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The Situation Room

Houston Residents Return Home; New Orleans Pumping Out Water Once Again; Lynndie England Convicted on Six of Seven Counts

Aired September 26, 2005 - 15:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer. And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where news and information arrive at one place simultaneously. Standing by, CNN reporters across Texas and Louisiana, where Hurricane Rita scared some places, but destroyed others.
Happening now, it's 2:00 p.m. Central Time in New Orleans, where many wonder how much misfortune one city can take. One new normal includes more water and more worries, as crews are again pumping out water dropped by Rita. Some residents and business owners are coming back, but told to enter at their own risk.

It's also 2:00 Central Time in Houston, where hundreds of thousands of evacuees ran from Rita, but are now going to come home. Officials are trying to stagger their influx over three days.

And what lesson is nature teaching big cities about being prepared for panic, pandemonium and even worse?

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Here's what's left in Rita's wake. Along the Texas-Louisiana border, the floodwaters recede, revealing the level of devastation. In Beaumont, Texas, five bodies were found in an apartment, apparently killed by fumes from a generator. Fifteen feet of water is soaking most of Cameron, Louisiana, and all but a few buildings there are destroyed.

In New Orleans, the mayor wants the city opened for business. Some business owners and residents of the Algiers district are going home. But they are all being warned of the risks.

And more than 915,000 people in Texas and Louisiana, as well as Mississippi, are now without power after Rita and Katrina. And this morning, President Bush said all Americans can help by better conserving energy. One suggestion from the president: Don't drive if it's not essential.

Now to Rita's trail in a town called Erath, Louisiana.

Our Ed Lavandera is there. He's joining us now live with more. Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Wolf.

We're here in Erath, Louisiana. And this is part of the street of Main Street, if you will, that has been under water. But I can show you, in the last 24 hours, how water levels have dropped here significantly. At one point yesterday, the water was up over the railroad tracks that kind of cut through the heart of town here. And we are on the southern edge of the city. So, if you are trying to paint a mental picture of the situation here in this Vermilion Parish in Louisiana, basically, everything south of here was what took on major flooding issues.

But the water is starting to drop significantly. You can see over here, on this house right here, the water line probably, about two, three -- probably like three feet up. It's hard to see against the white railings there. But you can get a sense of how much water was in this area.

We have talked to a lot of residents who describe having two, three, four, six feet of water in their house. And obviously, it depends where you are in this particular town as to the amount of damage that you have gone through. But most people we're talking to, there have been a lot of people coming in to kind of get a sense of much damage they've -- they have endured at their homes, who say that, as the water has gone away, there's just a thick layer of sludge in their home.

Some people think that they can salvage their homes. Other people think they are going to have to bulldoze it. And, once it is all gone, I think they'll get a better sense. But that -- that process of just surveying what is left behind here has started today. And it's not just here in Erath.

There's Delcambre, which is a town just slightly east of here. There's Henry south of here, Intracoastal City, which is right on the Gulf. Many of these little towns -- this is a town with a population of almost 3,000. And it's just little towns like that, as you make your way down to the Gulf Coast. And everyone here -- as one person said, we're all in the same boat -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Ed Lavandera, we will get back to you. Ed is in Erath for us.

Let's move over to New Orleans right now. Mayor Ray Nagin is balancing dueling interests, how to kick-start the city's battered economy by allowing business owners and some residents back in, while keeping them safe from the dangers still lurking out there.

Our Mary Snow is on the scene for us once again. She's joining us from New Orleans with more. Hi, Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Wolf.

And New Orleans is really now going to be put to the test. It has been 27 days since Hurricane Katrina hit and devastated this city. And now the city is going to try and bring itself back. And we are seeing some signs of life, simple signs. For example, here's I-10, right outside of downtown New Orleans, starting to see some cars and trucks pick up a little bit in terms of traffic. What the mayor is doing is saying, with Hurricane Rita behind us, the task at hand now is to bring back New Orleans. And he is allowing residents back in, in the Algiers section.

This is the section on the west bank. And, of all the places in New Orleans, this one did not suffer as much damage as other areas. Its infrastructure is intact. It has running water. It has electricity. Its 911 system is up and running. Still, the councilwoman there -- I just got off the phone with her -- saying that people have to understand there are limitations. Public schools, for instance, aren't slated to open until November.

Now, also, here on the east bank of New Orleans, the mayor is allowing in business owners in the French Quarter, the Central Business District and the Uptown District. People are allowed to come in and take a look at their businesses, assess and try to get things back and running. But he is telling everyone that they are doing this at their own risk.

