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CNN Sunday Morning
Tracking Hurricane Gustav
Aired August 31, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is August 31st, on the brink of a major hurricane.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hey there. I'm T.J. Holmes. It's 7:00 o'clock in Atlanta here and 6:00 a.m. in a very nervous New Orleans.
Hurricane warnings stretching from Louisiana to Florida, Gustav has left Cuba, and it is barreling towards us. The mayor of New Orleans has said and I quote here, "It is time to get your butts out of New Orleans."
NGUYEN: Well, if that doesn't say it, this message is very clear, especially for the gulf coast. Hurricane Gustav is coming and it is time to get going. Tens of thousands have already heeded the call to evacuate.
HOLMES: The storm, however, was downgraded slightly this morning. It's now down to a category three hurricane but do not let that fool you. It still has winds of 125 miles per hour and is expected to grow in strength as it passes through the Gulf of Mexico. New Orleans is looking like it is right in the eye of the storm.
Mayor Nagin made that crystal clear when he issued this warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: I normally am very calm about these press conferences and I'm normally trying to give assurance to our citizens. Take that hat off tonight. You need to be scared, you need to be concerned, and you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Again, thousands of people have already gotten out, gotten their butts out, clearly, of New Orleans. These people here, they are arriving in Memphis. At this moment, the process is starting up again in New Orleans. Buses are rounding up a whole lot of folks right now. Everybody is trying to get out. Certainly a different situation from how it was back during Katrina three years ago.
Now, a couple of hours ago, the state put into the contraflow plan. That means all the highways in southern Louisiana is now heading in only one direction. That direction is out.
NGUYEN: And speaking of, our Sean Callebs is in the middle of that traffic this morning. He is joining us live via broadband from the highway which is heading to Baton Rouge.
And we see you there in the car, Sean. I imagine a lot of folks are on the road just as well as you are.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. We just left our bureau I would say about eight minutes ago. We are now on I-10 west toward Baton Rouge just kind of bear with us here. We're still moving, we're going to hit gridlock any moment now. And once we hit gridlock, this picture is going to lock in and our audio is going to lock up a little bit better.
I can see the gridlock coming up here. I can tell you eastbound towards Slidell, getting out of this city is simply bumper-to-bumper right as you get off the interstate. It is going to be a long day. People have to have a lot of patience.
But I think Mayor Nagin said it best when he said get your butts out of town. If you left in the west bank, if you left in the east bank, if you live uptown, areas that didn't get flooded last time, the warning is out there. People are saying take this seriously. The size of the storm, the punishing winds, could do a great deal of damage.
And once again, we're on I-10. We have a couple of cameras. I don't know how well they're working at this point but very soon we're going to be in gridlocked. So at that point, we're going to be locked in and be very easy to see. We're heading toward Baton Rouge. You heard nightmare stories about people trying to get up there and we're going to endure.
We'll check in with you throughout the morning and show you just how quickly we're moving or how slowly we're moving and the in next shot will be a little more stable. Back to you, Betty.
NGUYEN: Yes, we're looking at some live pictures coming in from our affiliate, WGNO of New Orleans. And you definitely do see the traffic there. And as Mayor Nagin said yesterday, these evacuations, they are mandatory. At 8:00 a.m., they start on the west bank, and then at noon, they start on the east bank.
So, Sean will be in the middle of that traffic and we'll be checking in with him very shortly.
HOLMES: And like you said there, we're keeping an eye on some of those live pictures. We've got several others actually we can show you here. We're keeping an eye on all of our affiliates. They're bringing us a lot of reports, video from all over the gulf coast. There you just saw a local weathercaster doing his weather report, informing his viewers.
And so, we are getting our help from them as well. Affiliate WGNO in New Orleans, as we just pointed out to this live shot even early in the morning, at 6:00 o'clock, people are heeding out as you see there. Not heavy traffic, but still, people are heeding those warnings and hopefully to get out of New Orleans. A complete evacuation of that city, 100 percent, ordered at this point.
NGUYEN: And we're also getting new information about Gustav and we want to get the latest now from our severe weather center because we understand Gustav is not as strong as it used to be. By afternoon yesterday, Reynolds, it was a category four, but it seems like it's been downgraded a little?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's dropped back to a category three. And there's a couple of reasons why. One of the reasons why is in encountering a little bit of shear coming in from north, vertical shear.
You will notice how the structure looks pretty good in the beginning but then you'll notice a little bit of some weak spots here in the convection. That's some of the dry air trying to get in. At the same time it has the interaction with the land. You notice there is a little bit of an eye that it kind of disburses quickly. As soon as this storm is away from its primary power source, that warm ocean water or the gulf water in this case, it will weaken a little bit.
But now, it's going to be moving over parts of the loop currents and there is the possibility that this storm could strengthen once again. Fluctuations in power with these tropical systems are never out of the question.
Take a look at this -- winds are currently at 125, gusting to about 145. It's moving to the northwest at 16 miles per hour. The latest forecast we have for you from the National Hurricane Center shows the storm is going to continue that northwesterly trajectory and doing so around 16 miles per hour for the time being but stops and starts and speed up and slow downs are expected with this storm.
The fluctuation I was telling you is expected to come later on into Monday around 2:00 a.m., with winds going right back up to about 145, they're going to continue onward. And I'd think around 2:00 o'clock, not 2:00 a.m. in the morning when the storm is going to be on shore, but it's going to be passing just to the southwest -- I'm thinking of New Orleans -- right around 2:00 in the afternoon maybe as a major hurricane -- and I'm thinking maybe around maybe a three or so -- when it comes on shore as a category three. Looks like it's going to past just to the southwest of New Orleans but still New Orleans is going to catch the brunt of some of the heaviest wind action and the heaviest waves and storm surge.
But then notice, the storm moves into central Louisiana and then into Wednesday and Thursday, very little movement as it's going to straddle the Louisiana and Texas border. Then we have an entirely different story where we go from a hurricane to the potential of a tremendous flooding situation where parts of Louisiana and Texas could be dealing not with several inches of rain but possibly several feet of precipitation. It could be a very, very rough situation in parts of the southern plains.
Let's send it right back to you guys. And, of course, the gulf coast -- no question about that.
NGUYEN: Yes, and it seems like people on all sides of this within that cone of uncertainty are definitely taking no chance. They're starting to evacuate.
WOLF: No question but we are starting to see a lot of the models coming to agreement that it is going to be affecting you have to think the Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana border. And, Betty, as we were talking before the show, with the storm that's hundreds of miles wide, you don't have to have a direct hit to cause some kind of damage. I mean, this is like a giant saw blade that's coming to the coast line. So -- I mean, many people, millions will be affected by the storm system, no question about it.
