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The Situation Room

The Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Aired September 08, 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 at one place simultaneously.
Happening now. It's 4:00 p.m. Central Time in New Orleans where an environmental disaster may be brewing in the stagnant floodwaters.

Missing kids, possibly hundreds of them, separated from their families by the disaster. Now a new effort to try to reunite them. To New Orleans, there's some of the heroes of 9/11.

We'll show you what role they're playing now in the new disaster, four years after 9/11.

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

Right now the critical mission involves a multi-prong strategy, recovering bodies, saving lives and caring for the desperate and displaced. In Washington, another down payment on the relief effort. The Houses of Representatives passed an almost $52 billion emergency supplemental bill, setting aside some $1.5 billion per day for five weeks. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill shortly.

Meanwhile, uneasy, but unavoidable work. FEMA takes in 25,000 body bags in Louisiana. And temporary morgues could handle up to 1,000 bodies per day.

And a new meaning to the phrase "to serve and protect."

Amid evacuation orders for New Orleans' holdouts, the police are trying to use the power of persuasion to avoid the compulsion of the law. Police say they're not forcing out the up to 15,000 remaining residents, at least not yet. If that's not enough, there's a new hurricane to worry about right now.

We just heard it. This one off the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Ophelia.

But first, the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. From 47 states to the three states in the disaster zone. There's an outpouring of goodwill. In Illinois, generosity is playing in Peoria. But the city has waited so long for an expected 700 evacuees, they're closing down a center specifically set up for them. It opened last weekend, but today it's turning off the air conditioning, the water, the electricity and moving to a church. Kansas says it can handle 4,500 evacuees, but only 800 have come so far. Communities there are organizing to find evacuees shelter, medical care and jobs.

And in New York, this message to a National Guard unit that's been airlifting relief supplies for five days. "Please take the day off." Officials asked the 109th Airlift Wing not to transport any supplies today because crews need some time to sort out the tons of supplies the unit has already delivered.

We're getting some live pictures right now. Take a look at this. A train in New Orleans. There it is. What you used to be a train, at least. The cars clearly derailed from that train. CNN's Ali Velshi is watching all of this together with us. Ali, it's pretty devastating, these live pictures we're seeing.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a yard. Those are containers. You see on some of them CSX on them. CSX is a major intermodal transportation company. Those are -- as we've mentioned many times, New Orleans and that area around the Gulf is a major, major port for importing and exporting. And a lot of stuff is stored there.

So even if the port's not going in and out, there's a lot of things that are stored in New Orleans. A lot of those are foodstuffs and things we export and import. And one of those things that's going on is the Port of New Orleans is saying the companies that deal with a lot of the stock are trying to find out what's at the port, what has to go to their customers, what has to get out. But as you see, whatever's in those containers and train cars, you know, who knows what's in there, if it's foodstuffs, it's spoiling.

And if it's other things, it's damaged. That's not even part of the damage we're thinking about. Who knows what is in those containers. Companies like CSX carry all sorts of things along rail yards. Some of those containers can be attached to trucks and be driven around the country. This is part of the big mess we'll start to see as the water levels recede and we get reports about what's been damaged and what's been lost, Wolf.

BLITZER: And those containers thrown around as if they're toys. Those are heavy, heavy containers. You see the power of that storm and that water.

VELSHI: Unbelievable.

BLITZER: Ali, we'll check back with you. In the meantime, though, we'll keep these pictures up over New Orleans, live pictures you're seeing. Let's check in with our Jeff Koinange on the ground for us in New Orleans. Jeff, what's happening today?

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you what, wolf, you were talking about the outpouring of support. We actually saw the convoy of NYPD vehicles. A couple dozen rolling through town. And you could see people were waving at them, people were clapping. This is what togetherness is all about, Wolf. The law enforcement agencies all the way from New York to California, we've seen them, all across this city. Security is very tight. They're working together.

Let me give you a sense of where we are right now. Right behind me, this is where the ferry -- this is the entire ferry area. People would come, thousands of people would be thronged to this area. But now it's a security zone.

You see those APCs behind me, you see National Guard trucks driving in and out. This is basically the staging area for all law enforcement agencies and if I walk just a little here, Wolf, just so that you can get a sense, the agencies are all gathered here. This is their basic staging area. I don't know if you can see it back there. This is where they come for R&R, a meal, a glass of water, a bottle of water before they go out on their missions.

And there are thousands of them, Wolf. You were talking about about 15,000 residents being left in New Orleans. Well, I think law enforcement here outnumbers the residents right now. Because there are so many on the ground, making sure that, A, that the city is secure, and B, when the evacuations begin, at least the people won't have to worry about their homes, those who leave them. We took a drive throughout this morning, Wolf, in several neighborhoods asking people whether they're going to agree to leave the city. Many of them were telling us that they don't want to leave their city, Wolf.

