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The Situation Room

FEMA Head Recalled to Washington

Aired September 09, 2005 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, a major shake-up. The head of FEMA sidelined. Recalled to Washington, and replaced on the ground amid growing criticism.
Coming home, but to what? One hundred thirty five National Guard troops returning from the war zone in Iraq to a disaster zone in Louisiana.

Found -- a child missing since the disaster struck now accounted for, after our report. We'll go live to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children for details.

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

In the disaster zone, a critical mission to provide the things most Americans take for granted, like security, assistance, even U.S. mail. For the first time today, evacuees are getting mail at a makeshift post office in Houston's Astrodome complex. Postal officials say now that FEMA forms are filled out, they're able to make some deliveries there. And many evacuees will need that mail, as FEMA now says it's going back to the old way of handing out assistance, by check and electronic funds transfers, instead of debit cards in some parts of the country.

And it's a bittersweet homecoming for some. One hundred thirty five Louisiana National Guardsmen are back home, after serving in Iraq. They'll be helping in the relief effort in Louisiana and helping loved ones cope with all that they have lost.

Let's take a closer look at the current situation unfolding right now. There are more troops in New Orleans. Right now, 14,000 troops are patrolling the streets, and police have arrested 200 people so far. Police say the city is now -- and I'm quoting -- "fully secured".

Caring for the hungry and homeless -- relief. FEMA says it's ordered 21 million meals ready to eat, MREs, and have delivered almost 16 million of them.

Also the federal government says more than 235,000 evacuees are being housed in shelters. And the Red Cross -- get this -- says it's taken in $500 million in donations, but more money will surely be needed to help the survivors spread out over 675 shelters in 23 states, as well as here in Washington D.C.

Let's get some live pictures right now. These are live pictures near a NASA facility in New Orleans. We're getting these courtesy of helicopter reporter J.T. Alpaugh and his crew. Let's listen in briefly to see what J.T. is reporting.

J.T. ALPAUGH, POOL PHOTOGRAPHER: This fire looking for whatever it can to consume.

Try to push in tight here just to show you the close-up shot of what's burning here. It does appear to look like some boat hulls starting to go.

No firefighting aircraft on scene yet, and we haven't heard any response from Omaha (ph) on ETA, but no ground firefighting personnel in the area as well.

BLITZER: All right, we'll continue to monitor this fire and listen to what J.T. is reporting. We'll get back to that. We'll keep those pictures up.

Meanwhile, on the ground in New Orleans, officials think they found everyone who wants to be evacuated. Now they're focusing in on finding the dead, and hoping there won't be as many as first feared.

Our Jeff Koinange is joining us once again from streets of New Orleans. Jeff, what's latest?

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I can tell you, those stragglers are still adamantly refusing to leave New Orleans. We spent most of the day with various law enforcement agencies, going neighborhood to neighborhood, literally finding people on their porches, refusing to leave, Wolf. They don't want to leave their city. They say they withstood the storm, they withstood the post-storm period, and now they do not want to leave, despite a threat of an outbreak of disease.

Part of our travel, we ran into the commander of the Joint Task Force Katrina, Lieutenant General Russel Honore. And basically what he said is New Orleans is not a stranger to crises.

ALPAUGH: We're going to show you the 17th Street Canal, which divides Jefferson County, Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish. And again, most of the damage you're seeing on the left side of your shot, and that's the Orleans Parish side. The right side, the 17th Street Canal, is the Jefferson Parish side. I think we're going to slow down here real quick and we're going to park it and show you one of the pumping stations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, CMDR., JOINT TASK FORCE KATRINA: -- was flooded before. Go read your history. It's flooded before. We'll overcome this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOINANGE: Basically, Wolf, what the general was saying is, A, he's not going to force anybody to leave this city if they don't want to leave. All he's doing is to assist local law enforcement. And, B, when it comes to retrieving bodies, he doesn't want the media anywhere around, because a lot of people have lost their loved one. He doesn't want them to see them on television for the very first time, Wolf. He wants to treat this with a lot of sensitivity.

BLITZER: All right, Jeff, hold on a second. I want to come back to you, but I want our viewers to see these live pictures. J.T. Alpaugh, the helicopter reporter, and his team. Look at this helicopter bringing what looks like water to deal with this fire that we've been seeing that erupted near some sort of NASA facility in New Orleans. Inside that huge, huge container is some water.

Let's listen to J.T.

ALPAUGH: -- see some of that mist coming off.

Going to pull out to show you where he is in relation to this fire. What he's going to do now, is he's going to slow this aircraft down, get a good look at the obstacles around the area, make sure there's no wires or lines around that he can get his sling load caught on. And he's going to maneuver this helicopter right over the top, surgically drop this bucket into the area, as you can see, putting it through the smoke.

