to be only a few miles away.
As a matter of fact, we do have a resident of Biloxi. She is Bettye Ramsey. And Bettye is standing here in front of her home. And, as you can see, her possessions lining the street.
Bettye, this is absolutely heartbreaking to see the devastation you've suffered.
BETTYE RAMSEY, RESIDENT OF BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI: Yes, it is.
CHERNOFF: How exactly have you been dealing with it? How do you plan to rebuild?
RAMSEY: Well, at this point, I'm not so sure my house is rebuildable, since the floors are all bucked up and the walls are bucked out. And it's -- it just looks like the whole place needs to be gutted or either pushed down, you know, just from looking at it, from what I can see.
CHERNOFF: The president is promising support for Americans who have suffered from this hurricane. Are you confident you are going to be getting that?
RAMSEY: Well, I am promised some support, but I'm not so sure about my insurance company. They are saying, water is water, regardless if it's pushed in from the ocean by wind. It's still flood water. And I didn't have flood insurance. So...
CHERNOFF: So, even though this was clearly the result of a hurricane -- and we should point out that the Gulf of Mexico is just four blocks away and you've got a bay on the other side a few further blocks away...
RAMSEY: Right.
CHERNOFF: ... the insurance company is saying, this was a flood, not a hurricane?
RAMSEY: They are saying, it's flood water. That's what they are calling it, flood water.
CHERNOFF: And they don't want to pay?
RAMSEY: That's my understanding.
CHERNOFF: OK. Well, let's hope that it is resolved in a way that does benefit you, because, clearly, you have suffered just tremendous damage.
Wolf, Bettye's story is one of thousands here in Biloxi. Many people have their possessions simply out on the street, ready to be picked up and thrown out.
BLITZER: That whole Mississippi Gulf Coast simply destroyed. What a -- what a tragedy. Thanks, Allan, very much. Allan Chernoff reporting for us.
Let's check in with Jack Cafferty. He's in New York. He's watching all of this, together with the rest of us -- Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, not everybody wants to leave the Big Easy, despite all the problems there.
There are between 10,000 and 15,000 people still living in New Orleans, and some of them simply refuse to leave. Until now, police have been focusing on voluntary evacuations. But once all of the voluntary evacuees are out, they are going to start forcing people to leave. The Coast Guard will help the New Orleans Police Department to do this. Active-duty military will not participate in this part of the operation.
Officials want everybody out of town because the health risks of the contaminated water are simply too great. But not everybody wants to leave.
So, the question is this, this hour, what should be done with the people who simply refuse to leave New Orleans? CaffertyFile -- one word -- @CNN.com. We will read some of our thoughts a bit later.
BLITZER: All right. Good enough, Jack. Thanks very much.
They need the relief, but not the confusion. We will show you what happened as evacuees started getting debit cards today, debit cards worth $2,000 each.
Children separated from their families by the disaster. We will show you a new effort to try to reunite them.
Plus, possible new threats on the horizon. Two hurricanes and a tropical storm churning in the Atlantic right now. We will have the latest forecast.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: At one point this past weekend, Houston's Astrodome held close to 25,000 evacuees. But that number has fallen dramatically to about 8,000, as hurricane survivors find other places to live. Meantime, the Astrodome has become a distribution point for those debit cards the government is handing out, which will give evacuees money for basic necessities, $2,000 each.
CNN's Betty Nguyen is joining us now live in Houston with more. How is it going, the distribution of those cards, Betty?
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I have got to tell you, it's getting a lot better. The lines are really running through the system quite quickly, because, this morning, there was a lot of chaos. There was a huge bog-down down at Reliant Center, as people were trying to get their hands on this.
These are those American Red Cross debit cards. They are offering somewhere between $315 to $2,000 per family, depending on the size of your family. But there was a lot of confusion on how to get these cards, who needs to stand in line and if indeed these cards were the same as the FEMA cards.
FEMA is also offering a debit card up to $2,000 per family, but that is not being distributed today. We're told by FEMA that those won't be distributed until another few days from now.
Wolf.
BLITZER: It's early September. Kids should be in school by now. How are they dealing, the authorities there, with young kids who should be in school, want to be in school? Their parents certainly want them in school. What's going on, on that front?