NGUYEN: And when you talk about those areas, it seems like just a repeat of the areas that were hit by Katrina.
WOLF: Oh, absolutely. I mean, long before this country was even a country, long before people were really settled in this area, this area has been affected by these kinds of storms for millions of years. I mean, wherever you have a warm body of water like this and you got this kind of land in proximity to that warm body of water, you have these tropical systems. This place is going to get battered over the years. That is certainly been the case here.
And I'll tell you, the season is not over yet. We still got through the rest of November and it may stretch into, say, December or even January. That happened, of course, in 2004 and 2005, no reason to think that it couldn't happen again this year.
NGUYEN: We just got to get through Gustav right now though.
WOLF: No question.
NGUYEN: One of these at a time. And then, of course, there is Hanna that's still churning and we'll talk about that a little bit later.
WOLF: Full play today.
HOLMES: Reynolds, we appreciate it. We'll see you again soon. We'll see you again often.
WOLF: You bet, guys.
HOLMES: Time is running out for people trying to fly out of New Orleans ahead of this hurricane. The airport is going to (ph) shut down with less than 12 hours away now.
NGUYEN: Right. Buses have been busy taking evacuees to the airport for those flights out.
And CNN's Don Lemon reports on the urgent effort to get people out of harm's way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Starting Saturday afternoon, they started bringing people here to an air postal facility right behind the airport. They started bringing people in on buses and came through in this loading dock area here and then they brought them through to what really is a make-shift airport with check-in and security and everything. They go there and they show identification.
Some of the people were upset about getting to an airport. They thought that they would be going to shelters in the state of Louisiana. Other people, most of them were happy to get on an airplane and just get out of here. Being from Louisiana, the weird thing was running in to people I know.
You got six lanes exactly the same thing as an airport. You basically set up an airport security system right here in the post office?
COL. "BULLETT" YOUNG, U.S. ARMY: That's correct. And the intent is that we screen all passengers before they board the airplane and so it's run just like an airport. Obviously, with the number of lanes and additional TSA personnel, Federal Air Marshal personnel, we're able to put a larger number of people.
LEMON: Are you packed to go out of town if you have to get on an airplane?
DEE BLAINE, EVACUEE: I'm not getting on an airplane. We were brought here under false pretense. We went to the center under the impression that bus transportation would be provided for us to go to a shelter within the state of Louisiana. When we get there, no one would tell us where we were going.
LEMON: Do you all know where you all are going?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir. We don't know where we're going at.
LEMON: You don't know where you're going?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we don't know where we're going.
LEMON: Any other planes taking off at the airport?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. There's a plane that I have positioned over here, are the ones that we're using. We've got the frontier aircraft. We've loaded it.
LEMON: That one is going out now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's going out now.
LEMON: And this is being loaded.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to load this one -- 168 passengers. LEMON: The weird part is that I grew up here and this is my cousin that I see in line getting on the airplane.
SANDRA HAMMOND, EVACUEE: Yes.
LEMON: Are you going to be all right?
HAMMOND: We'll be fine.
LEMON: What do you think about this? You're having to go to Arkansas now.
HAMMOND: Well, you know, it's a thing. I mean, it's a part of life. You know? So I'm just going to take it and just go with it.
MICHAEL DOREDANT, EVACUEE: Being here last time, I was here (ph) last time; I'm not going to be here this time. You know, but no, it's so much more organized. Everything has been laid out. I mean, everybody has been here and stuffs been there -- a huge difference.
LEMON: This is the 24-hour operation until they get as many people out of New Orleans as they can. The last people to get out will be the people working here. They're flying them to Dallas.
Also, people we're told where to drop off their pets before they got here to get on the airplanes. One person really didn't follow those orders and she had to leave her birds behind and we're told by the TSA agents that she cried when she had to leave her birds behind. They're going to try, try to find a place for these birds and then maybe get them back to her when she comes back to New Orleans.
That's the story here from the airport in New Orleans, Don Lemon, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: It's a really good look at what people are facing because you hear one thing like the woman said, you know, that they told us to come here, we were going to a shelter inside the state. And, of course, as you mentioned, I mean, it's not perfect and people are trying to get the plan in place but it does seem like they are somewhat organized.
HOLMES: We have still heard, no matter what, even that one lady and a couple of people have said, it is going better than they had it three years ago.
And like our Sean Callebs said yesterday, the bar wasn't that high anyway. So, anything would have been better. But still, for the most part, it is better organized.
NGUYEN: And speaking of getting out of the danger zone.
HOLMES: Yes, a lot of people are getting out of town and President Bush has declared states of emergency for four gulf coast states in the path of this massive hurricane. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: We have crews on the ground monitoring the situation with hurricane Gustav but we're also watching our affiliate coverage and what they are bringing to the local viewers as they prepare them for this -- what many are calling a monster of a storm.
Hurricane Gustav is an extremely dangerous category three storm. It's bolting towards the gulf coast. A couple of things that you want to stay tuned for -- an update from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. He's going to be in Louisiana today, assessing the situation.
Plus, we have stories and pictures from our local affiliates, as I mention, and you're watching them right now. They are along the gulf coast.
And, of course, CNN's Reynolds Wolf is tracking the storm in our hurricane headquarters.
HOLMES: Well, President Bush is heading to go FEMA headquarters this morning to get an update on the hurricane. The White House says he called the governors of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas to make sure they are getting all the federal help they need. Those are the four states right now that are most directly in Gustav's path.
The president has already declared states of emergencies in those locations and the official declaration is necessary to open the way for immediate federal assistance. Evacuation of the gulf coast is a priority today.
Mississippi's governor warns against taking anything for granted right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MISS. EMERGENCY MGMT. AGENCY)
GOV. HALEY BARBOUR, (R) MISSISSIPPI: It would not be unusual for this hurricane to turn a little bit to the east, right to us (ph). So, I don't think Mississippians take comfort that the tracks continue to show that the hurricane is likely to coming in on the central Louisiana coast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Greg Flynn is with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. He joins us now by phone.
Mr. Flynn, I appreciate your time. We'll pick on what the governor was just saying there. Are you having a tough time or is that a challenge kind of getting through people's heads -- yes this hurricane appears to be drifting more and to the west away from us but still you need to take this thing seriously?