And we're going to go tight on that bucket just to show you how precise this is going to be, as he drops away and just drenches this water. Outstanding dropping.

He may have just put out that fire with one load. Just an outstanding drop. And we're going to pull back and give you a shot of this Firehawk helicopter, who just did an excellent, spot-on job. As he goes back for one more load of water to -- but we're going to come back to the fire here in a second. I just want to see how well he did. That was right on. What a great shot. He just nailed that fire. It is now smoldering white. But there's a little bit of fire on the eastern edge of it.

We're going to get back and give you the shot here, as I push back in and show you how -- what an effective job he did on that drop. Boy, he just nailed it. Think maybe one more of those just on that eastern edge, and he may be done with this one. We can call this one a knockdown.

BLITZER: All right, while we wait for that next drop to come back and completely put out that fire, let's go back to New Orleans and Jeff Koinange, our reporter on the scene.

Most of the people who want to leave, if not all of the people who want to leave have left. Those who are resisting leaving, when do police say they will actually start the physical evacuation of those who should leave, but are refusing to leave?

KOINANGE: They won't say, Wolf. What they're trying to do is gently persuade people. They're telling them that there may be an outbreak of disease. The city is not safe for people to live in. They're trying to really persuade these people.

It's a tough job, Wolf. People don't want to leave, for several reasons. I'll give you two right now.

People have pets. They don't know whether their pets will be allowed, wherever it is that they end up.

Two, people have lots of valuables in their home. They don't know whether their homes will be safe once they leave, despite the fact there's thousand, literally thousands -- let me let you see part of it, Wolf -- thousands of law enforcement officials on the ground. Look at the ones behind me there. Those are the men and women from the NYPD. And there's just about every law enforcement agency in the country, Wolf. ATF, Customs and Border Patrol, Customs, Forest Patrol. So many law enforcement agencies from across the country doing a great job keeping New Orleans secure, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jeff. Jeff Koinange reporting for us. Thank you very much.

Let's go back to these live pictures. You see another helicopter bringing in this huge container of water to deal with that fire. It's erupted at this Michoud, this NASA facility. It's near the Michoud facility. This is where they make some external fuel tanks for those NASA shuttles, the space shuttle. But this is nearby. Let's listen to J.T. Alpaugh describe what's about to happen here. Watch this.

ALPAUGH: Making his approach. And we're going to stay tight on this bucket again.

Puts it in right over the top of those power lines. Now he can drop it in directly. And away it goes. And he puts it right on, just dousing that fire. It is absolutely extinguished. Outstanding job by that Firehawk helicopter crew. They're making very quick work of this fire in this boat yard.

So we're going to move now from this. And again, that's just the perfect example of what we've been seeing here the past few days. The firefighting activities have really stepped up. NY -- Fire Department of New York has been out here helping New Orleans Fire Department. A couple of other agencies we've seen, these Firehawks and a few other of these water dropping helicopters doing a fabulous job. They're --

BLITZER: All right. We're going to move away from J.T. Alpaugh. We'll keep these pictures going for our viewers. But there's another important development unfolding right now.

CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano is following a developing story involving Ophelia. What's going on?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Wolf, for the second day in a row the 5:00 update from the National Hurricane Center has upgraded Tropical Storm Ophelia back to hurricane strength. There was a recon aircraft in there about an hour ago, just barely making it to hurricane strength, and they're just kind of giving it the benefit of the doubt.

Right now, 75 mile an hour winds moving northeastward, away from land -- that's important -- at this point at least, at seven miles per hour. It is about 220 miles south-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, or 175 miles east-northeast of Daytona Beach.

So here it is on the infrared satellite picture. We use these colors to highlight the intensity. And when we have the sun up, we can look at the visible satellite. This really shows the cloud tops. You can kind of see the eye now, in the shadows there, beginning to redevelop. So that's one of the reasons they're saying yes, this thing looks like it's strengthening back to a hurricane. And so there giving 75 mile an hour sustained winds.

And now the forecast track still wants to bring it close to the U.S. coastline. As a hurricane, over the next couple of days, it heads off towards the northeast. And then Saturday, tomorrow, and then on Sunday, maybe turning it around. South Carolina, North Carolina, coastline of Georgia, these are the areas of concern when we head towards Monday, Tuesday, and maybe even Wednesday. What the intensity of this storm is when it makes landfall, that is yet to be seen. Right now the official forecast is for it to be a Category 1 storm. But it could go two or three. I suppose it could weaken as well. But, Wolf, right now, the warm waters here, the Gulf Stream, they're primetime territory for this thing to strengthen. And this curve is a little bit disturbing, especially for the folks who live in say Charleston, South Carolina. We'll keep an update on that.