NGUYEN: Well, they are actually in school today. Today was the first day of school for children at these four main shelters. These evacuees loaded on to a bus. They are now called students because they are attending schools here in the Houston Independent School District. In fact, 1,800 students signed up. They are registered and they were in class today attending their first day of school. And, as you mentioned, this is so very important, because it allows them to get back to learning, which is very important. And it also takes their mind off all the tragedy that they've seen and all that they've been through.
BLITZER: Betty Nguyen, do you have a guest, anybody there that you want to talk to?
NYUGEN: I do, Wolf. You know, amid all of this that's going on, there are also people looking for family members. And I have Sharon Webb with us.
And, Sharon, it's just a heart-wrenching story, because you are looking for your baby son. Tell us about him.
SHARON WEBB, SEARCHING FOR SON: His name is Trashon (ph) Webb. He's 13 years old. The last time I seen him was the Sunday before the hurricane. But my other -- my son and my daughter left him at the New Orleans Convention Center with my baby sister, Morinthia (ph) Webb. And she's missing, too. And I have been looking for them for every day.
NGUYEN: When was the last time you spoke with him?
WEBB: I haven't spoke to him since the Sunday before the hurricane.
NYUGEN: And you went to where, when he went to the Convention Center?
WEBB: We went to the Superdome, me and my sister and my niece. And my daughter and him, they went to the Convention Center. Well, we really thought they was at the dome, but it was -- wasn't no phones working, no telephones.
NYUGEN: And there was a lot of confusion at that time.
WEBB: Yes.
NGUYEN: Again, his name is Trashon Webb, just 13 years old. This is your baby boy.
WEBB: Yes.
NGUYEN: And you've been here every single day looking for him.
WEBB: And I'm sick. I'm getting weaker by the day. I don't want to cry on this television, but I done cry, cry, cry. And I'm just, you know...
NYUGEN: It's hard.
WEBB: I just wish I could find him.
NYUGEN: Well, we're going to try to help you find him. I know it's so -- it's just heart-wrenching to hear not only your story, but the story of countless others.
WEBB: I know. It is. It's sad.
NYUGEN: Let's get that number out, so, hopefully, folks watching will call in. Hopefully, they've seen Trashon Webb. He's just 13 years old. His mother is obviously very distraught. She wants to find him so desperately.
Let's give you that number. You can reach her at 832-594-5390. One more time, 832-594-5390. If anyone has seen Trashon, please dial that number.
Wolf.
BLITZER: Let's hope they find him soon. Thanks very much, Betty. And please thank the mother as well. And our heart goes out to her.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is pitching in, trying to help reunite families separated by this disaster.
CNN's Brian Todd is joining us now live from Alexandria, Virginia. He's watching this part of the story. Where, exactly are you, Brian?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we are in a very hastily assembled, but very effective command center. This center inside this National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has only been up since Monday. But they have dozens of volunteers working 16 hours a day, tracking missing kids from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
Here are the numbers so far that they've got, just up to the minute. Out of 1,054 children now listed as missing, they've resolved 188 of those cases. That leaves the number now at 866 children missing from Katrina and its aftermath in the Gulf region.
I am joined now by Ernie Allen. He's the president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Thank you, Mr. Allen, for joining us. I'm going to ask you a question in just a moment.
But, Wolf, as we do this, I'm going to call up a couple of pictures that are just going to break your heart. Let's go to this one, Maurice Porter. And I believe her sister's name is spelled M-a-u- r-i-c-o-n-n-a Porter. Maurice is 3 years old. Her sister is 2 years old, last seen with a baby-sitter in New Orleans, have not been seen since Katrina hit. They are listed, if you can see that there, as endangered missing.
And, Mr. Allen, what's the difference between endangered missing and other categories of missing children?
ERNIE ALLEN, CEO, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Well, we're assessing all of the circumstances surrounding each child.
And if there are reasons to believe that these children are at particular risk, particular vulnerability, we're calling them endangered. Now, these children, we think are at great risk.
TODD: All right. Another picture I want to show you, Wolf, and another challenge for the center here, Caleb Broussard-Fleming. He's now 6 years old. But if you can see the picture there, this was a photo taken from 2001, when Caleb was 2 years old, also listed as endangered missing.
And, Mr. Allen, again, a particular challenge for your group, when you've got outdated photos out there. Families don't have the photos around. What do you do?