And, as far as the other parts of New Orleans, there is no set timetable just yet, because City Hall is saying the mayor is going to take a look at this, see how it goes, assess, and then set a timetable. Things like running water, people are being told not to drink the water here, not to bathe. Electricity is out still in many places. So, it's a long road ahead, many hurdles.

This plan started last week. It was put on hold when Hurricane Rita made its way through the region because of fear of flooding. And that's exactly what happened. Last weekend, one of the damaged sections of the Industrial Canal levee, we saw water pouring into that Lower Ninth Ward. The Army Corps of Engineers still trying to pump out that water -- they expect at this point they'll be able to get that area dry once again.

But really, this is a test to see when New Orleans can get back on track, how long it will take, the challenges it will face. And there are just many hurdles. And also, people are being warned to be on the lookout and be prepared for what they might be coming home to. There are people in St. Bernard Parish that are being allowed in today finding out they don't have much to come home to.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Mary, this has been a sensitive issue over the past several days, as you know, people coming back into New Orleans. Is the mayor now, Ray Nagin, on the same page with federal authorities, including the point man there, the vice admiral of the Coast Guard, Thad Allen? Are they all basically in agreement right now or there are still differences, based on your reporting?

SNOW: Well, to an extent. When it comes to Algiers, yes, Vice Admiral Thad Allen is on the same page, because Algiers really, you know, its drinking water is fine, et cetera.

However, in terms of that timetable, this is where it's going to get sticky because he really had concerns about people moving into the rest of New Orleans, where there are still risks from standing water and running water. So, this is going to be a test also to see if they are going to be on the same page after they coordinated last week. Will they stay together on this plan as it moves along?

BLITZER: What about the people who have come back? You say they're -- most of them who see the destruction, the devastation, they are pretty depressed, understandably. But what about those that see their particular homes in relatively good shape? Have you had a chance to speak with some of them?

SNOW: I did. And, you know, some are just very relieved. But I have to tell you, Wolf, one thing that I keep hearing over and over again is that people are warning those who have not come in this area or back to their homes to brace themselves, that they may find things they didn't expect. This is not the same city they left. And their homes may be in much worse shape than they anticipate.

And that's the one message I keep hearing from so many here. In fact, I talked to one man yesterday who told me, you know, his father's house was just destroyed in the Lower Ninth Ward. His father still doesn't know about it yet. He's been staying in another state. The family doesn't know how to break it to him that everything is just gone. So, still, some people don't really know how bad it is.

BLITZER: Mary Snow on the scene for us in New Orleans -- Mary, thank you very much.

Helicopter pilot -- reporter, that is -- J.T. Alpaugh has been flying over the New Orleans area once again today. Among other things, J.T. saw a number of abandoned animals. Let's take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.T. ALPAUGH, POOL REPORTER: Some of what we have been seeing here in the past couple weeks is what you are seeing here, a lot of these stray dogs that were left behind obviously running around in packs, trying to find food and water.

But one of the sad eventualities of this tragedy is, these dog packs that are running around looking to be rescued or looking for food or water, they've probably been running around here for a month, a very sad fact of what's been going on here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: J.T. Alpaugh, the helicopter reporter -- reporter, right. He has been flying over New Orleans for much of today. We are going to be speaking with him live. That's coming up later here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

What a difference three days make. Traffic is flowing once again in Houston. Hundreds of thousands of residents are making their way back to the city, a city spared most of Rita's wrath. Traffic is said to be smooth. Officials are trying to stagger the returns over three days. Gas stations say they have fresh supplies of fuel.

Time now for the "Cafferty File," Jack Cafferty joining us for another question, another week. Jack, you ready?

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm absolutely ready. We're always ready in THE SITUATION ROOM. Nothing is too much for us on short notice to handle.

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: Remember a couple of weeks ago, Wolf, right after the Katrina thing hit, we were talking here on the "Cafferty File" about this very idea. And now the politicians in Washington are apparently being hit by the same bolt of lightning.

President Bush is pushing for a larger military role in response to national disasters. He wants Congress to consider putting the Pentagon in charge of disaster rescues if senior officers say the need is there. It's a controversial idea. Some lawmakers are worried about state rights.

And of course, there are questions about the diminished role of the Department of Homeland Security, which of course was created by the Bush administration after September 11 to protect the homeland.

And it also raises questions about FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which many feel failed miserably after Katrina hit New Orleans.