BLITZER: What about the whole issue of health as it's unfolding? Are you seeing evidence that people who are left behind or others, rescue workers, police, anyone, are coming down with illnesses yet?

KOINANGE: Nothing right yet, Wolf. And again, it's early days. And we're asking the residents, aren't you worried about an outbreak of disease? And they said, look, we are New Orleans residents. We've lived here all other lives. That's what most of them told us. "We know what it's like to be on the ground."

In fact, they were telling us the security and soldiers should worry about their health because they're coming in from other states. For the most part, people especially living with pets, they don't want to leave here because wherever they are taken, the pets might not be allowed. And gain, people who are living -- their expensive homes, they don't know whether their homes will be safe or not. At the end of the day, a lot of people adamant about staying in their city, no matter what state or condition it's in.

BLITZER: And what about -- any problems in terms of law enforcement security, looting, any evidence of that? It simply has gone away? Is that the latest information you're getting?

KOINANGE: For the most part. However, we spoke to a couple officials of the National Guard and they were telling us something very interesting mere, Wolf. They were say they're finding looters because the water level in some parts is decreasing, it's going down. So what potential looters do is go into home where's the water has gone down, loot them, and bring the goods towards the dry land.

So when the National Guard forces are on patrol. They suddenly see a door that's opened that wasn't open before. And when they go in, they find a roomful of electronic goods or furniture or whatever it is and they confiscate those goods.

So there is a trickling. There's still a few stragglers left of looters. But for the most part, National Guardsmen, law enforcement agencies tell us, for the most part, the looting is down to a minimum, Wolf.

BLITZER: Jeff Koinange reporting for us from New Orleans. Jeff, thank you very much.

Officials in New Orleans can't seem to say it enough. The floodwaters are toxic, they're brimming with e. coli, other bacteria and chemicals. As the water pours back into Lake Pontchartrain and beyond, there are serious concerns about the effect on the environment. Here in THE SITUATION ROOM with us the Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Madam secretary, thanks very much for joining us.

GALE NORTON, INTERIOR SECRETARY: You're welcome.

BLITZER: It's been portrayed at least by some as a potential environmental disaster. What has happened in Louisiana and Mississippi. Is this an environmental disaster in the works?

NORTON: We in the United States have been fortunate that we have not had to cope with the kinds of health problems that people in many parts of the world have to cope with on a daily basis. The concern about having clean drinking water for people is obviously a big one. The concern about water-borne diseases is something we usually don't have to cope with in the United States.

We're working to try to address those things. My bureau of reclamation, for example, has just provided a water purification system for the hospital in Biloxi that will help 40,000 people have pure water. That's something that is vitally important that we focus on, the basic needs right now, for the health and safety.

BLITZER: Because in New Orleans specifically, some of the contaminated water supposedly includes -- we see evidence that it does -- raw sewage, bacteria, heavy metals, pesticides, toxic chemicals, human and animal remains. It sounds potentially -- once this water is removed from the streets of New Orleans into Lake Pontchartrain, shall we say, which has been a source for a lot of the clean water in New Orleans in that area -- this could be a Love Canal, a toxic waste zone in the works. Are you concerned about that?

NORTON: I think we'll have to see what the situation is. A lot of those kinds of things are ones that obviously our usually sewage treatment facilities take care of. Those are things we're going to have to assess. We've been fortunate, though, I think in that the billions of dollars and the technological developments we've had over time have helped a lot. For example, on the offshore oil and gas platforms that my department is in charge of, we are not aware of any significant spill on the federal waters because the shutoff valve systems actually worked. So there's -- the damage, while it's terrible because of the feces and the -- you know, those kinds of things -- is not as bad as perhaps it could be.

BLITZER: So in other words, someday people will be allowed to come back, you believe, and live in New Orleans and not worry about long-term toxic waste?

NORTON: Obviously, we need to assess those things. And that's something we don't know at this point. There's going to have to be a long-term assessment. But for right now, the real focus is on disease and clean water and trying to cope with those kinds of things that are immediate public health concerns.

BLITZER: There's been some concern over the years that the destruction of wetlands around New Orleans has now contributed to this disaster that we've seen. Can those wetlands be restored? Is this a priority for the Department of Interior?

NORTON: We've been working with the Corps of Engineers and studying the wetlands issues. Our wildlife refuge system has a number of refuges that do preserve wetlands in that area. There has been a great loss of wetlands over time. And we have been looking at the restoration of that. In the recent energy bill, the State of Louisiana would share in $1 billion that was passed that would go toward coastal restoration, shared with some other states. And so there are steps that have been taken. Obviously, that's one of the issues we want to be involved in assessing what needs to be done in the future.

