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The Situation Room

Devastation in Louisiana; Bill Frist Comments on Stock Sale; Interview With Education Secretary Margaret Spellings

Aired September 26, 2005 - 17:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's 5:00 p.m. here in Washington, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where we're watching news from the hurricane zones happening now.
It's 4:00 p.m. Central in Louisiana, now grappling with double disasters. People are sorting through the rubble left by Rita, and there's widespread devastation in three parishes.

Riding out Rita. One family's chilling and nearly deadly experience caught on tape as the hurricane engulfed them.

And on the other end of the state, New Orleans, struggling to recover from Rita and Katrina. Today, new signs of progress.

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

We're just getting in some dramatic new video from southwest Louisiana, where the scope is smaller but the scale of devastation from Hurricane Rita is no less severe than the disaster that brought New Orleans to its knees.

CNN's Randi Kaye is just back from the hard-hit town of Creole in Louisiana. She's joining us now from Cameron Parish.

What did you see, Randi?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was a terrible picture what we saw here on the ground. I had actually done a fly-over of this area late yesterday evening, and what you saw on the ground was extremely disturbing. What we saw -- we just got back a short time ago. We have that video to show you.

We went to an area of Cameron Parish called Creole, as you said. It's a town of about 1,500. We took an airboat in, because that's one of the few ways that you can get in these days. The helicopters can't even land there right now.

And there was just destruction everywhere. And not only were the homes and buildings destroyed, Wolf, but it was a terrible picture for the wildlife.

We saw cows. They were overturned. They were, many of them, dead. Those who were still alive were stranded, looking -- looking to us as if they wanted to say, can you help us? They were stranded. They were trying to herd them today. We saw many, many dead animals, from rabbits to just all kinds of things. And it was just an awful scene.

We finally did make our way to Creole with our boat's driver, who's from there. He has an alligator farm there. He did evacuate all of his alligators, luckily, but what we found there was his town completely destroyed.

The post office was destroyed, the supermarket. This is a town, Wolf, that's just one red light. And many of the buildings, most of the buildings gone. In fact, we're told 70 percent of the homes in Creole completely destroyed.

These are the first pictures that we're getting in of Creole and Cameron Parish from the ground. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it to Ben Welsh's (ph) home. That was our boat driver. We were trying and trying, but we were not able to get there. So he's still wondering tonight, Wolf, whether or not his home is still standing. It's very unlikely.

BLITZER: It sort of looks, these pictures, Randi, like Gulfport or Biloxi. Is it similar to what we saw in the immediate aftermath of Katrina?

KAYE: Very similar to what we saw. I'm going to hold my hat here, because we have General Russel Honore in this area here in Cameron Parish, and his helicopter is about to take off.

But yes, it's very similar. In fact, Ben Welsh (ph), who we were with, had gone down to New Orleans as well to help with his airboat business. And he can't believe what he saw there and how similar it looks now to what his own neighborhood looks like.

His father, his grandfather, they lived through Hurricane Audrey here. They warned him about that, they told him what the pictures looked like. He wasn't old enough at the time, but now he certainly knows for himself firsthand what a hurricane can do.

BLITZER: Randi Kaye reporting for us.

Thank you, Randi, very much.

Let's check in with CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's in the town of Erath in Louisiana, which has also seen some very significant destruction.

What's the latest, there, Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf.

Well, we've been talking all day about folks really getting the first chance to come back today and start surveying the damage.

This house has an interesting story. Jerry Landry (ph) used to own it until about a week and a half ago, you're telling me. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. My mother about -- I was born and raised in this house, and about a week and a half ago she sold the home to the people who own it now. And...

LAVANDERA: And you came back over here to check up on them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct. Just see if they needed any help with anything. I feel bad that a week and a half after the home was sold that it flooded.

LAVANDERA: Well, what did they say? Are they holding it up OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're holding up fine. They're taking it all in stride. They're going to use this to maybe redo some floors. They only had a couple of inches in the house, so...

LAVANDERA: It's got to be tough to see your hometown like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's horrible. It is horrible. All my life, this house -- and we've had flooding before, but not to this extent. And this house has been here for 80 years, of which my parents have lived here for 44. And it's never flooded before. And now this.

LAVANDERA: Jerry (ph), I really appreciate the time. I appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You bet.