Right now Hurricane Ophelia, back to hurricane strength, and maybe making a turn to the U.S. come Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

BLITZER: Is that a technical term, area of concern, as opposed to hurricane watch, hurricane warning? Area of concern, that's a first for me.

MARCIANO: Well I'll tell you what. We just decided in the CNN Weather Center that this thing has so much variance, and they're not putting up watches or warnings yet, because it's just not close enough. We just want folks who live in Georgia and South Carolina and North Carolina to be concerned and to keep an eye on this thing because it's taking an unusual track, as you've pointed out, for this thing to turn back this way, it's not unheard of, but it is certainly unusual. So we have a lot of uncertainty as to where this thing's going to make landfall. So all the way from Savannah all the way up to, say, Cape Hatteras, certainly want to be concerned about this storm.

BLITZER: All right. Thanks. Rob Marciano reporting for us on Hurricane Ophelia. It's now back to hurricane status.

Here in Washington, the FEMA director, Michael Brown, has been widely criticized for the slow government response to the disaster. And he's now being recalled to the nation's capital from the scene, being replaced as the man in charge on the ground in the disaster area.

Jeanne Meserve, of our CNN America bureau, is standing by here in Washington with details on what has happened -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN AMERICA BUREAU: Wolf, an abrupt leadership change in the federal response to Katrina. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: I have directed Mike Brown to return to administrating FEMA nationally. I have appointed Vice Admiral Thad Allen of the Coast Guard as the principal federal official overseeing the Hurricane Katrina response and recovery effort in the field.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: There has been a torrent of criticism of Brown and the FEMA response effort he headed, an effort which has been characterized as too slow, and at least initially too small. Adding fuel to the controversy, a report in "Time" magazine that Brown padded his resume.

A FEMA spokeswoman calls it misleading. But some members of Congress are saying Brown should be removed from FEMA altogether.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: The bottom line is that his removal from the scene is a good thing. But given the allegations that he padded his resume in a serious way, I don't think he should stay as head of FEMA. The bottom line is very simple. And that is that Mr. Brown was not up to the task of the cleanup, of the recovery, in the wake of Katrina, and to keep him on the scene at the job would have been irresponsible to the needs of hundreds of thousands of people in the Gulf area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Brown's replacement as principal federal official, Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen is regarded by people inside and outside the administration as a no-nonsense individual, who can get the job done, if anyone can.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jeanne Meserve with the story, an important story today. Thanks, Jeanne, very much. Let's check in with CNN's Jack Cafferty. He's in New York. He's got another question for you this hour -- Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Did you translate -- or did anybody translate what Chuck Schumer was saying there? Did he --

BLITZER: He basically wants Michael Brown to be fired.

CAFFERTY: Why can't they just say that? Why can't the politicians just speak in declarative sentences instead of all that gobbledygook that they come out with?

BLITZER: He's a lawyer.

CAFFERTY: Well that goes a long way toward answering the question. Thanks, Wolf. One of the problems with getting people to voluntarily leave New Orleans is they don't want to leave their pets behind. I got pets. I don't know if I could walk away from them. I don't think I could. Hundreds, maybe thousands of these animals already dead, starved or drowned. We've seen interviews with survivors of the flood who just can't walk away and leave there animals to die. Can't hardly blame them.

Rescue workers say they're most worried about pets who are locked inside their homes and don't have food or water. And, although, up to now the job of saving the pets has been left mostly to the animal welfare groups and to civilians, today, General Honore said they're going to start sending soldiers out with cages and the right equipment to bring the animals to a collection point.

The question this hour is this. How much priority should be placed on getting people's pets out of New Orleans? CaffertyFile -- one word -- @CNN.com. If Mr. Schumer thinks that Mr. Brown should be fired, you think he could walk up there and say, in my humble opinion, I think it's time to fire Mr. Brown as the head of FEMA. Don't you think?

BLITZER: All right. Well see what our viewers think, that's more important.

CAFFERTY: What you think is important. I want to know. What you think is important.

BLITZER: No, it's not. Our viewers are much more important.

CAFFERTY: I want to know what you think.

BLITZER: Stand by. I want to go to some live pictures from this helicopter. Look at this, Jack. I want you to watch what's going on. They're pumping water out of New Orleans into this canal here. This is part of the effort that's under way. It's a beautiful scene for all of us, to see this water coming out of New Orleans, long due.

Let's listen in to J.T. Alpaugh once again.