BLITZER: The vice president, by the way, Dick Cheney, has now landed in this area where they're doing sandbagging, 17th Street Canal. That's his helicopter. We'll keep an eye on that. We'll listen to the vice president once he gets to the microphones. Our Ali Velshi has a question for you, if you have a second. Ali, go ahead.

VELSHI: Madam secretary, thank you. You know, one of the things we follow closely here in business news is the MMS, the Minerals Management Gervice. One of the things that's been coming out is the fact that natural gas prices, natural gas coming out of the gulf, has been affected by this storm. It's not something we think about because it's not as topical as gasoline prices and oil prices. But we've heard the Department of Energy, secretary, say today that people who heat with natural gas could be paying 71 percent more this winter than last winter.

Your take on the natural gas situation? It seems more alarming than the oil situation.

NORTON: From the offshore oil platforms situation, we saw about 87 percent of the natural gas that was taken offline just as the hurricane hit. We're up to about 40 percent that remains offline. But -- although the situation looks fairly good from the platform perspective, we expect on both oil and gas that about 90 percent of the supply would be able to flow, with the platforms being restored, we still have the on-shore receiving areas to worry about.

And so not all of that might be available from the platforms might be able to be received by the terminals and the gas compression stations on shore.

VELSHI: Is there as much of a complication, when we talk about the oil, we talk about the platforms and the rigs getting online to get the oil through the pipelines to the refineries in the Gulf and then through the gas pipelines to the gas stations. With the natural gas situation, once you get the production back online in the Gulf, is it a more direct transmission to people's homes?

NORTON: You still have processing facilities on shore. You still have pipelines that have to function. And so we've been working with the Department of Energy and Department of Transportation so that we can get that whole unified system operating again. It's obviously very complex.

VELSHI: Thank you.

BLITZER: So let's get back to some of the initial questioning, just the bottom line. Is there any estimate, or is it way too early right now to assess when it will be safe from an environmental perspective for people to go back to New Orleans?

NORTON: I think it is too early to be able to tell. We have been doing water-quality testing. We are doing aerial over flights through the USGS to look at the damage. We are working with the EPA to try to assess the situation.

But, you know, at this point we really need to focus on the kinds of steps that people need to do to protect themselves. And, you know, that includes people being sure to shower often. We have to provide clean water for them to shower off after they've been in those areas. Obviously, clean drinking water is something that is very important. And so at this stage, we're really focused on just trying to do those things, the common-sense things that need to be done to protect people's health.

BLITZER: The secretary of the interior, Gale Norton, thanks very much for spending some moments with us here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

NORTON: Thank you. Appreciate it.

BLITZER: You're looking at these live pictures. The vice president of the United States has been touring the devastated area along the Gulf Coast. He's now in New Orleans. This is an area along one of the canals that was breached earlier. We expect to hear from the vice president fairly soon as he makes his way to the microphones. We'll hear what he has to say. We'll bring that to our viewers.

We'll continue to watch these pictures. Meantime, let's check in with CNN's Jack Cafferty. He's in New York and he's got another question for this hour. Jack? JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed, I do, Wolf. Thanks very much. Somewhere along the way, FEMA became a dumping ground for the president's political cronies with little experience in disaster relief. The agency's first director was Joe Allbaugh, he was President Bush's 2000 campaign chairman. Allbaugh brought in the current failure, Michael Brown. His previous work was with Arabian horses.

The number two guy, Brown's top deputy at FEMA is a fellow named Patrick Rhode. He worked for the 2000 election campaign. The number three guy at FEMA is Brooks Altshuler. He used to work in the White House. His job was planning presidential trips.

And FEMA's long-term recovery director is a guy named Scott Morris. He produced television and radio commercials for the Bush campaign. The federal agency charged with handling national emergencies is staffed at the very top by a bunch of political hacks with virtually no experience that qualifies them to respond to something like Katrina.

But I digress. Some people are now suggesting making the military responsible for organizing the efforts, things, in fact, picked up noticeably and considerably in New Orleans once they got there. So here's the question this hour. Should the military be put in charge of handling domestic disasters such as hurricanes? Caffertyfile@cnn.com.

BLITZER: You know, Jack, what happened in 1992 after Hurricane Andrew in Florida, the first President Bush was severely criticized for supposedly not doing enough for Floridians in the immediate aftermath of Andrew. And some pundits suggested later that he lost Florida to Bill Clinton in that election precisely because of that reason. You remember that?

CAFFERTY: I do. And I can remember a mayoral election in New York that turned on the fact that snowplows didn't get into some of the outlying neighborhoods soon enough after a particularly heavy snowstorm. And that mayor was promptly voted right out into the street, as it were. So the voters do remember. If the damage that's inflicted upon them is severe enough, they tend to remember. And when they go to the ballot box, sometimes they try to get even.