GREG FLYNN, MISSISSIPPI EMERGENCY MGMT. AGENCY (through phone): Good morning, T.J. No, we're not really having that problem because, unfortunately, Mississippians went through this three years ago with Katrina. Governor Barbour have been trying to instill in everyone that just two days before landfall of Katrina, it was projected to hit Pensacola and then all of the sudden, Katrina took a big jump and moved closer to New Orleans, and of course, devastated the Mississippi gulf coast.
So, the folks down here, they're ready. The mandatory evacuations are going into place today, in Hancock and Harrison counties. And the school bus evacuations begin this morning at 7:30 to take people from the coast up to the Jackson area.
Right now, contraflow, people are actually taking the warnings because contraflow is under way. It started at 4:00 o'clock this morning into the state of Mississippi, out of Louisiana. We understand traffic is very heavy and at this point, our Mississippi Department of Transportation has said that Interstate 10 east into Alabama has been closed, and the traffic is being diverted on to a Mississippi highway and they're not letting folks go into Mobile because the traffic is just so heavy.
HOLMES: Well, Mr. Flynn, tell us -- how many people are we talking about in that immediate area, that danger zone, if you will, need to be leaving? Whether or not they are getting help with evacuations from the government or whether or not they're hopping in their own cars and driving out of town, how many people living in that area need to be getting out?
FLYNN: They're talking about several thousand. Basically, in the low-lying areas of Hancock and in Harrison County and anyone that is still living in temporary housing. You know, we still have, you know, close to 5,000 people still living in FEMA trailers, FEMA cottages. Anyone that's in those kind of temporary housing, that has been a mandatory evacuation that goes into effect today for all three coastal counties -- Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson counties.
And with landfall projected now or sometime, you know, tomorrow afternoon, we just want people to be getting out as soon as possible.
HOLMES: Well, it sounds like they are certainly heeding those warnings and like you said, they learned these lessons just three years ago, so they know this thing can turn on a dime and it's unpredictable, so they are not taking changes.
Greg Flynn, again, with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency -- sir, we appreciate your time, we know you're busy there. Good luck with the evacuations and thank you so much.
NGUYEN: Well, the evacuation of the gulf coast is under way and our Josh Levs, he's going to be showing you the routes out of the storm.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. We've got two big things coming up. We have the routes out of the storm but we also all remember from Katrina how important it is to take care of people who don't have cars. The routes for them is coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: (INAUDIBLE) turns toward the gulf coast. This is a powerful category three storm with 125-mile-per-hour winds.
Now, a couple of things that you want to stay tuned for right here on CNN. We have an update from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, that's just before he heads to Louisiana.
Also, stories and pictures from our affiliate stations which are along the gulf coast. And, of course, CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is tracking Gustav in our hurricane headquarters.
HOLMES: Well, at this point, if you live anywhere along the gulf coast, it doesn't matter what you do, just don't stay where you are. You need to get going.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. Our Josh Levs has some valuable information for everyone who needs to evacuate the hurricane zone. And, you know, it's not as simple as saying get in your car and leave because some folks don't have that luxury.
LEVS: That's right, exactly. I'm glad you've said because we're going to be looking at two fronts here. Obviously, I'm going to show you some of these contraflow maps, but I'm also going to point out to you some things on the touch screen on other side of me, for people who don't have cars.
Let's start off right here. This one over here, we will be able to show -- there you go. We will be able to show you what it is that can get you out of there if you are in a car. We have a contraflow map that we'll bring up for you here. But you know what -- there you go. Do we have it? OK. We do.
Let's close in right here if we can on this shot because I want people to understand depending on where you are, you should be able to access any one of these major routes out if you're in the Louisiana area. Contraflow basically means that all the roads are turned into one way.
Can we close in way on that? Let's do this. If you got over here in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles. OK, I don't think we can get that close.
Let's just go over here. It's going to be easier. Let's go this map right here on my left. Let's jump over here. This will show you that any given moment while you're traveling -- there you go that was the contraflow -- sorry for the confusion, lots of information this morning.
That -- let's just look at that for a moment. No matter where you are, you can follow those arrows and we are told from the ground that contraflow is relatively organized today and that's very helpful. You should on your way out of there. If you're not, get on your way out right now. Follow the arrows. They are color coordinated to make sure you're on the right path from your area and they do get you going. Now, let's close in on this map over here. This one over here is going to show you the projected path of the storm. Keep in mind, we don't know exactly where it's going to hit, we can't tell you exactly when, but we can tell you if you're in the danger zone. And it gets really broad as it goes across.
Now, Betty and I were just talking about this. You know, we keep hearing about contraflow, we keep hearing about driving out of the area. A lot of people don't have cars and that was one of the biggest problems with Katrina, people didn't have access to get out.
Let's go in right here now. This is available from the city of New Orleans government this morning and what they are doing is showing you where you can be picked up. Let's zoom in a little bit. No matter where you are. For example, if you're in New Orleans area at all, every single red mark is a place where you can catch buses this morning and they should be able to get you out, some way that is safe.
And what you can do is -- let's say you don't have access to the Internet, if anyone you do know, anyone, you know, you love has access to the Internet this morning, just go to the Web site for the city of New Orleans government. They'll tell you exactly where to be.
One more thing before we leave. I want to point out to you one reason that everyone here is so concerned about this. Clearly, it affects the critical region in our country. We're going to be looking throughout the morning at the major states.
We're also going to be looking at this. This right here will show you some of the key oil installations in the area. Keep in mind a lot of these are shut down but these oil platforms are very important and, obviously, this could have a serious economic impact on the entire country.
So, lots of information here. We're going to keep coming at you from this evacuation desk we're calling it this morning, we're going to help guide you no matter where you might be in that region to the safest route out. We'll have that for you in just a few minutes from now, guys.
NGUYEN: And regarding those oil rigs, a lot of these big companies move them further out in the deeper waters because that was one of the lessons that they learned from hurricane Katrina.
LEVS: It was and they're shut down. And they're hoping that they're safe. But we still can't know what kind of economic impact we might see today.
NGUYEN: I know Ali Velshi is out there. You spoke with him yesterday.
HOLMES: Yes, it is yesterday. He's out there doing some work (INAUDIBLE) to get everybody else. So, hey, we can sustain, you know, a couple of days of just shutting down that oil production but if there's damage at those oil rigs that is the problem. Then we'll see those prices spike back up. So, hopefully, they can sustain this time.
NGUYEN: And I remember, right after Katrina, the prices for gasoline shot way up.
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: And we'll be talking with Ali throughout the day, too. So, stay tuned for that. You know, people fleeing New Orleans and the gulf coast areas, they are leaving by the tens of thousands.