ALLEN: Well, we're doing the best we can. We have a staff of forensic artists who age the photos of long-term missing children. And, in this case, the photo is 4 years old. We need to age the photo for four years. We're doing that. We just can't do it instantly.
TODD: All right.
One other -- another heartbreaking image that we can show you, 13-year-old Megan Carter, last known to be with her caretaker in Kenner, Louisiana. The caretaker was packing the car in order to evacuate the hurricane. And they've not been seen since the hurricane hit. Take a look at Megan Carter. She is autistic. And her case is still not resolved.
You told me earlier about some of the amazing logistical challenges that your group faces throughout this crisis.
ALLEN: Well, Brian, normally, we find children through the use of images and information. In this situation, it's very difficult to get photos.
We have people on the ground taking pictures of children in the shelters.
And secondly, information is very disjointed. So, in many ways, we're using old-fashioned investigative techniques. We're using the telephone and people on the ground to follow up on these leads.
TODD: Best of luck. You called it old-fashioned shoe leather. And I'm sure you are employing a lot of that right now.
Wolf, take a look at this room. You have got dozens of volunteers, 40-some at a given time, all former law enforcement officers donating their time, 16 hours a day, from 8:00 a.m. to midnight. You can call in here if you have information on a missing child. We will show you the graphic, 1-888-544-5475. That's the Katrina missing persons hotline. You can also go to their Web site www.MissingKids.com.
That's it from here, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Brian, thanks very much. Thank all of those people over there for the important work they are doing.
Our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton, is standing by and she has more on this story. Abbi, what are you picking up?
ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, we wanted to take you directly to that site, www.MissingKids.com. If you look at it here, they've been working to reunite these children with their families affected by the Hurricane Katrina in three states, in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.
There are hundreds of children listed on this site, many pictures that you can scroll through. Some of these pictures, these are all children in Louisiana who have been separated from their caregivers at this time, up-close pictures, more information, if they have it. The pictures really are devastating.
But even more is the exile spreadsheet that they have on this site with hundreds of names on it. It's heartbreaking, but there are also some success stories already. Showing you this case here, this is Jordan Barnes, a 5-month-old baby who was in a hospital, University Hospital, in New Orleans when the hurricane was approaching -- approaching. This little boy was evacuated to a hospital in Baton Rouge, but his mother, who couldn't get to him in time, was evacuated to Dallas, Texas.
His information was uploaded on to this site, MissingKids.com, and representatives from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children started searching other online resources for his mother. They went to the Red Cross site. She eventually turned up there. They found her in Texas. She's now been reunited with her son there. They are back in Baton Rouge together.
Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much. We're following this story, the missing children, what a heartbreaking story, kids separated from their parents.
Moving on now, warning about high natural gas prices coming out this winter.
Our Ali Velshi is looking at this story. He's got the "Bottom Line", joining us from New York. Ali, what are you learning?
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Wolf, it's tough. It's tough to be talking about natural gas prices and gasoline prices and oil prices right now, when we're seeing everything that we're seeing.
But I want to keep you posted on what's going on right now. The Energy secretary said today that it's not really the gas prices we need to look at. It's home heating oil. And he's expecting that this winter, based on prices that we're seeing now, the average American household is going to pay upward of 30 percent more than they did last year to heat their home.
But so many homes in America heat with natural gas. They also air-condition with natural gas and cook with natural gas. Well, you can expect your heating oil -- your heating bill, if you use natural gas this year, to be 71 percent higher than it was this year. And that's important, Wolf, because we spend a lot of time talking about gasoline prices at the station because we see those prices all the time.
Well, in reality, for the average family, even with a couple of SUVs, if you heat or air condition with natural gas, that's where you are going to feel the effect of the increase in oil prices right now and in the Gulf shutdowns, because natural gas is a big source of energy in this country.
BLITZER: So, if you were spending $100 a month, you're going to be spending $171 a month?
VELSHI: Absolutely. Absolutely. And a lot of people spend a lot more than $100 a month on natural gas. So, that -- and you pay for it a month or two at a time. So, you'll see that hit more than you might with filling up your car.
BLITZER: All right. Ali, we are going to check back with you. Thank you very much.