ALPAUGH: Again, more and more of the unsung heroes of this disaster, this relief, these guys coming in here, doing -- getting this water out. Everybody pulling together and working very hard. A lot of them wearing masks because of the smell of this filthy water.

This water making its way --

So they're deploying these pumping in areas that -- they're using these portable pump out to, as you can see, some of the --

BLITZER: Dirty, disgusting water being removed from New Orleans, finally coming out. It's going to take a lot more of this in order to get the job done. We'll continue to bring you these live pictures from New Orleans.

Coming up also, a nursing home packed with some 30 corpses. We'll take a closer look at the scene where crews are hunting for bodies right now.

Also ahead, children of the storm separated from their parents. We learned, just a few moments ago, about a reunion that got its start right here in THE SITUATION ROOM. We'll tell you what happened.

And another dramatic view from the air, of the Katrina catastrophe from helicopter pilot J.T. Alpaugh. He'll be reporting throughout this hour. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Among the many wrenching stories from Katrina, this one stands out -- more than two dozen people unable to evacuate who died at a nursing home outside New Orleans.

CNN's Tom Foreman, once again, joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM to help us better understand this tragedy and where it played out. Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is a terrible, terrible story. We all know that. Let me give you an idea of where this happened. If we can look at our map here and sort of zoom it out, this gives you an idea. That's the Mississippi River slicing down there. New Orleans is up this way. So we're going south and east of New Orleans. That's the river winding on through here. Just to the left over here is the Belle Chasse Naval Air Station where a lot of the Coast Guard rescues are operating out of.

This is where we're talking about. This is where St. Rita's was, in this area back in here. It was flooded.

BLITZER: That's the nursing home?

FOREMAN: That's the nursing home, yes, where they believe 32 people died out of 60 residents there. Some others were pulled out. But that's a lot of people in this area. Terrible, terrible thing. They clearly tried to defend themselves against the water.

And we have video, new video today, of this nursing home. Gives you an idea of the kind of place we're talking about. And importantly it gives you an idea of the land that we're dealing with. We'll see the pictures come up. That's St. Rita's right there.

BLITZER: That's the nursing home, right there?

FOREMAN: Yes. You look at the cars up here that have been pushed up against the building. This is very low-lying land throughout this part of -- this isn't really New Orleans. This is out in St. Bernard Parish. When you get into this area, this is all low lying even without a storm. The water here may have reached the ceiling inside the nursing home.

Investigators have been going in and out, looking at this situation, seeing the people inside there, what they did. And one of the things that's going to happen in this process, Wolf, as you know, particularly throughout the flood zone, where people had custodial care -- that is to say somebody who is taking care of hospital patients, or older people, or children, or people who may have some sort of mental or physical handicaps -- those people, throughout this process, they will look at this and they will look at holding people accountable for that.

These are coroners who are out there working at St. Rita's today. And even though they haven't been able to recover many of the bodies. But they're out looking there -- looking at who was there, trying to figure out why they were there, why they were not evacuated when some other nursing homes were.

But this entire area -- go back to the map, look at this. Right over here in the same area, all of that, on the best of days is marshy, wet land. And the shallow nature of all the land here as the storm swept in off Lake Borgne over here, the shallow nature of that land focused the wind, focused the water and made it more intense. And it rose explosively in that area, giving people very little chance of getting out, particularly if you're an older person and you have trouble moving --

BLITZER: Those poor souls in that nursing home who simply couldn't get out or nobody could get them out or just left behind for whatever reason. We don't know the answers to any of those questions.

FOREMAN: I think they'll find out, though. They're going to look at it, because they take this very seriously. And throughout this region, we're going to see a lot more stories like that.

BLITZER: Tom, thanks very much.

Coming up, one of the monumental challenges for the Gulf Coast, rebuilding road, wiped out by Katrina. How long will that take? How much will it cost? We'll have some serious questions for the Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta. He's here. He'll be in THE SITUATION ROOM, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: These are live pictures we're getting in from our friends over at this helicopter. Take a look at this American flag that's just been put up in New Orleans. That flag is a new flag, not put up before the storm, but a symbol of the determination, the effort, of everyone in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to rebuild their lives. These are live pictures, coming in from New Orleans, right now.

We've been talking about what it will take to help Katrina's evacuees rebuild their lives. But we also want to discuss, to a certain degree, what it will take to rebuild the so badly damaged roads, bridges, and infrastructure of this area.