So the question for the hour is this. Is it a good idea to have the military in charge of a national disaster response? The e-mail address is CaffertyFile@CNN.com.

I can't help but think Michael Chertoff must just be thrilled to hear this come out of the president's mouth, that it may be a good idea to put the Army in charge of this stuff, since the massive federal agencies that have been created specifically for this purpose apparently aren't working.

BLITZER: Yes, that's what I thought. Wasn't the Department of Homeland Security, Jack, created specifically to be the lead agency in dealing with these kinds of disasters? Maybe I'm missing something.

CAFFERTY: No, I don't believe you are missing a thing. I think that's exactly what it was created for. And the guy who created it is now saying, well, maybe we ought to have the Pentagon handle this stuff, because the agency I created doesn't seem to be able to get the job done.

BLITZER: All right. We are going to wait for our viewers to weigh in on that as well, Jack. Thanks very much.

Still to come, shutting down schools to save gas. Most Texas students are back in the classroom today. So, why have other states closed their school doors?

Plus, mass evacuations. Are America's big cities really prepared for the worst? You saw what happened in Houston last week. What will happen in your hometown? We will take a closer look. And a little bit later, red beans and rice. A New Orleans restaurant opened up for business with no power and no water, but the owner says she's not leaving. She'll join us live to explain why.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: From the scene on the ground to many other areas, it's a very, very dangerous situation. Various parts of Louisiana saw up to three feet of water.

For more on the damage there, let's speak with the Sheriff Tony Mancuso. He's on the phone for us now. Sheriff, which parish are you involved with specifically?

TONY MANCUSO, CALCASIEU PARISH SHERIFF: Calcasieu Parish. That's right above Cameron Parish, which is right on the coast.

BLITZER: Calcasieu Parish. All right. Tell our viewers what happened where you are.

MANCUSO: Of course, we had a 100-mile-an-hour-plus winds and lots of damage. The damage, though, thank goodness, the people of the parish can at least know we can rebuild, meaning, I went up by helicopter and it looks like most of it is just repair work, you know, a lot of roof damage, lots of trees in yards and a lot of fences down.

But, you know, when you look at St. Bernard Parish and Plaquemines Parish and Cameron Parish, you know, we -- we did real well.

BLITZER: And what kind of casualties, what kind of killed and injured, based on the information you have right now?

MANCUSO: Based on the information I have now, I don't know that we have any fatalities as a result of the storm.

BLITZER: Well, that's good news.

MANCUSO: Since -- since then, we have had a couple heart attack victims. We had a -- and this is why we don't want the people back in the parish right now. We had a car run into a telephone poll, a transformer that was in the middle of the road. When it gets dark here at night, we have no power, and -- and it's black. And it's dangerous.

The other main issue is, we have no sewer, no water. And until these city officials and government parish officials get that taken care of, people can't come back here. It just -- there's nothing to come back to, meaning their homes and stuff are in pretty good shape, but until we get that situation under control and get people in here, where they can open gas stations, if they get here and they run out of gas, we have got no way to fill them up. So...

BLITZER: Are you getting the kind of support from federal and state authorities that you would like, Sheriff? MANCUSO: Yes. I'm going to tell you, I can't say that I have not received anything that I desperately needed.

You know, I'm still waiting on a couple generators so I can get back fully operational here at my office -- meaning, we have generators, but they're -- they run minimal. You know, they run minimal sites.

Thank goodness our communications, for the most part, stayed up. And let me tell you, that -- that is a vital part of any law enforcement, in being able to control looting and problems in your city. And we have had very minimal looting. We have probably made 30 arrests.

You know, I made a strong statement on TV that I evacuated my jail, which is about 1,250 people. And I told them, if we had to fill it up, they would have to suffer through the same thing we're suffering through -- meaning, we have no utilities and -- and -- but we were going to put them in jail if they looted.

BLITZER: Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso, good luck to you, Sheriff. Good luck to everyone in Calcasieu Parish. Appreciate you joining us for a few moments.

MANCUSO: You bet you. Thank you.

BLITZER: CNN's Zain Verjee is joining us from the CNN Center in Atlanta with a quick look at some other stories making news right now. Hi, Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNNHN ANCHOR: Hi, Wolf.

Police in New Windsor, New York, say a gunman shot three people at a cosmetics factory there before fatally shooting himself. They say the shooting at the Verla International plant happened just before 12:30 p.m. They couldn't say if any of the victims survived. They were all transported to a hospital. New Windsor is about 55 miles north of New York City.