LAVANDERA: Wolf, all day here in Erath, and the waters are dropping. But you kind of see, you know, stories like this, where people are kind of giving the sense of just exactly what's been left behind here -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Ed. Thanks very much.

How sad is that? Very sad indeed.

From the scene on the ground to how it looks from the skies, Elwood Shields is a photographer with our CNN affiliate KLFY. He's been flying over southwest Louisiana, recording video of what he's been seeing. He's joining us now live.

Elwood, I hope you can see our air, because I want you to tell our viewers some of the images, some of the impressions that you had seeing this destruction. Very sad, I assume.

ELWOOD SHIELDS, KLFY PHOTOGRAPHER: It was awfully sad. You know, seeing some of the devastation that happened in Vermilion Parish, it's something that you don't see all the time. And being with this TV station for 15 years, this was unreal to see the flooding throughout Vermilion Parish.

BLITZER: How widespread was it? Because the pictures show destruction, show flooding, but we can't get a sense of how big of an area. And you flew over this whole area. Give our viewers a sense of how big of an area has been really devastated. SHIELDS: Well, you know, Lafayette is not too far from Vermilion Parish. And we flew out of Lafayette airport aboard (INAUDIBLE). It didn't take that long to see the flooding throughout Vermilion Parish and Erath and Delcambre. But the widespread area could run for a mile north, south, east and west. And it is just total devastation. I think the water there will be remaining for a while that came in with Hurricane Rita.

BLITZER: These are pretty rural areas. I don't know if you can see the pictures we're showing our viewers right now, but how far inland did the flooding and destruction go from the coast?

SHIELDS: I tell you, those towns and communities sitting like right on the Gulf, I've seen about 15, 20 miles inland.

BLITZER: So people weren't safe. They weren't safe if they were 15 or 20 miles inland. It was still pretty awful right near the eye of the storm.

SHIELDS: Well, I think the people in Vermilion Parish were surprised. They never knew that the water was coming up. And as you know, it surprised them, and they had a hard time getting out. And as you can see from the flooding there -- what happened.

BLITZER: Did most of the people, based on anecdotal evidence that you saw, were most of the people evacuated in advance?

SHIELDS: Absolutely. A lot of people when they first heard our broadcast took to shelter, got on the road early, tanked up their cars and got out. But unfortunately, some stayed at homes there, as well as mobile homes and...

BLITZER: All right. Elwood, hold on one a second. I want to interrupt you. The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, is about to make a statement on this stock trading deal.

Let's listen in.

SEN. BILL FRIST (R), MAJORITY LEADER: Good afternoon.

When I ran for the Senate over 10 years ago, I made a commitment to the people of Tennessee that if elected I would serve them to the best of my ability and uphold the highest of ethical standards. I've tried to go above and beyond anything required by Senate rules for the law. Now some questions have arisen, so let me tell you what I know and what I did.

When deciding how to handle my family's personal investments, I always sought expert advice and Senate Ethics Committee review and approval. Despite not being required to do so, I sought and obtained two Ethics Committee opinions acknowledging that my ownership of HCA stock complied with the Senate rules and did not represent a conflict of interest with my Senate duties. Despite not being required to do so, I later chose to place many of my investments in blind trusts, including my HCA stock. With these efforts I have sought so guarantee that no conflict of interest existed. Review after review has found nothing wrong. Nevertheless, the complaints and questions have persisted. Because of these continuing questions and looking ahead at my final years in the Senate and what might come next, I have for some time wanted to eliminate even the possibility of an appearance of a conflict by totally divesting of any HCA stock in my family's trust.

In April, I asked my staff to determine if Senate rules and relevant laws would allow me to direct the trustees to sell any remaining HCA stock. After my staff reviewed the relevant statutes and Senate rules, and consulted with outside counsel and Senate Ethics Committee staff, I learned that the rules allowed me to direct the trustees to sell any remaining HCA stock in my blind trust.

In May, my staff worked with outside counsel and with the Senate Ethics Committee staff to draft a written communication to the trustees. After obtaining preapproval by mid June from the Senate Ethics Committee, I issued a letter directing my trustees to sell any remaining HCA stock in my family's trust.

Now I'm being asked to explain this decision. I understand that and I welcome it.

An examination of the facts will demonstrate that I acted properly. I will cooperate with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York to provide the information that they need as quickly as possible.

My only objective in selling the stock was to eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest. I had no information about HCA or its performance that was not publicly available when I directed the trustees to sell the stock.