BLITZER: As we watch the vice president make his way, I believe, to microphones to report to us what he's seeing and what he's hearing, I just want to point out, there is some suggestions that this president learning from his father's mistake, wanted political associates of his to be in charge of FEMA to make sure the response would be perfect, especially to Floridians in the aftermath of hurricanes because that's where a lot of hurricanes sent.

CAFFERTY: Well, it didn't work out so well, did it?

BLITZER: Sometimes it doesn't necessarily work out that way.

CAFFERTY: Where are the qualifications of these people? None of these guys is qualified based on the stuff I'm reading to head up an emergency management agency. One of them worked with Arabian horses. The rest are all guys off the campaign trail, planned presidential trips, produced TV commercials. Don't you need somebody at the top running the organization that has some semblance of an idea of what the hell is required when there's an emergency?

BLITZER: All right, Jack. We got the point.

CAFFERTY: I got carried away.

BLITZER: All right. We're going to check back with you. And we'll hear what our viewers think about this sensitive subject as well. We're getting some live pictures not only of the vice president who's making his way, we believe, towards microphones in New Orleans. But these are live pictures coming in from aboard a helicopter. And you can see the floodwaters. They may be receding, but they still look deep in this part of New Orleans that we're looking at right now.

And we'll continue to watch both of these live pictures. The vice president is there. The floodwaters on the left part of the screen also there. We'll see if the vice president makes it to the microphones. We'll stand by. He's with Lynne Cheney, his wife, and other officials. His party clearly getting a bird's-eye view of what is happening in this region today.

We'll watch to see if the vice president does come over to the microphones. We'll bring you his words when he makes those.

In the meantime, with New Orleans mostly evacuated, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is busting at the seams. Could that city's infrastructure literally fall apart? That's coming up.

Plus, the youngest survivors of the storm missing and suffering. We'll focus on the mission to reunite children and their parents separated when Katrina hit.

And later, almost four years to the day after 9/11, New York firefighters and New York police face disaster once again.

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

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BLITZER: Welcome back to THE SITUATION ROOM. I want to show our viewers, we're looking at two live pictures over here. Aerial photographs, live pictures coming in from a helicopter flying over New Orleans. This part of New Orleans relatively un-flooded. We'll continue to watch that.

Over here, we are looking at the vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney. He's now arrived at that 17th Street Canal area to eyewitness the sandbagging operation that's unfolding there. What they do is take these giant helicopters, lift up these sandbags, move them over to the breaches in the canal to try to -- into the levees to try to make sure that that area is -- as the water stops flowing into the city and stays where it's supposed to stay. But that sandbagging operation has been critical. We've been watching it for several days. The vice president is there. He's going to see it for himself. We anticipate he will be making some remarks. Once he does, we'll bring those remarks to you live.

In the meantime, Baton Rouge, Louisiana is bearing a heavy burden. Its population has doubled. And its infrastructure is bending under the weight of the evacuees. CNN's Alina Cho is there, joining us live with more. Let's talk a little, Alina. What about the people who have moved into Baton Rouge? Give us a sense of what's happening there.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, here's the situation. It is really an incredible thing to see. You're talking about a city of a quarter of a million people under normal circumstances. You are right, it's swelled to more than a half million. The one thing we have noticed time and time again is the traffic.

One woman told me she lives two miles away. It takes two miles from work, rather. It takes her 25 minutes to get there. This is also causing a massive strain on the housing market. Just last week, there were 3500 homes on the market. Now there are just 500.

You cannot get a rental property. Everything is rented. You can't get a hotel room because everything is booked for the foreseeable future. But the one bright light, wolf, is that it is -- it has been good for business. The Chamber of Commerce tells me that all of these extra people are pumping in an additional $10 million a day into the local economy. Wolf?

BLITZER: What businesses, Alina, are moving into Baton Rouge right now?

CHO: Well, a variety of businesses. They're still trying to sort all of that out. But we can tell you, when all the numbers are sorted out and counted, it looks like there will be anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 businesses moving here into the area from New Orleans into Baton Rouge.

The big question is, how long are they going to stay? Are they going to move here permanently? All officials will tell us is that it depends, really, on a number of factors. But one of them is it depends on whether the owners are parents. Because once they settle here, put their children into schools, they may want to move here permanently.

BLITZER: Alina Cho, thank you very much. Alina Cho reporting for us from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

I want to go back to New York. CNN's Ali Velshi is getting new information for us on those FEMA debit cards, $2,000 potentially. What are you picking up Ali? I'm not clear on why this can't be worked out. But FEMA is now saying that because of the confusion around the whole debit card situation, we now have a situation where they will give the debit cards, the remaining 8,000 people, at the Astrodome, and then they're going to mail checks for $2,000 to everybody else, the other evacuees who need them.