The Senate is scheduled to vote this week on Judge John Roberts' nomination as the nation's next chief Supreme Court justice. Senate debate began today, the final vote slated for Thursday. President Bush's nominee appears to have a majority of votes, after Democratic Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado said yesterday he'd back Roberts.

Activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested today during an anti-war protest outside the White House. Sheehan is the California woman who lost a son in Iraq and later gained national attention for a long anti-war vigil near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. She and others were taken away after police told them repeatedly that they were breaking the law by sitting on the sidewalk.

A South Florida vet says a 6-month-old puppy is lucky to be alive after swallowing a knife with a 13-inch blade last week. Elsie -- the St. Bernard's owner misplaced the knife and took Elsie to the vet a few days later because she acted ill. X-rays turned up that the knife was caught between Elsie's esophagus and her stomach. It was surgically removed, leaving her with an eight-inch scar and a very relieved family.

The actor who became known to TV viewers as bumbling spy Maxwell Smart has died. A friend says Don Adams, the star of the '60s spoof "Get Smart," died today of a lung infection. Adams was 82.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Zain, thank you very much. We will be checking back with you shortly.

Still to come, President Bush's energy appeal, does it appeal to you? Find out why he's asking Americans to tighten their belts a little bit more.

Plus, staying open in the face of the disaster. A New Orleans restaurant owner who is serving police in the community with no power and no water, she's standing by. We will speak with her live. She'll tell us what is going on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Clearly, many areas that are simply devastated as a result of Hurricane Rita.

Elwood Shields is joining us now. He's a photographer with CNN affiliate KLFY. He's been flying over southwest Louisiana, recording video of what he's seeing. Elwood, thanks very much for joining us.

We're going to show our viewers some of these scenes. And the flooding seems to be very, very devastating. But tell our viewers how it looked to you as you were flying over these areas.

ELWOOD SHIELDS, KLFY PHOTOGRAPHER: Well, the video you are looking at now is over Delcambre, Louisiana. And, as we flew out from the Lafayette Airport aboard Acadian Ambulance, we flew into a flooded zone, where homes are under water, businesses. Just a number of things are under water. And as you can see, the entire community of Delcambre you're looking at right now, Louisiana, is under water.

BLITZER: How close to the coastline is this little community?

SHIELDS: Well, you are looking at about five to 10 miles. And most of that water was pushed inland from Hurricane Rita. And, right now, you are looking at video of boats from the wildlife and fishery, as well as the National Guard trying to rescue some of the people from their homes that was still left over.

BLITZER: So, this is major flooding in this part of the state as well?

SHIELDS: Absolutely. You know, you had the Cameron area and other areas like that. But Vermilion Parish suffered a big blow. And once again, Vermilion Parish, Erath, Abbeville, that consist of Vermilion Parish, and Delcambre, was all in that flooded area. BLITZER: Now, these were floods that came in a surge, or from the rain? How did that happen?

SHIELDS: From what meteorologists, our meteorologist here at TV- 10 is saying, most of this water was pushed in from the storm through the canals and things like that and just flooded inland from everywhere.

BLITZER: So, you saw -- did you see people who were stranded, who were still waiting to be rescued, or had that already happened by the time you were taking these pictures?

SHIELDS: Well, when we got there, it was amazing. There were people still some on top of their rooftops, some standing on what looked like their porch, and animals as well. And National Guard helicopters, Army helicopters, swooped in and picked up a number of stranded people on their rooftops and tried to get them to high land as possible.

BLITZER: How -- how widespread an area is this devastation that we're seeing? Is it only a small little corner, a tiny little corner or is it more robust, based on your flying over this portion of Louisiana?

SHIELDS: Well, from north to south and east to west, this could run for miles. I mean miles. It is going to take days and days to come for all of this water to even proceed back into the Gulf or probably just dry up from the sunlight. But it's going to be a long time. I can't estimate how widespread it is, but the video you are looking at it started videotaping for about an hour. And I went across four to six communities, also into the parish of Calcasieu.

BLITZER: But this is mostly rural areas that were flooded, not sort of urban areas, albeit a few small towns? Is that right?

SHIELDS: That's correct. It's mostly towns and some communities, such as Pecan Island. Right now, you are looking video in the Pecan Island area, as well as Grand Chenier, and these areas here really in Calcasieu Parish near south Cameron.

BLITZER: And it looks like that water simply came ashore and had no problem moving -- just moving inland. Did you see any evidence they were trying to pump this water out or do anything about it or are they going to simply let nature take its course?

SHIELDS: Well, it seems like nature is taking her course.