And now I'm going back to work. While I know all of you will have many questions, we will answer as much as we can and as fast as we can consistent with the inquiries underway.

Thank you.

QUESTION: Senator, did you tell the truth in 2003 when you said you did not...

BLITZER: All right. The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, not answering reporters' questions, but insisting he did nothing wrong in selling that stock in his family business. That decision raising some questions over at the SEC, the Justice Department, because the stock price went down shortly after he made that sale.

We'll continue to watch this story for you, our viewers, but let's get back to our top story, the devastation that's been unfolding in Louisiana and in Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.

We're speaking with the Elwood Shields, a photographer with our CNN affiliate KLFY. He's joining us. Elwood, just to remind our viewers, you were flying over the area that your station covers, this whole southeastern part of Louisiana, Vermilion Parish, other areas as well. You saw this destruction.

We see the flooding, and frankly we're only now beginning to appreciate how much destruction there was, because the initial impression we were getting was, well, maybe everyone dodged a bullet. But at least the areas that you were flying over, that was a real bullet.

SHIELDS: Absolutely. The area is -- was totally covered with water as you look down Highway 14 between Delcambre and Erath. And everywhere you go, as well as -- I hate to say a lot of animals lost their life in this flooding as well. But looking at this, it was very bad.

BLITZER: What was the worst area that you saw? What did you see at that part that really made you personally, as someone who lives there, very, very upset?

SHIELDS: Well, I would say the area in Calcasieu Parish, Cameron, Gray Sheneer (ph) and Pecan Island. Those areas, homes are gone.

The homes that are not destroyed -- was destroyed, was washed out into the Gulf. And everything is just gone.

If you -- Highway 82 that runs up and down the coast from east to west under water. Some of the road is washed out.

And as we're speaking now from our news desk, we just got a report that there was a levee breach in Gueydan, Louisiana. So now they're evacuating people from that area as we speak.

BLITZER: And what do they say, that water is coming in as a result of that breach?

SHIELDS: That's absolutely -- a levee broke there, and they're trying to get people out as much as possible. There's a lot of people still there. So once again, the -- that happened about 20 to 25 minutes ago.

BLITZER: Where exactly is that breach so that we get a better sense of the geography?

SHIELDS: Gueydan is located, if I'm being correct, in Vermilion Parish as well. It's about 20 miles from Kaplan, land and it runs down Highway 14. And it's better known as the duck capital of the world. And once again, this happened about 20 minutes ago, a levee breach there. So they are evacuating people as we speak.

BLITZER: We think of the levee system protecting New Orleans, but a lot of us aren't really familiar with the levees up and down that Louisiana coast. How prevalent are they, those levees, which seem to be vulnerable? SHIELDS: Well, yes. And as you know, they had been working to secure the coast here of Louisiana and build up the levees. But lately, as storms come in, they have been like pushing the levees away and causing more flooding in areas surrounding these cities, these towns, as well as communities.

BLITZER: Elwood Shields is a photographer with our affiliate KLFY.

You shot some amazing pictures, Elwood, for us. Maybe we will check back with you tomorrow. Are you going to go back up and shoot some more?

SHIELDS: Absolutely. The crew here at TV 10 have been doing a wonderful job, and we will be bringing more video that people can see.

BLITZER: All right. We'll check back with you tomorrow, Elwood. Thanks very much for your good work.

SHIELDS: You're welcome.

BLITZER: Let's get some more good work. Jack Cafferty is always doing good work. He's in New York. He's joining us now.

That's pretty devastating, those pictures, Jack...

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, terrible.

BLITZER: ... in the southwestern corner of Louisiana.

CAFFERTY: Terrible.

BLITZER: And he says this is not a small area. This is a big part of the state.

CAFFERTY: Well, your point about us -- you know, us non- Louisiana folks being unaware of how many levees are being used up and down the coastline to keep the waters back is a good one. I had no idea that these other parishes, as they call them, are apparently all at or below sea level, or close, and require the same kind of levee protection as the city of New Orleans. And apparently, in these cases, at least the ones he was mentioning, they're not getting it.

I got one here for you, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right.