Joining us here in THE SITUATION ROOM, the Transportation secretary, Norman Mineta. Mr. Secretary, thanks very much for joining us. Have you done a preliminary estimate, how much it will cost to rebuild the roads, the bridges, the transportation system that was destroyed by this hurricane? NORM MINETA, SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: We haven't done a thorough assessment of this yet. There are some back of the envelope numbers right now and they probably, just in terms of the roads for emergency relief and -- are 100 percent federal participation of that repair, would probably be in the excess of $2.5 billion. But some of this work has already been let. And so the work is starting already.

BLITZER: We've been showing our viewers these pictures of these intercoastals, these bridges, these causeways, whatever they're called that, simply, were uprooted. What do you have to -- basically start from scratch and rebuild them?

MINETA: We do. And in some cases what we will have are temporary one-way traffic on the I-90 bridge going into New Orleans from Slidell. We're starting to work on the Pascagoula Bridge on I- 10. And there are three contracts that we let yesterday on Highway 90 to start the work to get one-way traffic -- or one lane of traffic in each direction on the 90 road.

BLITZER: We've been showing our viewers some of these interstates and some of these destructed areas. This is I-10, Interstate 10, that we're showing.

There's been some suggestion you should rebuild all these Interstates, all these roads, but maybe move them to different locations because of the vulnerability where they are right now. What's your -- what are your thoughts on that?

MINETA: Well, I think in the case of Highway 90 that runs right along the coastline, and where you have some parts of the road that have been washed out, we may have to reconfigure the road in that area. But, again, those assessments have not been totally made. Those are really done by the state departments of transportation, and we partner with them in the sense that we become their funding agent.

But the work is done primarily by the state departments of transportation.

BLITZER: Mr. Secretary, our Ali Velshi is in New York. He has a question for you. Go ahead, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Mr. Secretary, thank you.

You know, we've got the number two, three, and four airlines in this country in big trouble. Today, they're saying that the losses as a result of the increase in the price of jet fuel are going to put them into big trouble, and they're asking you to suspend federal gasoline taxes -- federal jet fuel taxes to keep them afloat.

At some point, this is becoming a big problem. I mean, there are airlines operating in bankruptcy. What now can you do, further than what the department has already done, to assist the airlines?

MINETA: Well, I met with the board of directors of the Air Transport Association yesterday, and they explained to me that they were paying roughly $70 a barrel oil. And on top of that, they now are paying a $25 per barrel -- what they call crack spread. The crack spread maybe 10 days ago was $2 or $3 a barrel, and now it's up to $25, $30 a barrel.

So they're asking for relief, in the sense that if they could charge a fuel surcharge, and not have the 7.5 percent ticket tax apply against that fuel surcharge. And that's something, again, that we're considering. Excuse me.

VELSHI: What is likely to happen to that, Mr. Secretary? Is that something that you're likely to able to accommodate?

MINETA: Well, that's something we'd have to discuss with the NEC and others at the White House.

BLITZER: I'll let you take a sip of that water, Mr. Secretary.

And while you do that, we got some live pictures coming in. We'll show our viewers some of those live pictures right now. This is -- speaking about transportation, look at, I don't know if you have access to CNN over there, but this, clearly, is a destroyed bridge that they're going to have to do a lot of work with.

As we see these pictures, Mr. Secretary, I want to read to you a quote from the former secretary of State, your friend Colin Powell, who was on ABC. He said this -- and I want to get your thoughts -- quote -- "When you look at those who weren't able to get out, it should have been a blinding flash of the obvious to everybody that when you order a mandatory evacuation, you can't expect everybody to evacuate on their own. These are people who don't have credit cards. Only one in 10 families at that economic level in New Orleans have a car."

Looking back, the Department of Transportation, was there more that you and your department could have done to help in that evacuation?

MINETA: Under the National Response Plan, we're responsible for what's called the emergency support function. And that is that we will respond to the requirements of the Department of Homeland Security through FEMA in terms of what their needs are. They tell us whether to preposition tarps or water, MREs, whatever. And we did all of that in response to what requirements were laid on us.

Now, there are other things that we were doing on our own, based on making sure that the economy did not falter. One of those things was to get the pipelines up and running. And our Office of Pipeline Safety, working with the pipelines, commandeering some generators to critical places where they have their pumping stations, we got all of those up and running. And, by Friday, 40 percent of the fuel was in; and by Monday night, 100 percent of one line; and, last night, the other 100 percent.

So there were things that we did on our own. But under the, again, the National Response Plan, our function is to be -- to respond to whatever the requirements that are laid on us. Last Thursday, we were told, get 455 buses to the Superdome. So we had 450 buses. The next day, we were told, have 1,100 buses there. And so we got those there.