So they're encouraging people to sign up with the U.S. Postal Service to make sure their checks get to the right place and that they should get these checks out within the next couple days.

It's puzzling to me. This is the one thing they've got to get cleared up. And we're still not clear on why this is the case. But now FEMA saying 8,000 more evacuees who are in the Astrodome will be handed the debit cards. Everybody else gets a check. So sign up so they know where to send it to.

BLITZER: Here's what I don't understand. A lot of people don't have addresses.

VELSHI: Well, this is exactly it. That's one thing to say to people who have a house and address, it seems to me it's got to be easier to get these debit cards to people in their hands through distribution lines than newly homeless people to register with an address. I understand they're trying to get people to register with addresses, but that might be a slightly longer-term situation than someone who needs the money now.

The debit cards seemed like a fantastic idea. These people have to eat, get clothes, transportation. Again, we'll continue, obviously to keep everybody posted on what FEMA eventually decides to do with these debit cards. But for the moment, it looks like they'll give it to the people in the Astrodome, and everybody else has to sign up and get a check mailed to them.

BLITZER: All right. We'll watch the story. Some confusion. Significant confusion, Ali. Appreciate it very much.

Every hurricane survivor story is somewhat different. Yet they all share common threads. The fear and the courage, the anguish, relief and sometimes the anger. Thomas Gazzo is one of those many survivors. He is a lifelong resident of Biloxi, Mississippi. He's joining us now live.

Thomas, thank you very much for joining us. Tell us your story. I believe you're standing outside of what was your home? Is that right?

THOMAS GAZZO, BILOXI RESIDENT: Yes. I'm standing -- I'd say roughly about five blocks away from where I used to live.

BLITZER: Where were you? Where did you -- how did you survive this hurricane?

GAZZO: Well, at this hurricane at this time I listened to my life that said get out. She was afraid of drowning. And at exactly around 2:00 the Sunday before the storm, I decided to tell her, I said, "All right. Let's go. We're going to go to my daughter's house." And we stayed something like 37 miles away from Biloxi up in Van Cleeve (ph).

BLITZER: So that basically saved your life and your wife's life, your wife's recommendation, is that fair to say?

GAZZO: That's right. I think if it wouldn't have been for her, we'd have probably been up in the attic somewhere swimming around. I don't know, the whole area that I lived in is devastated.

BLITZER: Well, talk about what it's been like in these days since Katrina hit Biloxi.

GAZZO: Well, according to what I see everybody's homes that I used to know because being born and raise in Biloxi here. The people that - I know a bunch of people that had died, perished in the storm which I thought would never take place in this area. But under the circumstances -- not just in this area, throughout Louisiana and the rest of Mississippi and Alabama also.

Because like I said, I was born and raised on this coast. I've been from one end of here to Louisiana. And I had a strange feeling one day that the people in New Orleans was going to really suffer, just like they predicted it would. And I'm sorry to hear that it did happen.

And, of course, I know even with the situation as far as the casinos here in Biloxi, the amount of people that was employed, including my children, have no jobs. And I'm sorry for the other families as far as in the casinos and stuff there that don't have any jobs. Plus the millions of people that not able to go to work, as fortunate as I am, because I work for the Department of Veterans in Biloxi. I did work in Gulfport which is no longer open, but they found a spot for me.

BLITZER: Thomas, where are you living now? What happens with your life and your family? Where do you live?

GAZZO: Well, at this present moment, we're just staying from daughter's to daughter's house.

BLITZER: And that's it, you're just staying with your daughter because your house is totally destroyed?

GAZZO: Well, I have a roof and a frame of a house here, but if you go inside, I'm afraid there's some type of disease that's going to be there. I was in it today. And there's some kind of yellow looking -- I don't know. I've never seen anything like it. There's some kind of disease growing on the back of the drawers and stuff.

It's not just mold. I know what mold is. But this is something there that I'm not used to seeing. And I have no idea what type of bacteria or germs it could be, because I work in that field as far as in the laundry room.

BLITZER: Well, good luck to you and your family. Our heart goes out to you, Thomas. Appreciate your spending a few moments sharing your story. It's only one story, but it's typical of so many thousands -- hundreds of thousands of people who have suffered on the Mississippi Coast, suffered a great deal.

GAZZO: Yes.

BLITZER: Good luck to you.

GAZZO: I just thank God that everybody survived, the ones that was able to get out. I thank God to this day that I'm alive due to my wife's wish. Thank you.

BLITZER: We're happy both of you are alive. Thanks very much, Thomas, for joining us.

The unfortunate stories are not likely to end anytime soon. Coming up, perhaps the most vulnerable victims from this hurricane: children. Many still missing. We'll tell you what one national agency is doing to find them. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: The disaster along the Gulf Coast has separated hundreds of people from their loved ones, including so many children. CNN's Brian Todd is joining us live from Alexandria, Virginia, to show us what one group, one national center, is trying to do about this -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we're here at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. This is the Special Katrina Victim's Hotline Center.