CAFFERTY: Louisiana's two senators are asking the federal government for $250 billion to rebuild Louisiana in the wake of Katrina. According to "The Washington Post," this $250 billion bill would cost more in inflation adjusted dollars than the whole Louisiana purchase, one-third of the 48 adjacent states did when Thomas Jefferson bought it back a few years ago. The Louisiana purchase actually encompassed areas all the way from North Dakota to the Gulf Coast and about a third of the center section of the country. Critics say that parts of the bill make the Louisiana delegation look greedy. Really? And that they're using Katrina as an excuse to raid the federal Treasury.

The question this hour is should it cost more to rebuild Louisiana than it did to buy it? And you can e-mail your thoughts on that to CaffertyFile@CNN.com.

These two Louisiana senators filed a bill in the -- in the Senate, $250 billion they want.

BLITZER: Well, they're trying to help their state.

CAFFERTY: Yes. And then that last time we were on, I told you about the guy who resigned his job there as the head of the Democratic Party, or whoever he was, so he could go and work on his construction company. I wonder what he has in mind.

BLITZER: All right. Jack, we'll get back to you soon. Thank you very much.

Still ahead, the heartbreak after the hurricane. People going back to what little, if anything, is left of their homes. We'll get another moving view from the disaster zone. That's coming up.

Plus, kids caught in the Rita fallout. They're missing school. Many parents are outraged. Questions of education and conservation, that's coming up ahead as well.

And we'll catch up with a resident of one hard hit Lake Charles, Louisiana, area. She will tell us how she's coping now that Rita has come and gone.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There are lots of unhappy parents in Georgia today. Schools have been closed at the governor's request.

Our Zain Verjee has details. She's joining us from the CNN Center in Atlanta -- Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue asked state public schools to close today and tomorrow. Now, the reason was to conserve fuel because shortages are anticipated after Hurricane Rita. But some parents say that that move was misguided.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first thing that we dismissed in order to save energy was public education. And public education should be our number one priority, not our last priority. There are a lot of other things we could cancel before we cancel public education.

VERJEE (voice over): This mother is among several who brought their children to the state capital in Atlanta today in protest of the statewide school closure. They call it a teach-in and say their goal is to educate Governor Sonny Perdue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want our children to keep learning. We don't want them to take a break from learning just because gasoline is expensive.

VERJEE: Across the state, working parents scrambled to make child care arrangements. In Atlanta, city recreation centers extended their hours. This one opened from 8:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night. Despite criticism from some, Governor Perdue defended the two- day closure, which he predicted would save up to half a million gallons of gas through idle school buses.

GOV. SONNY PERDUE (R), GEORGIA: It obviously is an inconvenience, and I understand that. And it is a sacrifice. And it really is about conservation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: And Wolf, President Bush praised the closures, saying Governor Perdue showed some leadership. And while the closures were voluntary, almost all of the state's 181 school districts cooperated. And only a handful chose to stay open -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Zain. Thank you very much.

So was Governor Perdue's move warranted and wise, or are children getting the short end of the stick in favor of oil and commerce? And what about all those children from Katrina and Rita, uprooted, moved and thrust into new schools?

Joining us now is the education secretary, Margaret Spellings.

Madame Secretary, thanks very much for joining us.

MARGARET SPELLINGS, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Thank you.

BLITZER: Did the governor overreact in shutting down the schools for two days?

SPELLINGS: Well, Wolf, you know, I don't know. What I know is that No Child Left Behind, it holds states and school districts to account for educational achievement for all those students.

Typically, states and districts have days built in that can be accommodated and so forth in dire situations for snow days or the like. But, you know, we at the Department of Education are going to keep our eye on the ball, which is, you know, how well are those students doing when it comes time to measure their progress this year. And that's a really important thing.

BLITZER: How many -- how many children have been dislocated or uprooted and are now in schools where they shouldn't be? They should really be in their own local schools. How many kids have been affected by Rita and earlier Katrina? SPELLINGS: Well, we have about -- from Katrina, we have about 372,000 students who were displaced because of that event. They are now in 49 states and the District of Columbia, who have welcomed them warmly.

Obviously a large number, 40,000 students are in Texas schools. So will obviously have some impact from Rita.

We have been in touch with the officials down there today. We're not exactly sure completely of the full picture there with respect to Rita yet. But it's large, large numbers of students who have been displaced during this hurricane system, clearly.

As you know, some of your critics, the administration's critics, are saying you are using this tragedy to try to ram through some sort of ideological change in the way public schools operate, specifically granting vouchers to send schools to private or parochial schools. Senator Ted Kennedy, for example, said this -- he said, "We ought to be reopening schools, not reopening ideological debates of the past. With all the challenges we're facing, to add ideological battles is unworthy of generosity of Americans. This is unconscionable."