Right now, we stopped for awhile to get off the helicopter here from Acadian Ambulance service. This was a camp. It's gone now. And where -- what happened to the camp, don't know. It seems like it was washed back into the Gulf or wherever. That is -- and a crane right there was tilted up and standing straight up right there. And there's the remains of a home still left over right there.

BLITZER: Well, I'm sure it was a heart-wrenching experience for you to do this. Elwood Shields is a photographer with our affiliate KLFY, flying over southeast Louisiana. Elwood, thanks very much for your good work.

SHIELDS: Thank you very much, Wolf.

BLITZER: And we're getting a better idea of exactly what the impact was of these back-to-back hurricanes on the energy industry.

Our Ali Velshi is joining us live from New York with his "Bottom Line." How did we do, Ali?

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: You can't win for trying, honestly.

Here's the thing. It looks like we did better than we thought, or at least better than traders thought when Rita came on as a weaker storm and avoided most of the refining capacity in the country. Here's the thing, oil up today, natural gas up today. Gasoline, as it is traded as a commodity, is up today. Why? Because the traders have moved on to the next thing.

And the next thing is that existing home sales were reported to be stronger than normal. And Alan Greenspan, the Fed chairman said, that, even if home prices go down, this is an unrelated issue. Even if home prices go down, Americans will still have enough equity in their homes to feel rich. The economy will still keep going on. And that means our demand for oil is not going to be any less.

So, people who trade in oil and natural gas and gasoline are sitting there betting on the fact that the American economy remains strong. And as long as the American economy remains strong, regardless of what President Bush said earlier today or the ads that ExxonMobil has taken out in newspapers telling people to conserve, you know, Wolf, that the instinct is not to conserve. The instinct is to buy massive vehicles and heat our massive homes. And the price of energy continues to be high.

So, in fact, as far as commodities traders and people who deal in this world are concerned, we dodged a big bullet, in terms of the energy infrastructure. And oil prices are going to continue to be high. Gasoline prices are going to continue to be high. Somebody told me just earlier, we're look at high gas prices maybe until November or December, then maybe they come down a bit. But expect them to be back up again in spring, when the driving season picks up.

So looks like we're looking at these kinds of prices for oil, home heating oil, natural gas and gasoline for some time to come.

Wolf.

BLITZER: So just when you think that the oil industry got a glancing blow, could have been so much worse. We all thought this was going to be great news, the price would go down. And guess what? Didn't exactly happen.

VELSHI: That's exactly right. Every time we -- we know exactly why prices go up when you go fill gas. But there just don't seem to be nearly as many compelling reasons for gas prices to go down.

BLITZER: Those markets always work in weird ways. Thanks very much, Ali. I'll see you in a little while. Thank you very much.

Eating out in New Orleans. Some restaurants are back in business, even without any water or any power. We'll talk to the owner of one diner.

And lessons from the Texas exodus. What we're learning from Houston's chaotic evacuation. Could other American cities do better? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's a story that's just coming into THE SITUATION ROOM right now. Let's immediately go to the CNN Center. Zain Verjee, standing by with details. What are you picking up, Zain?

VERJEE: Wolf, the Associated Press is reporting that Army Private Lynndie England was convicted by a military jury on all but one of the seven counts she faced. Now, that means she was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act. She was acquitted on a second conspiracy count. It apparently took the jury of five male officers a little more than two hours to get to that verdict.

Now, what happens next is that her case moves to the sentencing phase. And that's going to be determined, essentially, by the same jury of five Army officers. She's going to be facing a maximum of 10 years in prison. Her lawyers have argued along the way that, look, she's just a scapegoat in all of this -- that she was just taking orders. But it appears that's that the verdict that's been handed down. According to the Associated Press, Army Private Lynndie England has been convicted on six of seven counts in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Zain, thank you very much. Zain Verjee, reporting for us.

Let's move over to New Orleans. That city has always been known for its excellent food. And while choices are extremely limited right now, some restaurants are opening and they're serving, including one restaurant called Slim Goodies in the Garden District.

The owner, Kappa Horn, is joining us now live. Kappa, thanks very for joining us. Good publicity for the Slim Goodies Diner that you're wearing. You evacuated. You left that city for how long?

KAPPA HORN, RESTAURANT OWNER: I left for about three and half weeks.

BLITZER: And then when did you come back?

HORN: I came back two Saturdays ago, when the mayor told us that we could come in.

BLITZER: So you came back. What did you find at your restaurant? HORN: I found everything the way I left it, even the grits on the stove.