But at the same time, we knew that there was going to have to be air evacuation of these folks. And we started with the conference call after the conversation with DHS. And we worked out a voluntary agreement with the Air Transport Association, where 15 airlines just stepped forward to provide the airplanes for us to do the largest aerial airlift in our history.

So there are certain things that we do in response...

BLITZER: All right.

MINETA: ... to the ESF function, requirements that are put on us. There are other things that we do on our own in order to keep the economy going.

BLITZER: Norm Mineta is the secretary of Transportation. Thanks, Mr. Secretary, for spending a little time with us here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

MINETA: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: We're going to continue to watch all these live pictures that are coming in, some of them very, very dramatic.

When we come back, though, many still missing. But some children of the storm are now being reunited with their families. We'll go live to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Throughout the day here on CNN, our Deborah Feyerick has been updating us on current operations in the disaster zone. She's in New York with the latest status alert.

Deb, these disaster mortuary teams that have been brought in, what are they doing right now?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they're doing right now is, they're waiting for bodies. The latest status alert has to do with body recovery. Thailand appears to have done a better job collecting its dead after the tsunami than the United States following Hurricane Katrina.

An expert close to both recovery efforts says FEMA has yet to sign a contract with the private company that FEMA itself called on to gather the dead. That company, Kenyon International, has been helping Louisiana parishes. But their recovery efforts have been limited by what an insider call a paralyzing amount of bureaucracy on the part of the federal government.

The fed's own mortuary teams aren't even collecting victims. They're waiting until the victims are brought to them so they -- that they can then begin the process of identification. That's the status alert, Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, what about the private companies, what are they doing?

FEYERICK: Well, they're the ones who are just waiting. They're -- one private company was actually told simply to go back to Houston until the federal government got in touch with them. And this is a private company that has portable morgues. They've got teams ready to be dispatched. And because FEMA hasn't signed off on any sort of contract, it's been 12 days now, and there's no coordinated effort on the ground to try to gather these victims.

So you have people, individuals, people from the National Guard, once they find somebody, they'll get that body, but no real overall coordinated effort, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Deborah Feyerick, giving us the latest on that. Thank you, Deb, very much.

I want to show our viewers some live pictures that are coming in right now from aboard -- from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Northern Virginia. We're going to go there live. There are some heart-wrenching stories unfolding.

Our Brian Todd is there. We'll go there right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now an update on a story we first brought you yesterday, reuniting Hurricane Katrina's missing children with their families.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is directly involved in that effort.

Our Brian Todd is over in Alexandria, Virginia, where they're based right now. And he's got some details. Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, a very busy command center here. As we reported to you, the count of missing children now is at 1,242.

We'll take a little bit of a shot of the room here. It's very busy -- dozens of volunteers here, 16 hours a day.

Put up some picture now for you of some of the missing kids. Four-year-old Ann McRae, last seen with her mother and brother in Gulfport, Mississippi, she is missing from that area. Also, we have a brother and sister to tell you about, Gabrielle Olvera and Ryan Olvera. Gabrielle is 9 years old, Ryan 10 years old. And Ryan has epilepsy. So here's a child who's in need of medication, and whether he is getting it or not, we don't know.

We're joined by Bob O'Brien. Bob is the incident commander of this room. And Bob, when you have a child like Ryan Olvera, special needs -- he may be having seizures now for all we know -- how do you guys mobilize?

BOB O'BRIEN, INCIDENT COMMANDER, CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: It's absolutely critical that we get that information out to the field right away. After it's recorded here, I've got case managers up on the second floor that are in touch with our team and our consultants that are deployed in five locations in the field in the states that are affected.

Get the information out to them as soon as possible, to show what the special need is, whether it's medication, sight impaired, hearing impaired, and so forth, because that child or that adult is at a much higher risk than others that we're looking for.

TODD: Well, good luck with that. I know it's a very tall task, especially logistically and otherwise, when you're try to match these kids up with their parents and deal with their special needs. Thank you very much, Bob.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

BLITZER: Wolf, once again, we're going to put up the number really quick, and then tell you about a story here. 1-888-544-5475, that's the Katrina Missing Persons Hotline. You can call there if you see a child you might recognize or just want to report one missing. Also, go to www.MissingKids.com.

We do have some very good news to report. This young man, Caleb Broussard-Fleming, 6 years old, we reported on him yesterday as being missing. This is a picture of him when he was 2 years old. But we reported on this yesterday, and because someone saw our report, he was reunited with his mother. His mother is in Panama City, Florida, so she was quite a ways away from him.

But someone saw our report yesterday, called the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They were able to connect him with his mother. Some very good news coming out of our reporting.

But of course, mostly coming out of what the center is doing here. It is yeoman's work. They're here 16 hours a day, Wolf.