Making history with hurricane relief. Mexican troops operating on United States soil now for the first time in more than 150 years. Full details of the massive influx of international aid coming in right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: They are voting on the floor of the House of Representatives right now, another $50 billion-plus, $51 billion-plus, specifically, the second -- the second installment, $10 billion-plus approved in recent days, now $51.8 billion on the table. It doesn't look like there's any doubt how that vote is likely to go. But, certainly, they are going to move forward and appropriate these additional funds for the hurricane victims.
Helicopter reporter J.T. Alpaugh shows us a Chinook helicopter right now at work earlier today, dropping sandbags into the London Street levee break. Watch what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
J.T. ALPAUGH, POOL PHOTOGRAPHER: You can see this coming into the London Street Canal, getting ready to drop and fill this hole.
We still have not -- are not seeing any sandbags surface in this. You can just imagine, they've been dropping in this nonstop for the past, you know, two, three, four days, and still no -- not one sandbag has surfaced.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And J.T. Alpaugh is joining us now live. He's in the region. He and his colleagues have been doing a remarkable job over the past few days. J.T., how did it go today?
ALPAUGH: Good afternoon. How are you doing, Wolf.
It's been a very busy day to say the least. We've gone out to the parishes out east and checked on them. And unfortunately what we're hearing is a lot of what the search and rescue missions are starting to become recovery missions. A lot of latitudes and longitudes and coordinates on bodies that are being -- showing up in the areas and being -- units being dispatches to those bodies. So, that's kind of where we're at today.
BLITZER: From the height -- from the skies -- you are flying pretty high -- do you actually see recovery of these bodies?
ALPAUGH: Yes, we have seen a lot of recoveries of those bodies throughout the area. And we're being very, very sensitive not to show those and tape those just because we don't want any of these family members out there to recognize any of these bodies and rather than being notified by proper authorities. So, we're trying to stay away from showing that. But with our own eyes we have seen a lot of these bodies starting to surface.
BLITZER: We're showing our viewers some of the pictures that you shot earlier today. This is clearly still flooded areas in the New Orleans area. But talk a little bit about the -- how this situation is unfolding.
ALPAUGH: It's unfolding -- today it seems like, I said, the rescue activities have seemed to slow down quite a bit. But we're seeing -- we haven't seen as many fires today. One fire actually this afternoon.
So there's been a lot of the 82nd Airborne out patrolling the streets in their Humvees and boats. So, we've seen a lot of military activity.
We had a situation this morning where we went and looked for a person. A family came up to us again in our truck and said they were missing a very good family friend. And we actually landed at a -- an air base where the 180th out of Oklahoma Army base. We landed at the base and I jumped in a Humvee and we went to this house, which is around the corner, knocked on the door and made entry into the house to find out -- because she hadn't been heard from for a few days. She wasn't in the house, which was somewhat good news because they were fearing the worst.
But some of that has been going on.
BLITZER: You know, J.T., I want to tell our viewers what they are seeing. This is trash, literally, in the area of the Superdome that you shot earlier. You remember that?
ALPAUGH: Absolutely. When we first -- the day after all the evacuees had left the area. From a distance, it looks like there are still people. As we pull out, we'll show you here. It almost looks like there's still people there. But when we push in with the Cineflex camera and look closely, you can see that there not -- it's not people. It's just mounds upon mounds of trash and the belongings they left behind when -- that they couldn't take with them on their paths out of the area.
BLITZER: From the Superdome, I want to go back to the floods. We saw some troops on a raft earlier. I want to roll that video right now. You see it right there.
Talk a little bit about what our viewers are seeing. It says Zodiac -- I think it says Zodiac Rescue on the side.
ALPAUGH: Yeah. We believe this is the 82nd Airborne that is moving through the area on these Zodiac life rafts. And they are fully armed. And they are all throughout the areas around downtown. A heavy presence for the 82nd Airborne both in Humvees and rafts, just the patrolling areas, making sure anything left behind. We saw some of guys bring out an injured patient and put them into an ambulance not too long ago -- probably about an hour ago.
So, these guys are doing a tremendous job by securing the city and getting rescue relief and kind of keeping a sense of calm and getting some of the holdouts to leave the area.
BLITZER: We're going to check back with you, J.T., in the next hour. I also want to thank your pilots, Alan Purwin, Dave Arnold (ph), John Horseman (ph), Ron Magucey (ph), all of them doing an outstanding job for us. J.T. Alpaugh reporting.