What do you say to those critics?

SPELLINGS: Well, this was not an ideological battle. This is a way for us to try to find ways to accommodate schools and families and parents and students who have been so severely impacted by this -- by this situation. And this was an equal opportunity hurricane that affected many, many families and many students.

And so, what the president has called for is 90 percent of the instructional cost for one year to be borne by the federal government, up to $7,500. In many cases in private schools or parochial schools, that's going to be less than that. But I think our responsibility really is to those students, those families, and to get them back on track and into school, wherever that might be, just as quickly as possible.

And I agree with Senator Kennedy. This is not an ideological battle or time to reopen that. It's time to get aid to students and families.

BLITZER: So this is just a temporary situation and you're not trying to make this permanent?

SPELLINGS: That's correct. We're going to do something -- the president has called on to do something that we've never done, either for public school students or for private school students, and that is basically pay the cost of their education.

We're going to -- we're currently about a 9 percent investor at the federal level and K-12 education. And he has suggested that this year, not to penalize the Texans and others who have taken those students in, but the federal government ought to bear 90 percent of the instructional cost of educating those students, up to $7,500.

BLITZER: Margaret Spellings is the education secretary.

Thanks very much for joining us.

SPELLINGS: Thank you very much, Wolf.

BLITZER: When we come back, here in THE SITUATION ROOM, reality after Rita. We'll hear from one resident struggling desperately with life in the disaster zone.

And how prepared are other American cities with their disaster plans? We've got some details that may surprise you.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: You're in THE SITUATION ROOM right now. And some New Orleans residents are going back home for the first time. And in many cases, much of what they're seeing is moving them to tears. Here are some examples from helicopter reporter J.T. Alpaugh. He flew over the city earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

J.T. ALPAUGH, HELICOPTER REPORTER: You see the despair here. We are going to park it.

This is what we have seen. This poor woman here just obviously just got back in to her neighborhood and realize the damage to her house. And this is a very emotional moment being caught here.

And we're trying to show you this without being too invasive. But this is a scene that we're seeing over and over again. The emotion.

We're going to hold this as still as we can just to show you the emotion of something like this that the people finally get back to the areas of saying just maybe -- just maybe their homes are somewhat intact, or some of their belongings are left. But realizing that that is not the case.

We hate to see this. But this is played out over and over again throughout these communities. Just people now starting to return, they realize that their lives and their possessions and their homes are gone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And let's go live to New Orleans right now. Mary Snow is standing by with more on the situation there -- Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, as some people just try to salvage what they can, others are trying to start over. There are some people coming back into New Orleans, some progress being reported this afternoon. Officials were saying that the 911 system here in New Orleans was back on line this afternoon. Also, the Army Corps of Engineers saying that the water is receding, that the lake levels are stable. This, after a weekend of flooding.

This, as people are trying to start over again here in New Orleans. This is a program that started last week. It was put on hold. Some people in St. Bernard Parish are really returning to not very much. Some can't move back. It was such an area that was really devastated, others, such as in Algiers on the west bank, they suffered less damage, and they are moving back -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Mary, thank you very much. Mary Snow is on the scene in New Orleans.

Coming up, if the call came for you and your neighbors to get out fast, could you do it? And what would happen if you were in a situation as occurred in Houston? We'll take a closer look at how cities are preparing and if they're ready.

And remember Linda Prudhomme, the Lake Charles woman decided to ride out Rita. She talked to us then, now she's back. That's coming up. Your in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It was a very frightening surprise, a father and a son go to bed thinking they dodged the storm, but then they wake up find they certainly had not. Our Tom Foreman is joining us now live here in THE SITUATION ROOM to explain what happened, a really horrible story.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All of the images that have come out of these storms, this is one of the most startling ones to watch. It happened in Esther, Louisiana, which is a small community out in -- the edge of Vermilion Parish. It's not far away from Avery Island, where if you got to your cabinets, you will find Tabasco sauce there. That's where it's made.

It looks like it's land on the overhead view, but in fact, when you get in much closer, you find out it's a lot of islands there. And as the water moved in from here, through all of these waterways and marshes, the results of what happened to this family in Esther were stunning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going over to the window. All the windows are just about...