HOLMES: And so the question really for us, and really, for some of them even: Where exactly are they going? Who's going to be helping them? We'll get those answers from someone who is helping them with the Red Cross.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Good morning to you again, everyone. And welcome back. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
You know, the major story this morning, a powerful and dangerous storm is churning toward landfall and it could affect the price that you pay for gasoline. We're going to explain.
HOLMES: As we've been talking, hurricane Gustavo is bearing down on the gulf coast with New Orleans lying in the center of its path for the most part.
Several coastal communities have made evacuations mandatory. The west bank of New Orleans gets the order in about 90 minutes. The city and state are helping people leave there. They are offering doomsday- type warnings for those who think they can ride this thing out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, WWL)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: Anyone who decides to stay, I'll say it like I said before Katrina -- make sure you have an ax, because you will be carving your way or busting your way out of your attic to get on your roof with waters that you will be surrounded with in this event. So anybody who's thinking about staying, rethink it. Get out of town. This is not the one to play with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Absolutely not. You know, emergency teams in Texas, they're already on standby. In Houston, volunteers are boarding buses. Their destination? Any community Gustav may hit. Medical helicopters and ambulances, they're already on the go as well. And Houston's mayor offering some sound advice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL WHITE, HOUSTON: People need to be vigilant and there should be a reminder. There is other formations. If we're vigilant and if we don't - and if we're - we make sure that we are safe, rather than sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: You know, evacuees from New Orleans have been arriving in Tennessee. I want to show you some pictures with those passengers on a jet that arrived last night in Memphis. Now the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said yesterday that it expected at least 15 flights with about 200 passengers each. Other evacuees are headed to Texas. Now, the state is preparing to house up to 45,000 evacuees from New Orleans. Some will be taken to Red Cross shelters and speaking of, joining me now on the phone is Joe Becker of the American Red Cross. Actually, he is joining us live. Hello. Good to see you.
JOE BECKER, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Good morning.
NGUYEN: Good morning. I don't know how good it's going to be as we learn more about Gustav, but how prepared are you for what they're saying could be a monster of a storm?
BECKER: This is going to be a major event and we're ready, we believe. But it's just not in the four states in the gulf area. People are fleeing all across the country. And we need to be ready nationwide to receive them. We're already sheltering in eight states. We've got plenty of more room and we're asking people to leave now if you're in the threat area.
NGUYEN: And the first thing you said is we're ready, we believe. There is a little lit of a hesitation there. What are you worried about right now?
BECKER: I'm worried, mostly, about the people who think they can ride this out. I'm worried about people who take it upon themselves to not be ready to care for themselves. It's so important that people know where they're going to go, they have a plan and they know how to stay in touch with their other family members and they have an out of town contact that they're going to call. Are people ready to take care of themselves or are they waiting for someone to come and rescue me and take care of me from here. We need people to know that this is serious and this is important and they need to take action now.
NGUYEN: How many lessons have been learned from Katrina? Because I know you said there have been shelters set up, but are the people who are going to those shelters really prepared for what is happening? Are you seeing a large amount of cooperation this time around?
BECKER: We're seeing a lot of cooperation. We have about 50 shelters now that have received people in the four Gulf states. There's about another 500 ready to accept people and then, obviously, beyond the four Gulf states. We will be accepting people all over. We're ready on a very, very large scale. We're ready for what should happen but this is a major event and there's always certain uncertainty and great unknowns when you have an event of this scale.
NGUYEN: And because it is such a large storm, one thing to be ready for the short term, getting people into shelters but this could be something that you have on your hands for a long time to come, depending on the type of damage and how severe that is. Is the Red Cross prepared for that?
BECKER: We're going to be on this relief effort for weeks and months. What we're doing in these earliest hours today and tomorrow, we're simply giving people a safe place to be during the storm, an evacuation place where they can come and be out of harm's way. Once the storm passes and people are able to go back and see if they have a home or not, a lot of those evacuation centers will become shelters that will become home for people for weeks at a time until there is a place for them to go.
Once the storm passes you will also see all those hundreds of Red Cross teams and those Red Cross trucks driving through every neighborhood feeding people and giving them supplies, emotional support. That's going to be on a scale that's fairly amazing to watch in the days after the storm passes. As soon as the roads open, we'll be in the neighborhoods.
NGUYEN: All right. Joe Becker with the American Red Cross, who is definitely on the watch and preparing folks around the Gulf coast region for what is to come. Thank you for your time today. I know you've been very busy.
BECKER: Thank you.
NGUYEN: You know, meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is in the CNN severe weather center tracking Gustav. And as we look at the storm we hear the words from Mayor Nagin saying this is going to be a monster of a storm. And looking at the radar it looks like it's quite large. I mean, this is not just a skinny powerful storm. This is one that has a lot of width to it.
WOLF: Betty, let me put it to this way. If you could actually just pick up the storm and you can just plop it over parts of the southeastern U.S., this would completely cover the state of Louisiana.
NGUYEN: Really?
WOLF: And to give you an idea also of the expanse of the storm and viewers at home, to give you - just think clear and easy to think about, the center of the storm to the mouth of the Mississippi River is about 425 miles. That's about the distance of New York City. From New York to Cleveland, Ohio. And what's even more weird, is there are people along i-10 this morning that if they could look outside their car windows, look up and see some cloud cover that is part of the outflow from this storm.
NGUYEN: And it's not supposed to hit until, what, tomorrow afternoon?
WOLF: Looks like tomorrow afternoon.
NGUYEN: And we're already seeing it.
WOLF: Absolutely. But you know, as Ray may - Mayor Ray Nagin said, using his quote, people need to get their butt out of there. And the reason why is because the timing of the storm, it is going to speed up a little bit and may slow down.
The storms they tend to pulse in movement. They do fluctuate in their power and in their movements and it's something you really want to take heed and you want to go ahead and make those moves and get out of there now as opposed to waiting to the last minute when the roads get clustered. As it stands winds at 125 miles per hour, gusting to 145. It is moving northwest at around 16 miles an hour. Now, yesterday at this time this was a storm category 4. It is downgraded to a category 3. Now, as we take a look at the forecast, the National Hurricane Center, the movement is going to be the same. The power is going to fluctuate. As I mentioned, right now, category 3. As we get to early tomorrow morning, it is expected to interact with the loop current. The Gulf loop current which is spins right near the Yucatan and back to the Straits of Florida, very warm water, warm pocket and could strengthen into a category 4. Who knows. There's a chance it could even strengthen into a category 5.