This place is literally swamped with calls, hundreds of them coming in each hour. Now, the calls first come into this room where they handle the real bulk of the telephone bank.

If a call needs to be vetted more specifically, it is transferred into this room where some very sensitive specific information is taken down and then relayed to teams in the field.

Those teams are trying to find kids like 8-year-old Alex Davis. We're going to put a picture of Alex up here. He is two days past his eighth birthday. And he was last seen with his mother at their home in New Orleans, it says here. They told a relative they would be evacuating to a hotel. But they have not been heard from since then.

Alex is one of 866 children now listed as missing from Katrina and its aftermath. One of the people trying frantically to find Alex and so many hundreds of others like him is Bill Hagmaier. Bill, thank you for joining us. Bill has been a longtime volunteer here, but he's been manning the phones for days.

Bill, you used to run the FBI's Child Abduction and Serial Killer Unit. Bill, take us through a typical phone call. What happens?

BILL HAGMAIER, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Well, as soon as the call comes in, the first thing the volunteer is trying to do is to create a calming dialogue. These people -- all of them are concerned, many of them very emotional and some of them downright angry at the situation overall.

TODD: And you had some interesting anecdotal stuff about just the frame of mind that some of these people are in when they call.

HAGMAIER: Some of them actually don't even know where they're calling from, unfortunately. And that's tragic in itself. They're looking for their children that they haven't seen since they got on the bus. We've had other relatives calling in looking for grandchildren. They don't know their names. We've had people calling in saying that their brother was in a gang. And if we do find them deceased, they want us to promise that we're going to have a homicide investigation and not just pick him up and put him in a morgue. It really runs the gamut of all ends of society.

TODD: Well Bill, good luck to you here and everyone manning the phones. Dozens of volunteers, about 40 or so at a given time, 16 hours a day, Wolf, 8:00 a.m. to midnight. If you want to call into the hotline, if you know any information about Alex Davis or any of these kids, we'll put up the number now. It is 1-888-544-5475 or go to www.missingkids.com -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian, thank you very much. Useful information for our viewers.

Coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM they are there because they are familiar with disaster. New York City firefighters and New York City police officers. They're in New Orleans right now. We'll tell you what they're doing, and why this has such special meaning for New York's finest and bravest nearly four years to the day after 9/11.

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BLITZER: Katrina missing kids hotline. Take a look once again at that number. If you have any information that's useful, call 1- 888-544-5475, or go to www.missingkids -- all one word -- missingkids.com.

Tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, CNN will have a special on this very subject. Tomorrow night 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

It's a relationship forged in trials and fire. Firefighters and police officers from New York down in New Orleans right now to try to help out. CNN's Mary Snow is in New York. She's watching this story for us. Ad very emotional story. Mary, what are you picking up?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is emotional, Wolf. Or if any police or fire department in the country knows what it's like to face disaster and need support, it's New York City. And that is why more than 600 of the city's firefighters and police officers have gone to Louisiana saying it's time to give back after the outpouring of help given to them after 9/11.

New York City firefighters have joined the front lines in battling some of those huge blazes we've seen over the past couple of days in New Orleans. The fire department has sent over 300 firefighters. Some are still on their way to New Orleans. And that includes the fire truck Spirit of Louisiana.

The State of Louisiana gave that truck to New York after the September 11 attacks. New York City Fire Department lost 343 of its own. And since most of the team deployed are veterans, many were on duty during 9/11. One of the first firefighters sent includes the son of a fire chief who was killed on 9/11.

Now, many of the nearly 300 New York City police officers have been sent to the region were also on the force during the attack four years ago. The department had 2,000 volunteers. A police sergeant in New Orleans says, officers are assisting in patrolling the French Quarter and Jefferson Parish. An interesting agreement allows them to have full police powers in Louisiana while they are there.

Now, one officer said helping out right now is perhaps the best tribute they could give to everyone who died on 9/11. They plan to mark the four-year anniversary together in New Orleans on Sunday. And there are emergency workers from many states including hundreds from Illinois, Maryland, Texas and Georgia, just to name a few -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Mary, thank you very much. Mary Snow reporting for us from New York.

CNN's Zain Verjee is at the CNN center in Atlanta. She's taking a closer look at what newspapers around the world are saying about this disaster here in the United States -- Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, "The Calgary Herald" in Alberta, Canada, offered an insider's perspective to the much criticized response to the disaster. Nathan Manning is the son of the former Canadian Reform Party leader Preston Manning. He was attending the University in Louisiana and writes this. "Much has been written about the disorganized efforts at evacuating New Orleans. But I saw a much more uplifting side of the story, the organization and spontaneous volunteer efforts of the doctors, social workers and students at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where I attend school, reflected a wonderful human spirit that pervaded all activity there."