FOREMAN (voice-over): This is how it looked and sounded Saturday night inside a house in the tiny town of Esther, less than 10 miles from Vermilion Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. This video was shot by a father and son who had gone to bed thinking they had escaped the storm. But around 5:00 a.m. this is what they woke up to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see this. This is the back utility room. Waves are coming through. Back door. It was broken down. It had no chance. The freezers are floating. FOREMAN: Water crashing through the windows, flood waters reaching for the ceiling. Appliances tossed around like toys. Many of their belongings washed away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ain't much left in this house. That's the top of the cabinet right there. The water is right at the top. That's the ceiling fan right there. Trucks are outside. They were floating earlier. Got about five more feet until it comes into the attic.

FOREMAN: The pair retreated to the home's attic as the water rose. And they were almost trapped, but used a shotgun to shoot through the roof and climb to safety. Then they swam across the road to take refuge in a neighbors boat where they sat until a Coast Guard helicopter picked them up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: Unbelievable pictures out of that whole thing. According to one official there that told a local newspaper that the storm surge itself reached 30 miles inland where Esther is. But as I pointed out, Wolf, inland there is a relative term because there's so many marshes, it's so many low-lying in those areas. Those people are very lucky to have made it out.

BLITZER: I don't think I have ever seen images like that where that water is simply rushing through the windows into that home. How painful was that?

FOREMAN: That they got the pictures. That they had the presence of mind to take the pictures. That they were there and that made it out just astonishing.

BLITZER: Amazing. All right, Tom. Thank you very much, Tom Foreman.

Reporting for us, my next guest also stared down Rita and survived. We first introduced you to her last week as she hunkered down with three others waiting to see what Rita would do, now Linda Prudhomme is joining us once again from Lake Charles, Louisiana to describe how she made it through.

Linda, thanks very much for joining us. How did you do it?

LINDA PRUDHOMME, LAKE CHARLES RESIDENT: Well, we just hunkered down like you said and we just did a lot of praying and a lot of hoping.

BLITZER: And what's it's gone like since then? What have you been doing since then?

PRUDHOMME: Well, today he made it out to Sam's Club. They were selling gas. They brought in some tanker trucks and had like 30,000 gallons of gas. So, the gas line was a couple hours long. And then we stood into the line to go into the store for another hour-and-a- half and got some supplies. So hopefully we got enough that we can sustain for a few days.

But the element right now is the heat. We have no power so there's no air conditioning. And there's no -- I do have gas -- natural gas. And yesterday, we started getting water. There's not a lot of water pressure, but we can -- it is enough that we can take a bath and try to keep cool. I'm walking around the house with a wet towel on my head trying to stay cool.

BLITZER: The winds were as high as 105 miles an hour when this hurricane was passing over Lake Charles. And you survived, you and your friends and your husband inside. Tell our viewers what it was like for those minutes, in fact, those hours as you were going through the worst of it.

PRUDHOMME: Well, it was -- it got very -- the wind got so strong that at points, I could feel when it would hit the house, the house would kind of vibrate. And it was so loud, you know, it was very loud and it was very frightening. At one point, I had a window that blew out. And that was scary. I went -- at that point, I went and put my Social Security number on my arm. Because I just, you know, up until that point, I was being a little brave, but after that, I thought, you know, this is -- this is not going to get better for a long time. And I put a four on our door so that the rescuers when they came would know that there was supposed to be four people in the house. So it was very scary.

BLITZER: Well, Linda, we're glad you survived and your family and friends survived as well. Good thing you did. We'll check back with you. Linda Prudhomme, from a hard hit area, Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Another hard hit area, Nederland, Texas. The mayor, Dick Nugent, is joining us right now. Mayor, thanks very much for joining us. Tell our viewers, what went through in your community at the worst moments?

MAYOR DICK NUGENT, NEDERLAND, TX: Wolf, probably the worst moment, not only did we receive damage, but it's the aftermath that we're fighting now that seems to be worse than the original storm coming through.

BLITZER: Well, what happened? What's going on right now?

NUGENT: Well, from the very beginning, Saturday afternoon, and I'm speaking for the (INAUDIBLE) in the same situation. We have been trying our best. We filed all of our papers with the state of Texas and the proper chain, and everybody assured us that we were doing exactly what we should be doing to try to get some generators in here. We have no electricity, no water, no sewage.

BLITZER: How many people are affected by this?

NUGENT: If you put three cities together, you're talking about maybe better than 50,000 people. The city of Nederland is 17,400, and this is what I am immediately concerned with.