BLITZER: If we can help at all, we're grateful to do so. Brian, thank you very much. Thank everyone for volunteering where you are as well.

Our Internet reporter, Abbi Tatton, is joining us with a little bit more about missing kids and resources that are available on Web. Abbi?

ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf.

People, members of the public and caseworkers with the Center for the Missing and Exploited Children, are working together using online databases of the missing to try and reunite families.

MissingKids.com is the site that Brian was just talking about there. This little boy, Calvin Collins, was listed as missing with that site. He was from New Orleans. His mother had gone to Tyler, Texas, and they were separated. His mother was listed at the Red Cross site when she showed up in a shelter there. And a member of the public was searching both of these databases and managed to link them up, let the center know, and caseworkers at the center are working on reuniting them.

That case now, Calvin Collins, resolved.

Another success story, little Jordan Barnes, 5-month-old baby, who was in the hospital in New Orleans when the hurricane struck, got separated from his caregivers, who ended up in Dallas, Texas. A caseworker, again with the Missing -- Center for Missing and Exploited Children, just kept checking back with the RedCross.org, managed to match them up.

Still many, cases to go, Wolf, but some success stories out there.

BLITZER: Good work, thank you, Abbi, very much.

A programming note to our viewers. Tonight, CNN's PAULA HAHN NOW will air "Children of the Storm," featuring the innocent and vulnerable victims of Hurricane Katrina. That airs tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN.

Coming up, a question of priorities. In the disaster zone, how much time and energy should be spent on saving pets, when people are in real need and remain in danger? Your e-mail, and Jack Cafferty. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Help is pouring in from around the country. Check this out. These are -- this is a helicopter from the California Highway Patrol, brought in to help in the rescue operations, the search and rescue operations. This, these are live pictures we're getting of this California Highway Patrol helicopter, flying over New Orleans right now.

Our helicopter pilot, J.T. Alpaugh, is watching this, together with all of us.

Jack Cafferty's been going through your e-mail on the question of the hour. And Jack's in New York, joining us now live. Jack?

CAFFERTY: Wolf, the question this hour has to do with pets. How much priority should be placed on getting people's pets out of New Orleans? Late today -- or not so late today, actually, General Honore announced that they are going to start sending out cages and some of the necessary equipment and try and evacuate more pets along with people they bring out.

Susan in Coca Eaton, Florida, writes, "My dogs are my family. I'd never leave without them. I don't understand why a much higher priority is not placed on pets." Carol in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, just up the road from the devastation, "These people have lost everything. I think being reunited with their beloved pets would be a tremendous psychological lift for them."

Pat in Charleston, South Carolina, "It's a measure of our humanity that we love and care for pets. What kind of yardstick are we using if we leave them to starve or worse? We put them there. We are responsible for ensuring their welfare."

Lisa writes in New Brunswick, Canada, "Come on, pets? This isn't even a serious question. I can't even believe they're thinking about devoting any manpower or energy toward pets. I've had many a beloved pet in my time, but considering the depth and magnitude of this disaster, I think to expend any energy toward saving pets is really pathetic."

And Fernando and Arveda, Colorado, "I like you even better now. I could not leave my cat behind, no way. First, because I love him. Second, because I'm responsible for him. People can choose to stay or leave. Pets depend on us to make the call."

Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Jack. Thanks very much. I didn't know you were a pet lover, but that's good to know. I'll see you Monday.

CAFFERTY: OK, sir, have a good weekend.

BLITZER: OK, thank you very much.

I want to bring some live pictures right now, over New Orleans. These are pictures just coming in the Superdome. You can see it right there. You can clearly make out how much damage was done to that facility as a result of this hurricane. It had been a shelter during the immediate days following the flooding of the city, but now it's just the Superdome. We don't know how long that's going to survive for all practical purposes.

Among the countless number of Americans reaching out to Katrina's victims, one group, who knows strategy -- tragedy firsthand is having a very important role in all of this.

Let's bring in CNN's Mary Snow. She's in New York with their story. Mary?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, as families here in New York prepare to mark the fourth anniversary of September 11, they say now is the time for them to give back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW (voice-over): One disaster created by nature, the other created by man. People who lost relatives on the September 11 attack on New York's World Trade Center say they can't compare, but they can relate. FRANK SPILLER, 9/11 FAMILIES KATRINA RELIEF: Who better than a 9/11 family to know what they're feeling? They're lost. You know, especially in the beginning, in the first few days. They're walking around like they don't know where to turn.