Now others, Wolf, are striking a less amiable note. Mexico's "LaJornada" newspaper is writing this. "Perhaps the only good thing about Katrina is that it could accelerate Washington's withdrawal from Iraq."

And Pakistan's newspaper, "The Nation" says this, "in the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and Bush's inept response to the unfolding humanitarian crisis in New Orleans, the myth of America's superpower status has been shattered."

A much friendlier, more understanding, tone in "The Australian" which says, "the poor initial response to Hurricane Katrina had to do with bureaucracy, not race or Iraq. In assessing the U.S. response to Hurricane Katrina, keep in mind its scale. It devastated an area the size of Britain. Tell me the country would have responded with perfect efficiency, any country could have." -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. You're going to continue to monitor world reaction for us, Zain. Thank you very much. Zain Verjee at the CNN center. It's an important question: "Who should be in charge during a natural disaster?" Coming up, we've been asking you if the U.S. military should be in charge. Jack Cafferty reading your e-mail. I'll have a sample when we come back.

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BLITZER: The Vice President Dick Cheney is now in New Orleans. He's touring areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Just a little while ago, this is videotape that we're just getting in, he got into that military humvee and began an on the scene inspection tour. You see the security guards walking in front and alongside that military humvee. The vice president is inside. He's going to see what's going on.

At some point, we do expect him to make a statement. We'll try to bring thaw statement once he does. In the meantime, though, he's sitting right there in the front seat as that humvee drives along the streets of New Orleans. He's traveling with the military commander on the scene, the three-star general, Russel Honore and other representatives, local, state and federal authorities.

They're in this convoy now, and they're moving along. We'll watch the vice president.

In the meantime, we'll continue our coverage of this state of emergency. CNN's Tom Foreman who spent many years working in New Orleans, he's joining us once again with his rather unique perspective, given your history on this disaster. What are you picking up today, Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the biggest thing I'm picking up, Wolf, is that if there is a center of destruction here, and there is so, so much all along the Gulf everywhere -- this is not to diminish any place. But one of the place we're going to have to watch closely over the next few days is going to be right here on the map.

You see our big map of New Orleans. Here's downtown New Orleans. We've shown you this several times. But if we go in -- there's a wide shot, so you can see it all -- if we go all the way in right here, this area to the east of town, this is called the Ninth Ward, the Lower Ninth Ward. This canal over here, Industrial Canal, is one that broke. We had a lot of water pour in.

What makes this important is over here is Chalmette, which is where we had some of the folks who were found in the nursing home the other day. I believe in this area you're going to have an awful lot of casualties coming out. I hate to see that, but I think we'll see many, many there because the nature of flooding there was different than in other places.

If we look at our overlay of the flooding in this area, look at this. A huge amount of flooding, all up in here and over in here. What's different about this than all this flooding? The difference is that the flooding that happened in this area was explosive in nature. This is Lake Born over here. We don't talk much about Lake Born. But on Monday, when this storm was sweeping in, Lake Born was pushing up through all these lowlands here, very, very quickly. In addition to that, while that was happening, then we had Lake Pontchartrain up here starting to push down from above. That all put water pressure on this area that we're talking about -- the 9th Ward, down into St. Bernard Parish, Chalmette, Arabi, all of these areas, working-class neighborhoods, lots of folks that stayed put there, trying to take care of their property if they could; some because they couldn't get out. And then you had the levee break and fill in on this side.

All reports out of this area were not of water merely rising rapidly, like we saw in other parts of New Orleans on Tuesday, but of water rising at a cataclysmic rate on Monday. People talking about walking 30 feet and seeing the water rise 10, 12 feet in that time.

BLITZER: Look at this, Tom. This is video that we're getting, its' just coming into CNN now, video coming in from the pool camera traveling with the vice president, Dick Cheney. Every time we see destruction along this scale, whether in Mississippi or Louisiana, it's just heartwrenching to see what a natural disaster, the kind of damage that it can cause. These houses simply -- simply destroyed, up all and -- all along the Gulf Coast.

FOREMAN: And always remember, it's something that people have to remember about hurricanes -- and it's easy to forget -- the water is what destroys things. Wind does. Wind is important. And these kinds of winds will do a lot of damage, but water getting into a building and shaking it around will ruin it quickly. And explosive water, like we're talking about in the 9th Ward and in Chalmette and in St. Bernard Parish, this is what traps people and kills people all the time. And I think we're going to have to watch that area closely.

BLITZER: This area, though, looks like Mississippi, that the vice president was flying over earlier today. This looks like simply devastated areas.

FOREMAN: And they had some of that there, too. I mean, we had a witness the other day who was talking about in Biloxi, coming out of his house...