Regardless, it is still expected to move very close to New Orleans, just to the southwest of the city, making landfall as we get into, say, early, I'd say early Monday afternoon and maybe around, say, 2:00, maybe 3:00. Then move on shore still as a category 1 storm and into 2:00 a.m. Tuesday and for Wednesday and Thursday, notice, Betty, very little movement as we go into Wednesday and into Thursday, moving in your home state of Texas as a depression, a huge rainmaker. Some places could be dealing with several feet of water before all is said and done.
NGUYEN: Even as far north as Shreveport?
WOLF: Absolutely. Because, what's going to happen is the storm system is going to carry a lot of water with it. The wind is going to die down but you have to remember all that moisture that's been coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. This thing could just sit there and just bomb out not as a wind maker but a rainmaker. Plenty of water coming down. You know, again, when the ground sets saturated, the water piles up, we could see several feet.
NGUYEN: So we have a number of cities -
WOLF: Absolutely.
NGUYEN: - in many states affected by this?
WOLF And remember, we have another storm to contend with.
NGUYEN: Hanna is her name?
WOLF: Hanna.
NGUYEN: All right. Let's deal with Gustav first -
WOLF: One at a time.
NGUYEN: And get to that in a second. WOLF: You bet.
NGUYEN: And speaking of Gustav, I want to tell you about this. I know you probably don't want to hear it, but it's a reality. Gas prices could go back up because of Hurricane Gustav. Thai's because oil companies are shutting down production in the Gulf coast. And analysts say a prolonged supply disruption could trigger a spike in prices. We did see that after Katrina. But officials say gas should be plentiful for evacuees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. HALEY BARBOUR (R), MISSISSIPPI: We're informed by the people that have oil and gasoline distribution, gasoline terminals that there is plenty of gas. Just you have the possibility that a particular station might run out or might have a long line where that happens, those stations will be able to get refilled and be back open in a matter of, depending on what time of day, maybe hours or maybe the next morning. But there is not a gasoline shortage. There is plenty of motor fuel in Mississippi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: All right. But let's put this in perspective for you. The Gulf coast accounts for about a quarter of all oil production here in the U.S. T.J..
HOLMES: Well, now, Gustav, we're talking about that storm for a good reason this morning. Talking a lot about it. But, still, some other important names, other important things to cover out there namely McCain and Obama. A lot going on out there on the campaign trail. We'll get you caught up on both of these high-gear campaigns and what these candidates are saying right about now. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Again, once again, this is the place to be if you want to stay updated about this Hurricane Gustav. It is barreling towards the U.S. specifically the Gulf Coast. In about an hour we expect to hear from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff just before he heads to Louisiana to give us an update what is happening.
Also, to help us out in covering the storm, we're keeping an eye on all of our affiliate TV stations along the Gulf Coast. There are WDSU and WVUE just some of the coverage they are doing right now and putting out to their viewers. We are certainly monitoring them and what they're putting out help us tell the story and bring this to our national audience as well.
And of course, our meteorologist, Reynolds Wolf has been on the storm for quite sometime and has been watching this and monitoring this. The end of last week and also over the weekend for us. So you can certainly depend on him and we will lean on him a lot on this date as this hurricane barrels towards the U.S.
Well, several Louisiana parishes are under or soon will be under mandatory evacuations orders. Now, you hear the word parish all the time. For the most part, other places around the country, other states, you have counties, essentially that is a parish there in Louisiana.
Now, here's a closer look at some of those affected areas. Now, we talk about the southeast. Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes. Those were under mandatory evacuation orders. Now, Mayor Nagin there has told people in New Orleans and Jefferson Parishes to be ready to leave. Now, he has ordered people on the west bank to leave first. On the west bank, essentially the west side of the Mississippi, to leave first. Those evacuation orders are going to place at 8:00 Central time and you have four hours to get out. Then at noon Central time, the East Bank, those folks are expected to be ordered to leave, also in the southwest, a couple of other mandatory orders are expected today in Cameron, Calcasieu parishes.
Now, we need to show you here exactly kind of what we're talking about here with these parishes, specifically, those are the other parishes I was talking about a little to the west of New Orleans. Now if we could come back here and we'll show you why the west bank is the concern right now. If we can go back to that other map. Here we go. Now, a lot of people can remember the lower ninth ward. Now, this is in Orleans parish but it is on the east side of the Mississippi. So consider maybe that area right about there. The lower ninth ward is where so much of that flooding and devastation took place. That is because the storm Katrina actually didn't take a direct hit onto New Orleans like a lot of people actually think it did. It hit just to the east side so a lot of the east side of New Orleans, the east bank, if you will, that got a lot of damage. That's where the lower ninth ward is.
Well, the storm this time has moved a little west of New Orleans. It has moved a little west of New Orleans. It has moved a little, and because of that, these areas on the West Bank now, Jefferson Parish, Orleans Parish as well, these two areas, these are the ones that have been ordered to get out already. So the first - this is the west side if you can make out the Mississippi River right through here.
If you see that right there. So the west side now, that is the area that has been told to get out now. so the storm is hitting in a totally different area this time around. That's why the west bank right now is the concern instead of the east bank of the Mississippi River. So, Betty, this storm is certainly doing something a little different than Katrina did and it's amazing to think that both sides now, the east and the west bank, certainly could be hit within three years by two major storms, pretty much this entire city of New Orleans hopefully will not be going through this once again.
NGUYEN: Hopefully not. But as Reynolds said this storm is as big as the state of Louisiana.
HOLMES: Can you imagine that? As big as the state.
NGUYEN: It's hard to imagine. So someone is definitely going to get hit within the state it seems like as this is on course right now. We will be watching it very closely. Thank you, T.J. You know, Hurricane Gustav is swirling in the gulf right now and we're watching the storm's path as it moves closer to the Gulf coast. Evacuations - they are in full swing. Thousands on the move this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: We are watching Hurricane Gustav very closely here at CNN. In fact, officials in Washington are watching it as well. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will be holding a news conference at 9:45 Eastern today. That's been pushed back one hour. Obviously, we're all getting more information on this storm, what many are describing as a monster of a storm and he will be updating us during that news conference. Again, it's going to be taking place at 9:45 this morning Eastern time at Andrews Air Force base. We're going to hear from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. So stay tuned for that and we'll bring it to you.
In the meantime, Hurricane Gustav was downgraded to a category 3 storm earlier this morning, but it is still carrying a powerful punch. A cat 3 storm has winds between 111 and 130 miles per hour. Coastal areas could see storm surges well over ten feet. Mobile homes, well they're expected to be destroyed in this type of a hurricane. And here is the big one. Low-lying escape routes could be washed out well before the storm arrives. That's why it's so important to heed the warnings when it comes to mandatory evacuation. So people are getting out. We're watching it. And we want to make sure that folks ho are watching us right now if they are still trying to decide there is really no decision to be made. It's time to go.