BLITZER: No major damage, no flooding?

HORN: No major damage. My backyard is pretty much trashed. All the trees are down. I had a beautiful garden, but that's going to be reworked in the next year. So we're looking forward to....

BLITZER: In the scheme of...

HORN: ... planting in the sun.

BLITZER: In the scheme of things, you did very, very well. Now, you came back to your restaurant.

HORN: I did very, very well.

BLITZER: Do you power, do you have water there?

HORN: I have no power. We bring in water. We bring in ice. We bring in fresh food every day. We have gas. So we've been cooking with gas.

BLITZER: So have you opened up the restaurant to business already?

HORN: Yes. Absolutely. There's no way we'd...

BLITZER: How is it coming along?

HORN: It's coming great. We have a lot of fun with everybody that comes in. Everyone's happy to see us open. They're hungry. They're, you know, ready to get back to work and rebuild the city.

BLITZER: What about the evacuation in the days leading up to Rita? Because they said get out of town right away. You decided not to do that.

HORN: No, I decided to stay until Sunday and left Sunday afternoon.

BLITZER: And then what happened?

HORN: I went to Baton Rouge with my dogs and a friend and found a good spot with some good friends that took us in and welcomed us with open arms, and have been waiting to come back and get going.

BLITZER: So who's coming? Who's having lunch and dinner at your place right now? Is the Garden District pretty much getting back to business as usual?

HORN: No, not usual. We have a lot of emergency workers, a lot of friends that are coming back to redo their houses to, you know, clean up their property. A lot of neighbors, a lot of people in the Garden District. It's a very close-knit neighborhood. So a lot of my neighbors are coming back and trying to rebuild and restart their lives here in New Orleans, which we all want to do.

BLITZER: So you're committed to staying put. You're not going to leave?

HORN: I'm not leaving.

BLITZER: You know that...

HORN: No way.

BLITZER: You know the hurricane season still has two months to go until November 30.

HORN: I don't scare easily.

BLITZER: So you're determined to stay and keep that restaurant open. When do they think you're going to get power back and then running water?

HORN: There's been so many rumors flying and things said that I am just -- I'm waiting until I get the power. When I get the power, it's going to be a good thing. But until then, I'll do what I need to do to keep my restaurant open. I'm a small business owner, so I'm going to do whatever I need to do to stay open.

BLITZER: Kappa Horn, and she's got an excellent restaurant called Slim Goodies. We'll come and visit you next time we're in New Orleans. Thanks very much, Kappa, for joining us.

HORN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Good luck.

HORN: Bye.

BLITZER: Evacuating a major American city. We saw in Houston just how difficult it can be. We'll take a closer look at how other cities are preparing for that possibility.

And is it a good idea to have the U.S. military in charge of disaster response? It's our question this hour. Jack Cafferty is going through your e-mail. He's standing by. He'll join us as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're getting some new video that is just coming to CNN from Abbeville, Louisiana. That's one of the hard-hit areas, southwestern part of Louisiana. I want to show our viewers some of these images that you're seeing right now. You see the flooded areas in Abbeville.

This is video that we're getting from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Rescue workers, search teams, going in, looking for survivors, looking for people who may be stranded. They've been going house to house to house to make sure things are in good shape. Clearly, a lot of water in these areas. The flooding very, very significant.

It's a very common thing that we're seeing throughout that corridor, that whole corner of Louisiana, as well as Texas, the whole Texas, Louisiana, Gulf Coast area, where that was the hardest hit from Hurricane Rita. These are areas that are suffering right now, mostly rural -- some towns -- mostly rural areas. It's going to take a long time to fix these areas, to get the water out, to clean up from the mold and to start to allow these people to come back and rebuild their lives.

Devastation in Abbeville, Louisiana. A typical scene in that part of the country.

In our CNN "Security Watch," lessons learned in Houston, where the so-called Katrina effect prompted a massive and messy evacuation ahead of Hurricane Rita. Are other major American cities prepared to do any better?

CNN's Brian Todd has been investigating. He's joining us now live. He's got more. Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, what's behind me is a typical example of what a major city is up against. The factors involved in a successful evacuation are many. And here's one of them.

We're going to ask our cameraman Buddy Hollin (ph) back to pan over here. This is Route 395. This is a major artery going in and out of this city. You were just starting to see the rush hour backup. This is traveling toward Capitol Hill from the Virginia side of the Potomac River. On the other side is the traffic going into Virginia. But that's often backed up even worse than what you're seeing over here. Typical major artery in a typical major city.