BLITZER: This is Gulfport.

FOREMAN: ... a little lagoon -- yeah, this is further down the shoreline. But he said he came out, and there was a lagoon near his house. This man described at his house seeing a 30-foot wave coming at him.

Now, I know that's hard to judge. And he knows it's hard to judge. But this man has lived much of his life on the water, and he said, I'm telling you, I saw a 30-foot wave swelling up and pushing toward his house. He turned and left, watching his house get destroyed behind him. Those stories of explosive water are going to lead us to where some of the -- some of the greatest loss of life will ultimately be. And certainly all along that coast, you had that shallow part of the Gulf there pushing up, that water pushes easily when it's shallow like that, and causes a lot of damage.

BLITZER: All right, thanks very much, Tom Foreman. Got a good perspective for us.

Coming up, has FEMA become too politicized? Should the U.S. military manage the response to natural disasters? What do you think? We'll hear what you think. Jack Cafferty's been reading your e-mail. We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: Jack Cafferty's been going through your e-mail on the question of the hour. He's joining us once again from New York -- Jack.

CAFFERTY: Wolf, somewhere along the way, FEMA has become a dumping ground for President Bush's political cronies. And most of them have little or no experience in disaster relief. From the chief, Michael Brown, right on down the line. A lot of these guys at the top of FEMA are former campaign workers. One guy planned presidential trips for the White House.

One way to fix that would be to replace the leadership at FEMA and the responsibility for handling national disasters like a Hurricane Katrina, with the military. That's the question. Should the military be put in charge of handling domestic disasters such as hurricanes?

Don in Greenville, South Carolina: "The military should not be given the responsibility. FEMA needs new leaders and needs to regain autonomy. In other words, it should be out from under Homeland Security, so that it has the 25 or so agencies directly at its beck and call when the situation warrants."

Todd in Ontario, Canada, writes: "I'm sure the military could handle disaster relief more efficiently than FEMA, but it shouldn't be their responsibility. It should be handled by state officials. It's obvious the Bush administration has spent too much money on counterterrorism and cut too many essential services for the people."

Terry writes: "It probably would not be a bad idea if we take their advice and let them do their job. They already have staging areas all over, experience deploying people, all the supplies at their fingertips. But the problems still remain. Who tells them they can go in? Do we leave it to them or the politicians?"

Cara in Glendale, Arizona: "Why not the military? Obviously FEMA isn't prepared to handle America's catastrophes. The military doesn't seem so politically motivated. And I like the military, particularly Honore's attitude, just get it done. Reminds me of an old quote, 'Don't tell me how bad the storm is, just bring the ship in.'"

And Lisa in Harlingen, Texas: "I believe the military is doing the job of FEMA. So why not eliminate the red tape and overhead? Hey, I've worked in advertising. You think FEMA would give me a big job?" BLITZER: Jack, we'll do this again tomorrow. Thanks very much.

CAFFERTY: I can't wait, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much.

We've got some live pictures coming in, live pictures coming in. Dick Cheney, the vice president of the United States, he's in the region right now. He's looking at one of the pumping stations. That's him with his back to us. You see the white hair, you see the blue shirt. He's getting briefed on this pumping station at the 17th Street levee where -- 17th Street Canal where this levee simply broke. The vice president getting an on-the-scene inspection of what has happened. We expect at some point to hear from him. Once we do, we will go back to New Orleans.

Just ahead, flooding and fraud on the Internet. Hurricane survivors need help. They need help right now. And there are plenty of people online willing to provide it. But do we need to be wary of some Web sites? Yes. We'll tell you some of that when we come back.

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BLITZER: All over the Internet, there are people ready to help the hurricane survivors, but lurking among them, a few who are trying to take advantage. Our Internet reporter Abbi Tatton is checking the situation online. Abbi, what are you finding?

ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, the Justice Department is warning people to be very wary when they're giving online. There are over 2,000 sites, they say, that have cropped up in the past few days since the hurricane, purporting to be helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and the Justice Department is warning that a lot of them could be bogus.

Let's look at some of them here. Sofus.com (ph) is a computer security firm that's tracking some phishing e-mails trying to get your credit card information, and this is one of those spam e-mails that that have tracked that they have shown us.

This purports to be from the American Red Cross. Shows up in an unsolicited e-mail. Looks very much like it. Has the logo or the banner. But it's not. This is the legitimate site. It's different. It has other ways to donate right there.

The warning that they're giving is avoid these unsolicited e- mails. If you want to donate to the Red Cross, use a search engine like Google.com, to find out the legitimate site. Avoid the unsolicited e-mails, Wolf.

BLITZER: Abbi, thank you very much. We'll check back with you tomorrow.

We're in THE SITUATION ROOM every weekday afternoon from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now, Lou standing by in New York -- Lou. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com