SNOW: Frank Spiller's brother, Steven, was one of 343 firefighters killed trying to rescue people from the World Trade Center. In his brother's honor, Spiller started a foundation to help children who've lost parents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (on phone): And I'd like to know where I can donate supplies to the victims of the hurricane.

SNOW: Now the foundation's focus shifts to victims of Katrina, raising supplies and money.

And New Yorkers are sending support in other ways. Hundreds of city firefighters and police officers are voluntarily working in New Orleans.

Others in New York want to offer hope. Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick lost 638 of his employees on September 11. A relief fund that has become part of the fabric of his firm expects to send millions to Katrina's victims.

HOWARD LUTNICK, CEO, CANTOR FITZGERALD: We've got so much knowledge, experience, and just broken hearts, if you will, that we can share with others who have a broken heart. So we're going to focus on those families who've lost loved ones.

SNOW: Maggie Miller knows the stark reality for those families. She lost her husband in the Twin Towers, and remembers the pain of uncertainty about his fate. As she musters support for Katrina victims, Miller points out that many people in her position share the same thought.

MAGGIE MILLER, FTC FAMILY CENTER: To give back. You know, to give back. People were so kind to us, they were so generous to us. And who more than we would know what that feels like?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And many families here in New York say they want to get through this anniversary on Sunday, and then they plan to be very much more aggressive in helping victims of Katrina, Wolf.

BLITZER: So you're finding, Mary, a real sort of solidarity between the victims of 9/11, the families who survived, as well as what's happening in Katrina's, coincidental that it's happened almost exactly four years later.

SNOW: Absolutely. And so many of these families are saying that feelings are certainly triggered when they saw these images as they first happened. And also, they say that Americans were very generous to them, and they say they'll never forget that, and they feel that now is their time to give back. BLITZER: And what about Cantor Fitzgerald? What specifically is Howard going to do to try to help the victims of Katrina?

SNOW: Well, every year, the day after September 11, they have a charity day, and they have -- they raise funds for children who've lost parents in 9/11 in the company. (INAUDIBLE), last year, they raised $7 million. What they plan to do this year is take half of that and give it to children of Katrina, and half to the children of 9/11.

BLITZER: Mary Snow, reporting for us. Mary, thanks very much.

Just ahead, a blogger from New Orleans with pictures we've never seen before. We'll show you his view over the last two weeks.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Live pictures we're seeing coming in from New Orleans helicopter pilot. You see the water that's beginning to leave the city. We're hoping that this is a good sign, that this pumping station is really pumping out the water. This pumping station looks like it's back on track, pumping out not just a little spigot of water, but a nice quantity of water, from water-drenched New Orleans.

We'll continue to watch these pictures together with you.

Our Internet reporter, Jackie Schechner, is here with one New Orleans resident who's been recording his life in New Orleans over the past couple of weeks with photographs. Jackie?

JACKIE SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET CORESPONDENT: Wolf, the guy's name is Alvaro. And what he did is, he spent six days in New Orleans. And when he got out, he started posting the photos in a gallery online. We found the link through AndrewSullivan.com. And that's where you can find it as well, a reminder of the timeline of six days in New Orleans.

Take a look at the photos from beginning. It says, "All you saw was a similar sight, a bunch of photos of buildings boarded up." Then the aftermath photos. We've seen a lot of these, this in particular, what a pile of bricks can do to a car.

But these are the ones that really struck us that we haven't seen before, the inside of a Winn-Dixie on Basin Street (ph) after it had been looted. He says that there were fingernail marks on the packages, as people tried to pry them open.

Take a look at this one. He said it looked like the hurricanes hit indoors, no pun intended. Look at how horrific that is. Another one, he says the checkout aisle, the corridors, the newsstands, everything was absolutely demolished.

This one also caught our eye. Look at the pharmacy department. He said every major medication wiped off the shelves. Some other photographs to show you outdoors, some things that we've seen. But this here's an example. This is Canal Street. He said after the hurricane, it was pretty bad. Twenty-four hours later, after the flood, take a look at this. Venice, meet New Orleans, New Orleans, meet Venice.

Now, the Convention Center, the pictures we've seen, Wolf, it continues on. Go to AndrewSullivan.com, click on the link. I'm telling you, extraordinary photos, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Jackie, for that.

One more programming note, CNN's PAULA HAHN NOW tonight will air a special, "Children of the Storm," featuring the innocent and the vulnerable victims of Hurricane Katrina. That airs tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

We'll be back here in THE SITUATION ROOM Monday, at a special time, noon Eastern, to bring you live coverage of the confirmation hearings of John Roberts to be chief justice. We'll also have the very latest on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

LOU DOBBS TONIGHT starts right now. Lou's in New York to pick up our coverage.

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