BLITZER: How much destruction did you endure?

NUGENT: It was more or less superficial, but the trees and debris are just littered and stacked in all of our streets, and we're having to use our people; we still have no help to try to clean our streets that (INAUDIBLE) just to the side, so that we can actually go through our streets and check the various facilities.

BLITZER: This hurricane occurred early Saturday morning. It's now Monday, late in the afternoon, where you are. What are they saying to you, FEMA or the state authorities? Where are they?

NUGENT: We'd like to know that ourselves. We're being told that the paperwork was filed, as I said earlier, properly, and it went through the proper channels and reached the state of Texas, the office, I assume, in Austin, and FEMA comes in now two days later, and tells us that they have never received the papers, and they have to have the paper trail through the bureaucracy to get our computers. They've been sitting in Beaumont, we're told, at a center just out of Beaumont, for a day and a half now.

BLITZER: Well, maybe -- maybe you'll get some action as a result of appearing on our program. We hope you do, Mayor. Good luck to you. Good luck to everybody in Nederland and that entire area. Mayor Dick Nugent of Nederland, Texas. He's still waiting for help.

Still ahead, the cost of rebuilding in Louisiana. We'll put the price tag in historical context. Jack Cafferty will help us do that. He'll be going through your e-mail as well.

And the Rita evacuation seemed to go better than the exodus before Katrina, but next time, would your city be ready to escape disaster? You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're getting some new pictures in from Erath, Louisiana, a very hard hit area. We will show you these pictures coming in via videophone right now. You can see the flooding going on. You see the homes there that have endured, but they're severely, severely damaged. Unclear if these homes are going to survive what's going on. They may have to be destroyed and rebuilt from scratch. So much of this area along the coast devastated by Rita.

In our CNN security watch, the chaotic and frustrating evacuation of Houston. It's a lesson to the entire nation. Clearing out a major metropolitan area is a tremendous task, one it appears many American cities are not up to, at least not now. CNN's Brian Todd has been investigating. He's live here in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, one of the major problems is right behind me. You are talking about what illustrates the complications in planning major evacuations. Check out right behind me; this is 395 going north and south out of Washington, a typical situation of gridlock. The rain doesn't help matters either. It's often like this not even in rush hour, but in mid-day. This is creating a circumstance that was similar to something in Texas, which provoked some desperate circumstances for some evacuees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Calvin Gregory joined this nightmare, trying to get his extended family out of Galveston County, Texas, ahead of Hurricane Rita. Gregory got increasingly desperate and resorted to something he never imagined he would do -- he stole some gas from his neighbor.

CALVIN GREGORY: There was no gas, there was absolutely no gas around here. And some of the neighbors had -- didn't take their vehicles. And they didn't take their boats. And unfortunately, that was the only option to take, was to borrow some gasoline. We got to pay them back now.

TODD: Could you be in Calvin Gregory's position? According to homeland security experts, the answer may depend on where you live, how much time you have to get out, and your state of mind.

RICHARD FALKENRATH, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: You have got hundreds of thousands of individual decision-makers, all of whom are going to be deciding when to move, where to move, when to get gas, how much gas to get. All of the various decisions that go into it.

TODD: Other experts agree, even in those cities with detailed, well thought-out evacuation plans, nothing accounts for how people behave during a real disaster. But plans do make a difference. We called the emergency management offices of some major cities considered vulnerable to natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

Officials in New York City tell us, for natural disasters, they make residents travel shorter distances than Texas evacuees did -- three to five miles in New York, toward so-called reception centers. New York officials also encourage mass transit, but deploy fuel and tow trucks all along the routes.

Miami/Dade County officials, practiced in hurricane evacuations, say they evacuate only areas in the county where they expect the storm surge to hit. And like New York, emphasized traveling short distances to dozens of potential shelters. Miami-Dade, like Washington, D.C. and other cities, has plans in place to reverse traffic flow, steering all traffic one way on a major artery. That was done in Texas, but not before massive gridlock. And experts say the exercise requires already stretched police forces to block every onramp for potentially hundreds of miles -- just one obstacle to moving millions.

FALKENRATH: The enemies of a successful evacuation are going to be time, geography and public compliance. Those there things are really going to determine how well you get people out of harm's way. And time is your biggest enemy. If you have to do it instantaneously, it's just impossible. Cannot be done.