And he'll be back here in THE SITUATION ROOM in the next hour.
The storm season, though, is far from over. Two more hurricanes are spinning way out in the Atlantic right now. Tropical Storm Ophelia, on the other hand, is sitting off Florida's east coast.
Let's go to our meteorologist Rob Marciano. He's in the CNN Weather Center with an update. This is not what we want to hear, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No. It's certainly close to home as well, Wolf. You mention we have three storms out there: two hurricanes. Those two are no threat to land. One just south of Bermuda heading off to sea and another one, Maria heading into the shipping lanes.
But this one closer to home. This is Tropical Storm Ophelia. And it is only 60 miles now off the coastline of Florida. And in the last couple of hours, we've seen a bit of a blow-up in the thunderstorm activity. And we have seen a little bit of strengthening.
And right now, there is reconnaissance aircraft in there checking it out, possibly looking for an upgrade to this as a hurricane later on today, tonight, or tomorrow.
Here it is on the radar imagery. Titusville to Melbourne, they've been getting hit with gusty winds and rain already from this thing. And you also see that it's really not moving all that much.
So that is a concern. If it gets closer to land, we're looking at a flood potential across the east-central part of Florida there.
Here it is on a 3-D imagery. You really get a sense for the spiral bands around this, most of the heavier activity across the southwestern quadrant. But again, not a whole lot of movement with this. And the concern is going to be flooding, at least in the near term.
Well, what about the far term, or at least 3 to 5 days out? The National Hurricane Center has this forecast which takes it to hurricane status and then maybe drifting out to see, then maybe doing a loop around.
We should point out, Wolf, that this has a lot of uncertainty. All of our computer models take it out to sea. Some of them take it into the Gulf of Mexico. Some even take it into the coastline of Georgia. So we'll look at this by hour by hour, at least a six hour by six-hour basis as we get updates from the National Hurricane Center. But it is very close to the shoreline of Florida, and in some ways, impacting it already.
Back to you.
BLITZER: All right. We'll be watching Ophelia together with you. Rob, thanks very much.
Up next, countries around the world pitching in to try to help with hurricane recovery efforts. We'll show you where the latest international assistance is coming from. That's coming up.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: These are live pictures we're seeing. A U.S. military Chinook helicopter dropping those sandbags, those 2,000, 3,000-pound sandbags. They just lifted up those sandbags and they are taking them out to drop over some of the holes, some of the breaches in the levees. This is what they've been doing now throughout the week to try to restore the protection around New Orleans.
These are -- this is a huge helicopter. It's got three of those bags, I think -- yeah, three bags. And it's going to be moving out. And eventually, they will lower those bags and get -- hover really, really low. And simply drop those bags into that area. And the process goes on and on and on. We'll watch this and get back to it as appropriate. Maybe we'll continue showing our viewers these pictures.
In the meantime, more and more assistance is coming in from around the world. And it's being sent to the hurricane zone.
CNN's Zain Verjee joining us from the CNN Center. She's got details on what's being offered and what's being done. Zain?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, Mexican army convoys arrived in Texas carrying supplies and equipment, including two mobile kitchens that can feed 7,000 people a day. Also on board, military engineers, doctors and nurses as well. Now it's the first time a Mexican military unit has operated on American soil since 1846, at the start of the American-Mexican war.
A 747 loaded with donated aid from China has arrived at the Air Force base in Little Rock, Arkansas, which is now the central clearing house for all international relief supplies. Among the items on board, 1,000 tents, generators, bedding, as well as children's clothing. FEMA is going to be in charge of distributing the supplies.
And South Africa is pitching in as well, Wolf, sending in a drinking water generator. It's called the Aqua Cube. The manufacturer says it takes about two hours to set it up, and that it can produce more than 500 gallons of water an hour. Company officials say they want to send three more if they can get help delivering them.
And also we've got more aid coming in from Germany, that's already sent tons of supplies. A new shipment is going out, including 15 high-powered water pumps. Each one of them can move about 4,000 gallons of water -- that's each minute. More than 90 people are coming along to help set it up and run the pumps as well.
Wolf?
BLITZER: All-important assistance coming in from around the world. Zain, thank you very much.
Coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM, the power of persuasion versus the compulsion of law. For residents who refuse to leave New Orleans, despite mandatory evacuation orders, should police force them -- physically force them to go? We've asked you this hour that question. Jack Cafferty standing by with your e-mail, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Once again, we're looking at these live pictures. A Chinook helicopter returning from dropping those sandbags into those breaches of the levees, trying to restore those levees to useful service to make sure water that is not coming into New Orleans.
We're going to watch this helicopter move closer. I believe what they do is they -- on a routine basis, they come back, they load up the sandbags on the bottom of those helicopters with those huge cables and then it simply takes off again and moves over towards the next hole, the breaches in those holes. We'll watch this for you and get back to it when we see something important developing.
The Internet offers many resources in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Our Internet reporter, Jacki Schechner, is checking the situation online. What's on tap now, Jacki?
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, a lot of people are asking how they can help without actually giving just money. They want to do more than that. So we thought we'd bring you some of the resources online detailing how you can help.
First, you can donate an old computer -- a laptop, a Mac, a PC. Basically, five bloggers went down to Louisiana, and they are working with the local NAACP to help set up mobile Internet stations. We've been giving you all this wonderful online information. They are having trouble accessing it because they don't have enough computers. So that's the address right there. You can go to AmericaBlog.com to pick up that address. They'll take your old computer. They are asking you FedEx it because the need is very, very urgent. Another place you can do your part is go to RedCross.org -- there's a list of airlines. And you can donate your frequent flier miles -- it's a way to help without actually handing over cash. They have a lot of cash, but this is a really cool thing. A lot of unused airline miles -- you can donate those. You'll have to go to the individual airlines to find out how, but RedCross.org has a list of those airlines.
And another thing we wanted to show you -- it seems actually kind of silly, but it's very, very urgent. This is a blog called BradLands.com and they're actually formulating an underwear drive. A lot of people in these shelters, Wolf, don't have any undergarments. And so they are trying to collect some money. They're going to pay for the shipping. They just want your money to be able to buy undergarments to send to these people. A little creative giving for you online.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Jacki.
Let's get back to that Chinook helicopter. It's being reloaded now with the sandbags to make yet another trip out there. It's -- this is a very, very dangerous situation. You got people underneath those helicopters as they -- as those helicopters hover somewhat and they've got to attach those cables. They've got to get the sandbags in position and then they begin to move back out over the flooded areas, specifically towards those holes in the breach. They're going to be lifting those huge 2,000 to 3,000-pound sandbags and take them out on the journey. We'll watch this for a few more seconds. This is -- this has been going on hour after hour after hour to try to fill the holes in those gaps so that the water can be prevented from going back into New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain, from the Mississippi river. They are going to plug up those holes and eventually they'll all be plugged up.
Up next -- they still don't want to leave. There are up to 15,000 holdouts in New Orleans right now. Should they be forced out? We want to hear what you have to say, and we will, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: No great surprise, the House of Representatives has just passed very quickly, by a vote of 410-11, the latest appropriation, $51 billion -- $51.8 billion specifically funding for the hurricane victims. This comes on the heels of the more than $10 billion passed earlier in the week.
Jack Cafferty is going through your e-mail on the question this hour. Remind our viewers, Jack, what it is.
CAFFERTY: The question this hour is, what should be done with the people who refuse to leave New Orleans?
Brenda in Maumelle, Arkansas, "Nothing should be done with these people who refuse to leave. They have every right to stay there. At this point they have no reason to trust anyone." John in Rohnert Park, California, "These people have become walking toxic time bombs that could very well impact the health and safety of others in this country. Sadly, they must be forcibly removed and decontaminated for their own good and the health of the rest of the nation."
Dennis in Batesville, Arkansas, "These people have suffered enough at the hands of an inept government. They've been advised of the risks. If they want to stay, let them be. Give them the food and water they need to survive."
VB in Philmore, Alabama, "Give them a newspaper, along with food and water. They are in an information black hole. They can't make an informed decision because they have no information. They can't even see or imagine what the big picture is like."
And Steven Wrights, "Send Nancy Pelosi in with a megaphone. That will get them all to leave."
BLITZER: Strong views from our viewers. Thank very much, Jack. We'll check back with you in a few minutes for the question for the next hour.