HOLMES: Yes. Go. That's all there is to it. No matter where you're going, just go north, go away, go east to west.
NGUYEN: Away from the Gulf coast.
HOLMES: Away from the Gulf coast. We just heard, kind of there from Betty and Reynolds explaining what a category 3 can do. It was a four a little while ago. I know you kind of used the word, pulsating, I guess it was as to how the storm is doing but what's the difference really? A three can do this to you and a four can do that to you. What's the difference?
WOLF: Well, basically, I mean, what you're talking is the Saffir-Simpson scale, very similar to the enhanced Fujima scale, you often hear when we talk about tornadoes. The difference is what has happened to the storm over the past couple of hours is we've seen some dry air begin to move in. And just for the sake of discussion, what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to step off. Let's keep this frame behind me but hey, we're all friends here, it's live TV. Let me walk over here for a moment, I'm going to back this up a little bit and show you - I want you to look and just take a good look at Gustav.
We're going to back up a few frames and notice that right here, right before it gets into Cuba. OK, I'm going to step back over here again. We understand that everything is in pretty good shape. You got a lot of convection here. you can see the eye really well formed. You have a lot of the, again, the bright pink and the reds. That indicates your highs, your coldest cloud tops.
So the storm is in pretty good shape here. Then, I'm going to step off for a moment. Again, you'll notice the storm. Keep watching it, step by step. It's going to cross right over parts of western Cuba, interacts and it begins to weaken a little bit. I want you notice, some of the highest points, the pinks and the reds. But notice a little bit farther to the north what you're seeing is a lot of white that's beginning to pop up.
When this happens, we refer to as dry air invection (ph). When that begins to move in, you'll notice part of the storm is beginning to sheer apart a little bit. Structure is so important with these kind of tropical systems. And because the structure is beginning to be damaged by some of these dry air coming in, some vertical sheer aloft, the winds have dropped, from 125 miles per hour, the latest update which came in moments ago shows winds have dropped to 120, gusting to 145. This is great news.
But still there's a few other things we've got to deal with, guys. One of those things is this thing we often refer to as the loop current, the Gulf loop current, which is a current of warm water. It comes right from the Caribbean northward right into the Yucatan channel and then it ends right through the straits of Florida. That warm band of water can be a real kicker for these kind of storms, kicker is giving it a big burst of power. So there's every reason to believe that this storm could pop up once against in intensity, maybe even a category 4 or maybe a low 5 as we get into the afternoon hours. Then we're going to watch it very carefully. Let's wrap it up and send it right back to you.
NGUYEN: All right. So this thing right now is just churning away. And the chances of it growing stronger are really pretty high.
WOLF: Absolutely. I mean, again, it's got that warm water, minimal sheer right now and some vertical sheer but we're going to see, as I told you and as you already know, you'll see fluctuations with the storm in its path and power until this thing makes landfall and possibly in the afternoon around 2:00.
NGUYEN: All right.
HOLMES: All right, Reynolds. Thank you.
WOLF: Thanks, guys.
NGUYEN: You know, St. Paul, Minnesota is a long way, of course from the Gulf coast but Hurricane Gustav could disrupt plans there.
HOLMES: Yes. Big plans, you might have heard of it, the Republican National Convention is supposed to be taking place. We'll explain how the storm could change that agenda.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: The presidential campaign trail runs through Ohio and Missouri today. And CNN is bringing you more of what the candidates are saying in their own words. John McCain is trying to help voters get to know his new running mate. Here's what he said about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin at a rally in Pennsylvania yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm running for president to make government stand on your side, not in your way. I spent the last few months looking for a running mate who can help me shake up Washington and stop the corruption and clean it up. And make it start working again for the people of America.
You know, I had a lot of good people to choose from, and I want to thank Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. By the way, my friend Mike Huckabee had the best line of all the debates that we had, all the many endless debates and the moderator said, Governor Huckabee, what would Jesus do? And Governor Huckabee said Jesus would be smart enough not to run for public office. How about that one?
But I can only choose one, as you know. And it's with great pride and gratitude I tell you I have found the right partner to help me stand up to those who have corrupted Washington and who were wish to go change it and they changed and they put power over principle and they put their interests before yours. I found someone who is accomplished, who has accomplished reform, who has accomplished the management of multi-billion dollar budgets. She fought against corruption and the failed politics of the past. She stuck government from wasting taxpayer's money on things they don't want or need. And when we in Congress decided to build a bridge in Alaska to nowhere for 233 million of your dollars, she said, we don't want it. If we need it, we'll build our own in Alaska. She's the one that stood up, that stood up to them.
She has executive experience and has shown great tenacity and skill tackling tough problems. She's reached across the aisle to republicans, democrats, independents, libertarians, vegetarians all of them. She has strong principles for fighting spirit. You know, my friends, this great governor grew up in a decent hard-working, middle class family. Her father was an elementary school teacher, her mother was the school secretary. And they thought her to care about others, work hard, stand up with courage for the things you believe in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, hello to you all. You are all watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. There you just heard John McCain speaking. We're going to hear a little bit from Barack Obama. He's actually bashing the Bush administration.
HOLMES: As well as John McCain. You know he's been tying those two together. This time they're batching him over the economy at a rally in Ohio yesterday. He said the country has gone off course over the last eight years. Here's a part of what he had to say in his own words. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The average family income since George Bush took office has gone down $2,000. When Bill Clinton was president, it went up $7,500. So that means that at the end of the month it's harder to pay the bills. Maybe you're tapping into savings or you can't save at all. For a while maybe you were taking out a home equity loan because that was the only way to make your budget balance. But then nobody was minding the store on Wall Street as they were giving out predatory loans and deceptive mortgage practices were taking place all across the country. Now, suddenly you got a full blown housing crisis, you've got the greatest level of foreclosures since the Great Depression. And even if you're still in your home, you're seeing your home values plummet.
Credit cards may be maxed out. If you get sick, you may end up being bankrupt. And there are young people all across America who got the grades and the will to go to college but just don't have the money.
Now all of this is burden enough. High gas prices, high food prices, home heating bills on the way as winter comes.
All that is worrisome enough, but what I think is really making people so intently interested in this campaign is: What does it mean for the next generation, what does it mean for the next generation? Are we going to be able to leave an America that is more unified and more prosperous than the one we inherited from our parents and our grandparents because that is the essence of America? That's what I talked about on Thursday night -- the American promise.