(END VIDEOTAPE) TODD: And all the homeland security experts and city officials we spoke to agree that an effective evacuation of a major metropolitan area, millions of people all at once, no matter what the circumstances are, nearly impossible. As one expert put it, Wolf, New Orleans had a terrific-looking evacuation plan before Katrina.

BLITZER: Looked good on paper, but not in reality. Brian, thanks very much. Brian Todd, reporting. And to our viewers, please stay tuned to CNN day and night, for the most reliable news about your security.

Ahead in THE SITUATION ROOM, the tab will be high to rebuild Louisiana, but should it cost more than it did to buy the state two centuries ago? Jack Cafferty going through your e-mail, he'll be with us. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Jack Cafferty has been going through your e-mail on this question of the hour. He's joining us now from New York. Hi, Jack.

CAFFERTY: How are you doing, Wolf. Louisiana's two senators just want the federal government to pony up $250 billion so they can rebuild Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. "The Washington Post" says that this $250 billion request, adjusted for inflation, is actually more than the Louisiana purchase, he tried to say, cost when Jefferson bought it back there a long time ago.

So the question this hour is -- should it cost more to rebuild Louisiana than it did to buy it? Some of you think it's a stupid question. Perhaps it is, but it's all I got, and this is the end of the show anyway, so we're going do these.

Jack in Lafayette, Louisiana: "Would it cost you more to rebuild your house than it did to buy the lot it was built on? How much do you think the Louisiana purchase, with all its improvements and infrastructure, is worth today?"

Todd in Baton Rouge, Louisiana: "Leave it to Louisiana politicians to raid the cookie jar whenever and wherever they can. Prepare to see an all-out stampede for available federal dollars, all in the name of rebuilding after Katrina. Louisiana is a breeding ground of scams, crooked politicians and corruption, in unbelievable proportions. That's just the way it is. Always has been, always will be."

Dave in Rochester: "Let's return Louisiana back to France for a full refund, and then do something useful with the money, such as putting it towards education."

Alan in Burlington, Kansas writes: "It will cost more, but we can't choose which cities to rebuild. If it was New York or Los Angeles or Miami, we wouldn't hesitate. We can't just sell it back to the French. Maybe we can sell Texas back to Mexico, and then we would have enough to rebuild Louisiana." And Kevin in Naples writes: "The whole island of Manhattan cost a handful of beads. What is your point? Should we trash the whole island because the Twin Towers cost more to rebuild than a handful of shiny beads?"

I don't know, Kevin.

BLITZER: All right, Jack, I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks very much, Jack Cafferty in New York.

When we come back, remarkable live pictures coming in right now from Louisiana. We'll take you there when we come back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: As CNN marks its 25th anniversary, we take a look back at a story of a missing Utah girl. Here's CNN's Aaron Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you having fun?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Elizabeth Smart was not a little girl lost. She was a little girl stolen. In the summer of 2002, she was taken from her bedroom in suburban Salt Lake City during the night. It was the anguish of her parents that touched the country.

ED SMART, FATHER: Please let her come home.

LOIS SMART, MOTHER: We need her, and she needs us.

BROWN: Thousands mobilized to look for the 14-year-old in what seemed to be a hopeless search. Then, nine months after being taken, she was found.

E. SMART: It's real. It's real.

BROWN: She had been taken and held by a man who once worked for the Smart family.

Elizabeth is now 17, a high school student, talking very little about her ordeal.

Elizabeth Smart is now a quiet activist for missing children, and was present at the White House for the signing of the National Amber Alert bill. Her parents say she really is just a normal teenager, who dates and drives, and spends time with friends.

E. SMART: Focusing on herself and moving forward is a tremendous example for others.

BROWN: Elizabeth Smart has received honors and awards for her courage, and even today people still recognize her.

E. SMART: Essentially as the end came about, a girl that belonged to everyone, and that was how she was found.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: We'll show our viewers some pictures that we're getting in right now from Erath, Louisiana, via videophone. You can see the flooding, you can see the destruction. This is in the southwestern portion of Louisiana, very close to where this Hurricane Rita smashed ashore. The flooding significant. And these are not small areas. For miles and miles and miles, perhaps 15 to 20 miles inland, the destruction goes, mostly in rural Louisiana and Texas.

We're in THE SITUATION ROOM every weekday afternoon, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you tomorrow. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now, Lou standing by in New York.

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