Coming up, the scene in New Orleans. The difficult searches and the grim discoveries. We'll have another live update from the streets of New Orleans. That's coming up.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. CNN's Zain Verjee joining us from the CNN Center right now with a quick look at some other stories making news. Zain?
VERJEE: Wolf, the ongoing plans for U.S. base closings -- the Supreme Court is being asked to weigh in amid lawsuits seeking to save the endangered bases. Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey filed a request for the Supreme Court today requesting an emergency stay of the recommendations. Meanwhile today, the Bush administration asked the court to protect the recommendations set forth by a federal panel.
Now, despite his statement to the contrary, a lawyer for Saddam Hussein says his client has not confessed to ordering the deaths of 180,000 Kurds in the late 1980s. The lawyer's denial comes in response to comments from Iraq's president Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, made during a state TV broadcast two days ago. The lawyer adds how can Saddam or the defense possibly expect a free and fair trial.
A new development in the search for a missing Navy pilot shot down over Iraq in 1991. His name is Scott Speicher. And the Navy now says that members of the former Iraqi government know what happened to him. Officials think he may have been captured by Iraqi forces and they say that there's no credible evidence that he is dead.
And Yasser Arafat's precise cause of death is still a mystery, despite newly revealed medical records. The records don't reveal why the Palestinian leader suffered a massive stroke, although they do dispel some rumors surrounding Arafat's death and foul play such as suggestions that he was poisoned. Yasser Arafat died in November of 2004 in a French military hospital near Paris .
Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Zain, thank you very much.
I want our viewers to listen in briefly. Helicopter reporter J.T. Alpaugh flew over some of the canals of New Orleans earlier today. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALPAUGH: But now we're taking you on a tour. Now, we're south, moving northbound. So, now we're moving northbound. As we're going to tilt up and show you the lake. So now we're actually flying the course of the water. We're flying the path of all the water flow moving out of this area, back towards the lake.
So everything on the right side of your screen is the flooded areas in the New Orleans basin. Everything on the left side is the dried areas that weren't affected by these levee breaks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Helicopter reporter J.T. Alpaugh just a little while ago flying over New Orleans.
The closing bell is coming up on Wall Street. Ali Velshi is standing by for that.
But those -- the traffic along those canals, the Mississippi River, that's very, very significant to the entire country.
VELSHI: It's so significant, Wolf, that 60 percent of our imports, more than 60 percent -- sorry not imports, exports, those grain exports, corn, soy beans they go out, down the Mississippi River by barge and then out from the Port of New Orleans. Now, these things are all still stuck.
I want to show you a couple of maps just to give you a sense of what it looks like around there. There is some advance being made. The first map I want to show you will indicate that the Mississippi River is -- there's a key pass that goes down into the Gulf of Mexico called the Southwest Pass. You can see that on the bottom right. That's where the ships and barges come in. The Port of New Orleans is not up and running but it is servicing some military vehicles right now.
Now, we've been keeping you up to date with what's going on there. They have got to get the workers back in there, some diesel fuel and they are trying to get the Port of New Orleans up and running within the next two weeks. It was hit very badly by Hurricane Katrina.
But these barges are huge. The grain and the goods and the coal and things that are transported up the Mississippi River, I mean, this is legendary, Wolf. The Mississippi River is a major artery in this country. There are about 100 barges that have been overturned or sunken in the Mississippi River. And some of them are in that Southwest Pass. Right now, there are at least two of them.
What that means is that the biggest of the barges can't get past them. Hopefully within the next few days we'll see that opening up, Wolf, and barge traffic will be in and out.
Now $2 billion worth of agriculture was damaged in the area. This is chicken, cattle, sugar cane, things like that. The good news is that if this happened later or if these -- if the passage and the port are not going to be -- were not going to be opened in time, there's a lot of grain waiting to be shipped out. And when the harvest comes in, in a few weeks, there will be a lot more grain. It looks like that won't be affected.
So, the good news, if there is good news out of this, is that they may be able to get up and running and transport food and goods in and out of the Port of New Orleans within the next week and a half or two, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. What about the closing bell? We're getting very, very close to another day on Wall Street.
VELSHI: Yeah, well we've got crude oil virtually unchanged -- $64.49. The Dow is closing down about 35 points to 10,597. The NASDAQ on the right of the screen, you can see, down just a little more than 5 points to 2,166. We'll see how those numbers settle in, Wolf.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