It's not just the promise that we make to ourselves. It's a promise that we make to our kids and our grandkids that says that if you work hard, you will succeed. If you work hard, you can raise your own family. If you work hard, then not only will you succeed, but America will succeed. That's what we're fighting for. That's what's at risk and that's why I'm running for president of the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. We're going to turn back now to our other major story of the day, the major story of the day really, hurricane Gustav, now, a category three, dropped from a category four but don't let that fool you. Evacuations are under way as this thing spins in the gulf coast. It's heading north, heading pretty much directly towards New Orleans.
What you're seeing is a live look of all our affiliates, we're keeping and eye on our CNN crews, the affiliates, and, of course, our meteorologist, Reynolds Wolf, helping us tell this story. We're also awaiting a conference that's going to be coming to us from officials in Jefferson Parish on what's happening in Louisiana.
Jefferson Parish is one of those that the Mayor Nagin says that needs to be evacuated. Those evacuations at 8:00 central time, have been ordered. People have four hours to get out. And then on the east bank, they are told to get out, those evacuations mandatory starting at noon and they will have four hours as well.
We're also awaiting a press conference from Secretary Chertoff. Again, this right here you're just looking at a live picture, one of the reporters obviously there in the room. Just to let you know what you're looking at here. But we're expecting another press conference from Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff around 9:45 Eastern Time before he heads to Louisiana.
NGUYEN: A lot is going on this morning. Also, this, with no doubt, an element of fear along the gulf coast. Tens of thousands are heeding that call to evacuate. And right now, evacuation buses are picking up people around New Orleans, all of this as hurricane Gustav moves closer.
HOLMES: And New Orleans looking like it will soon be in the center of that storm. Mayor Nagin, again, he is not mincing words, he is not being nice. He is not trying to scare you but maybe he is a little bit. Maybe that will help. Here's what he's talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, WWL)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: You need to be scared, you need to be concerned, and you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, we are following so many avenues of this story this morning.
You see our Susan Roesgen there. She's at children's hospital in New Orleans. The people there are actually staying put.
And on the other side of your screen there, you see in a vehicle, that's our Sean Callebs. He is heading out of town, not moving too quickly. He is on I-10 heading out where a lot of people are doing the same thing. We'll check in with him again here in just a second.
We will start with Susan Roesgen at children's hospital in New Orleans and the situation there.
Help us understand the logic here and the reasoning why this time around they are having some people at the hospital stay where they are.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely, T.J. They don't plan to evacuate. They say that during Katrina, they would have done much better if they had had some equipment that they needed. They say they are prepared, though they have a heliport on the second story if they need to get the patients out quickly. We're going to be talking more about children's hospital later this morning.
But right now, New Orleans is starting to look like a ghost town. People are listening to Mayor Nagin. They are getting out. Nobody wants to be stranded here. Nobody wants a repeat of Katrina. And nobody wants to be here when Gustav blows in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA STIEFFEL, EVACUATING CITY: (INAUDIBLE) working this over upstairs, just some things we can't replace.
ROESGEN (voice-over): Every time a hurricane comes close, the Stieffel family moves a lot of things upstairs. And then they get out.
But this time, 12-year-old Dalton is writing a prayer on his bedroom wall.
DALTON STIEFFEL, EVACUATING CITY: Bless me O Lord; please help this stuff to go away.
ROESGEN: That's the prayer of a lot of people here, thousands who have no way to get out on their own. Instead of leaving them to fend for themselves as the city did during hurricane Katrina, for Gustav, the city brought the poor and the desperate to the bus and train station to register for a free ride out of town.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Water. Who needs water?
ROESGEN: The trouble was, a computer glitch slowed the registration to a crawl while hundreds of people waited in line outside.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's horrible, very horrible. I have a pregnant sister with two kids with our grandma out here who don't need to be behind this time.
ROESGEN: Eventually, the city stopped the registration. And the first train with 1,500 people was on its way to safety in Memphis.
During Katrina, nine feet of water flooded this house. The Stieffel family rebuilt it with an optimism that is uniquely New Orleans.
(on camera): If a hurricane this year wiped you out again, will you come back again and do this all over?
D. STIEFFEL: We would like to say we would. Actually, yes, we will.
ROESGEN (voice-over): It may sound unthinkable if you live anywhere else, but New Orleanians love this city with such passion they won't let it go of it without a fight and a prayer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: Now, that family was planning yesterday to go to Birmingham, Alabama, that's to the east of New Orleans because the storm yesterday was tracking more to the west. Now, people here really don't know which way to go except north, as far away as they can get, because the mayor is saying that with the force of this hurricane, if it comes in as a four or five hurricane, in Baton Rouge, which is some 80 miles away to the north and northwest that even in Baton Rouge, people there would feel 100-mile-an-hour winds. So people just generally want to get out of here and go north -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, one more thing here before we let you go. We've been hearing this word and tossing around a lot actually -- mandatory evacuations. Help us understand exactly what that means -- does that mean they can come and force you to get out? What is mandatory?
ROESGEN: You know, you'd think that mandatory meant mandatory but actually it doesn't. It just means that anybody who chooses to stay accepts responsibility for his or her own personal safety and should not expect any government assistance.
They can't send the cops around or rouse people out of their homes and send them away. They simply are going to call for this mandatory evacuation, they're saying get out. We'll help you get out. But if can't get out on your own, but if you decide to stay, you are on your own -- T.J.
HOLMES: He made that clear at that press conference. Susan Roesgen for us there -- we appreciate and certainly appreciate you explaining that mandatory part for us. Thank you so much.
NGUYEN: Yes, Mayor Nagin said there's not going to be any city services, no emergency services. So, if you decide to stay, like Susan said, you are on your own without a doubt.
Louisiana is trying something new, though, to get people out of the coastal areas. It's called contraflow. And what it means is that all highways now only go in one direction, which is away from the coast.
Our Sean Callebs is on the road this morning to show us what it's like trying to get out of New Orleans.
And that mandatory evacuation takes effect 8:00 a.m. local time there, not very far from now. So, are you seeing those roadways really start to get packed?
CALLEBS: Yes, very much so, Betty. We are on Interstate 10, going west out of town up toward Baton Rouge. We've been on the road about an hour and 20 minutes.
And right now, we are at the airport. Anybody who's been to New Orleans knows that's usually about a 15-minute ride. So it is bumper to bumper. People are heeding the warnings, they're heeding that plea. But things are going extremely slowly.
I have to tell you, though, we've been watching people all around us this morning and everybody seems to be holding up pretty well. They know it's going to be difficult. They know it's going to take a long time. But people are showing a great deal of patience.