This city's traffic congestion has been getting worse and worse in recent years. And that is going to be a major factor in any potential mass evacuation of this city. Another major factor, according to a Homeland Security expert -- actually many of them who we talked to -- is the time involved, the time that you have to evacuate a major city.

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RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: In a couple of days' time, you can evacuate even a very large city with a couple of days and everyone cooperating with the authorities as they give the instructions to evacuate. You can't do it on a very compressed timetable, a day or less.

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TODD: Still, it is worth it, affording to Richard Falkenrath and many other security experts we've talked to, to have a plan in place. And Wolf, a little bit later on in the show, we're going to give you an idea of some of the plans in place in some of the major cities around the country, including this one, to deal with mass evacuations in the event of a major natural disaster or a terrorist attack. BLITZER: Brian Todd's here in Washington, D.C., the nation's capital. I wonder how we would do here in Washington if we all had to get out very, very quickly. I suspect it would not be easy at all. But Brian's going to be joining us. He's coming back.

Take a look at these live pictures. These are live pictures we're getting in from Houston right now. You can see the traffic building up, people beginning to come back in bigger numbers. It's still early out there. Not rush hour, but significant traffic. I suspect traffic around this time of the day, at least an hour or two down the road, is always pretty backed up. But people are coming back to Houston now in much bigger numbers. Traffic is going to be congested there, I suspect, for some time.

Stay tuned to CNN, day and night, for the most reliable news about your security.

Houston's returning residents are especially considering their city's evacuation plans after the mass exodus last week did not necessarily go as smoothly as so many would have liked.

Our Internet reporters Jacki Schechner and Abbi Tatton are checking the situation online, and they're joining us now live. Abbi, first to you.

ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, last week, we saw from the Houston blogging community lots and lots of accounts of the exodus and how difficult it was. Well, now lots of attention turning to the return home. You can see here that the streets that were deserted over the weekend beginning to pick up a little bit.

Again, the "Houston Chronicle" that was doing a lot of blog reporting, constant updates about the hurricane, has now got The Road Home blog, looking at different areas, coming back into the city, what is congested, what is not right now.

The Department of Transport in Texas has put this map up, trying to do a staged return home so everyone isn't coming in all at the same time. It's day by day. On day two right now, which areas should return. They're trying to avoid the pictures that we saw last week, the gridlock in roads like Interstate-45 that we were showing last week.

One blogger who did not join the exodus out of Houston over the weekend is petrifiedtruth.com. Describing this horror show, posting pictures like this, this blogger looked at the pictures and said, I'm not getting out at all. He's been posting today on the fact that there was no prepared plan to establish contraflow lanes out of Houston. But saying, despite the problem of that, Texas showed its can-do ability to improvise.

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Concern from Texas bloggers about what this is going to do for evacuation next time around, from madoilman.com. "The amazing miss by weathercasters in regard to Houston may affect people who will never leave again." Take a look at some of the photos posted by Lawrence Simon (ph). A little sarcastic, he is. "Barely enough water for a mouse to drown in," he says. "Oh, look, a branch down. Call FEMA." That's sort of the attitude we're seeing from Houston bloggers.

But then some solutions they're presenting. From Houston's Clear Thinkers, maybe Houston's evacuation plan would have been not to evacuate. If you weren't in a high-risk area, just fine -- you'd be just fine if you just battened down and stayed put.

Other things. The idea that people being there to tend to their property in the aftermath may have been a good solution. The Texas Police did not close down a lot of on-ramps. That might have helped with the flow of traffic that we saw. And finally, another blogger, houstonstrategies.blogspot.com, that a staged evacuation flow out like we saw Abbi show you the map of the flow back in, may have been a good response.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, guys. Thanks very much. We'll show our viewers while we're speaking about it, the traffic in Houston, clearly picking up right now. It's about 2:48 Central Time in Houston. You can see the traffic, both lanes, both sides, going in both directions, picking up. I can't tell you if this is normal traffic for Houston around this time of the day. I know they have bad traffic on any occasion. But clearly, right now, as almost two million, maybe two and a half million people are returning to their homes. They left over the past few days in advance of Rita. They're coming back. Traffic is going be bad. Be patient.

In response to the hurricanes, some are laying blame at the doorstep of local, state and federal governments. Coming up, is it time for the U.S. military to take over natural disaster response? We've been asking you that question. Jack Cafferty has your e-mail. He's standing by to join us.

And the commander-in-chief commanded the government's hurricane watch with an admittedly slow government response to Hurricane Katrina. The president wanted to make sure that didn't happen again. We'll take a closer look at what he's doing. That's coming up.

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BLITZER: Let's go to New York. Jack Cafferty has been going through your e-mail. He's joining us live with the "Cafferty File". Jack?

CAFFERTY: Wolf, you actually had no day off at all this week, did you? I saw you anchoring coverage on Saturday. You're doing a show on Sunday. I mean, you are setting a standard entirely too high for the rest of us.

BLITZER: It's a big story. You got to work.

CAFFERTY: I understand. You were down in Atlanta and did a nice job.

BLITZER: I like Atlanta, too.

CAFFERTY: Do you?

BLITZER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Do you like it better than Washington?

BLITZER: I like Washington. I like Atlanta. I like New York. I like all these places.

CAFFERTY: You know, some day you and I are going to have to meet. You should come to New York. And with all the overtime pay you've been getting for seven days a week, you could take me out and buy me an expensive meal.

BLITZER: I will do that.

CAFFERTY: All right. You're on.

President Bush wants Congress to consider putting the Pentagon in charge of disaster rescues if senior officers in the military say there's a need. The question this hour, is it a good idea to have the military in charge of national disaster response?

Tom, in Alma, West Virginia, "I have misgivings about putting the Pentagon in charge of anything. The current setup is screwed up. Take FEMA out of Homeland Security. Let FEMA handle nature and Homeland Security handle terrorists."

Jack writes, "Of course, they should be in charge. Trained in logistics, protection and teamwork, they'll be far superior to appointed political hacks."

Doug in Arizona writes, "This is nuts, man. While President Bush is at it, let him put the military in charge of delivering our mail, as if they don't have enough to do already. These departments were made for a reason. And now the president's diverting attention, trying to make it look proactive. To me it just looks lazy and ridiculous and I live in a red state."

Robert writes, "The military should not be placed in charge of responses to civilian disasters, especially weather disasters. This is equivalent to declaring martial law every time there's a hurricane, earthquake, et cetera. Far more important for civilian authorities to get their acts together."

And Sean in Newark, New Jersey, "I like the president's idea of having the military in charge of all natural disasters. I'm also hoping he suggests they provide other services like Christmas shopping and gift wrapping during the holidays."

BLITZER: Sean is a funny guy in Newark, New Jersey.

CAFFERTY: I like Sean. BLITZER: I like Sean, too. All right. Thanks, Jack.

CAFFERTY: I'll see you later.

BLITZER: All right. Coming up, just coming into CNN, we've got new details. Cindy Sheehan has been arrested outside the White House. We're going to tell you what happened.

Also, Rita's destruction from on high. Helicopter reporter J.T. Alpaugh will show us what he saw today. The kind of damage he's seeing in Louisiana. He will join us live.

Much more in THE SITUATION ROOM right after this.

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BLITZER: It's almost time for the markets to close. The closing bell. For that, let's check in with our Ali Velshi. He's joining us from New York. Ali?

VELSHI: Wolf, you heard the president speaking earlier today. One of the things he said when he was talking about energy is they are once again, the government is once again prepared to release oil to oil companies from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in case some of that oil coming from the Gulf of Mexico is still offline.

Well, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as you know, is four sites -- I've got a map of that -- four sites in Texas and Louisiana. Two of them are in Texas, two of them are in Louisiana.

Over on the right, Bayou Choctaw, that was the only one that stayed open. The others three closed for Hurricane Rita. There are 72 million barrels of oil there. Of the remaining three, Bryan Mound is reopened and is fine. The other two, West Hackberry and Big Hill. Big Hill, we were actually at and have pictures of that for you. Roads -- access roads to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve are flooded. We have almost 400,000 (ph) barrels of oil between the two of those. Big Hill, in fact, has had damage.

So we are looking at even the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in this country having suffered damage as a result of Hurricane Rita. Just one more problem to contend with in terms of the flow of oil and energy supplies, Wolf.

BLITZER: The whole impact, though, on the price of oil, as weird as we talked about a little bit earlier. Explain to our viewers what's going on. If we can get into the minds of these traders.

VELSHI: What it is, less damage than expected. So, you'd think oil prices would come down. Well, they're up, actually. They closed $1.63 higher to $65.82, because now people are thinking it didn't take much of a toll out of the economy. Housing prices are still strong and the economy is good. People won't mind continuing to pay the prices that they paid for gas and oil.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT) BLITZER: Ali, thanks very much. We'll check back with you.

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