It's been interesting trying to watch the people in the various cars around us and what they're doing to stay occupied and what's going to be a nightmare's drive up toward Baton Rouge. We've seen people with video, kids watching in the backseat, a lot of books. We saw a lot of people on the phones. People with a lot of drinks. And I'm here on the car, our photographer, Ken Philips (ph) is here, Ken...
NGUYEN: I have to interrupt you right now because a press conference is taking place right now in Jefferson Parish, one of the cities that they're going to have to evacuate. Let's take a listen.
AARON BROUSSARD, PRES., JEFFERSON PASRISH, LA.: But we don't have homes that were built to withstand these types of threats at this type of level. Therefore, I am announcing at this time for a mandatory evacuation of the east bank that would begin at noon today. This would be in commensurate parallel course with the evacuation of New Orleans, mandatory evacuation, that will also begin at noon today.
The mandatory evacuation for the west bank will continue on schedule at 8:00 o'clock a.m. this morning. The mandatory evacuation for the west bank will begin at 12:00 o'clock today.
Let's talk about the repercussions of a mandatory evacuation since none have been called before. The mandatory evacuation carries with it a mandatory curfew which acts a lot like home incarceration of a type. Once mandatory evacuation is called for and it is not obeyed, it means that you are totally on your own in regards to all resources to sustain life.
Count on no parish or state services. None will be provided. You will be completely on your own. You are likely to be without power. You are likely to be without water. You are likely to be without a sanitary condition. You are likely to be in a neighborhood that will have downed power lines and downed trees. Your house may be damaged and you're still in it.
But, if you leave that home, you will be treated as a suspicious person by the police. We will be very aggressive in the way that our police force and I'll have the sheriff's office address that in a moment to echo what I'm saying. We'll be very aggressive in regards to the way that people will be approached in the streets or in cars once this mandatory evacuation curfew is in place.
People of the east bank during the voluntary evacuation of Katrina, our best records indicated that over 85 percent of the people on the east bank in Katrina left, over 85 percent. That meant that a huge amount of our east bank population used good common sense in getting out of harm's way on a voluntary basis.
I need that same logical approach from our east bankers this time in regards to this oncoming threat, and I need you to please get out of town at your earliest convenience beginning at noon today. This will be no place to be with the effects of this storm, all the things that I described earlier -- lack of electricity, lack of water, lack of resources, lack of medical capabilities, a lot of our hospitals will be at minimum staffs. Some of our hospitals, particularly on the west bank -- we just learned this morning -- will be closed due to complications of electrical outlets being too close to ground level.
We are going to be strapped. Just to sustain what we need in our central services, we need you out of harm's way to allow us to do what we need to do. We need you to leave and we need you to leave today.
I know that it's going to be a difficult choice. Many on the east bank will be leaving homes that have been renovated. They'll be leaving a lot of material things that they have bought since Katrina that they cherish. I know there's an attraction to stay in and trying to protect your house and your resources.
I need you to have the courage to disconnect yourself from your material things, disconnect yourself from the mindset that somehow you staying will allow you to better protect your home, it will not. You cannot protect yourself against what Mother Nature is going to throw at us.
There are two things that we can do to protect your property when you're gone. We can have the most aggressive law enforcement presence in your area -- both law enforcement and military combining to protect your properties when you're gone. Also, for the first time, we will have our safe houses in place, our pump operators will stay on site, on duty, in the pump stations or in the safe houses, continuing to pump that water, whatever falls, continuing to pump that water.
So we are dedicated to keeping your houses dry and we're dedicated to keep the intruders out of your house.
Knowing those two things please, again, disconnect yourself from any impulse to stay and have the courage to leave. About leaving, public assistance evacuation is going to be extended until noon today. It was supposed to end at 8:00 a.m. This is good news for those people in Jefferson Parish that have yet to evacuate through public assistance.
On the way over here I passed the Alario Center and one of the best sites I saw so far this morning was a bus load of Jefferson Parish residents pulling out of the Alario Center at predawn, heading to a safe haven. People are still getting by buses on the east bank and the west bank on our public bus routes. You can take one suitcase, you could take your pet in a carrier cage, you can go by public transport to the Alario Center on the west bank, to the Yenni Center on the east bank, and we will take you and your pet to a safe haven.
Please take advantage of these precious extra hours now that you know that mandatory evacuation has called for the whole parish. Let that be your signal. So, please get to one of those two facilities and evacuate to a safe haven.
I'd now like a representative from Newell Normand's office, Mr. Fortunato, to step forward and talk about the enforcement that we're going to put in the streets for this mandatory evacuation on the east bank.
JOHN FORTUNATO, JEFFERSON PARISH SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Thank you, Mr. President.
Just to reiterate a little bit of what the Sheriff Newell Normand said yesterday. Under no circumstances where we tolerate looters. We will make certain that we'll do our best that once the curfew is put in place that everyone will be challenged. We will stop you. The president has asked everyone to leave the parish. There is no reason at this point you should be here. So thank you.
BROUSSARD: Thank you, Mr. Fortunato. We have representatives, as you see here today, both at the state level. We have several senators. We have state representatives. We have our councilmen at large.
I'd like to turn over for remarks as we did last night. We want people to see faces that they know and they trust to echo the sentiment of the need for people on the east bank to leave today. I'll ask our council chairman John Young to step forward, followed by our councilman at large Tommy Capella to begin. Chairman Young?
JOHN YOUNG, COUNCIL CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. President.
As the president has said, this is a very, very serious storm. We should not look Katrina as an example because this storm is coming at a different path. It's projected to be much more severe than Katrina especially on the west bank. The west bank survived Katrina with very large storm surge. As projected on the present path, that's not the case. Certainly on the east bank we have some issues as well.
And, again, it is -- the prudent thing to do is to leave and to leave now. We will protect your homes. We will protect them by pumping. We will also protect them with the sheriff's office and our six municipal police departments.
Also, I'd like to emphasize it's not so much surviving the storm but it's surviving the aftermath of the storm, as we found with Katrina. You will not have power, you will not have water, you will not have sewage. You won't be able to go to the grocery store and buy food. There will be downed trees, downed power lines, there will be toxic water in the streets if the water comes up. It is just not a place that you're accustomed to being in and you will not have the creature comforts that we have grown accustomed to.
So, again, I would urge everyone to please leave. We will be here to protect your property. The sheriff's office and our police departments will be patrolling. We'll be enforcing the curfew. And we are going to prepare for the worst and hope and pray for the best. Thank you very much and may God bless us all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president and the chairman said it very well.
NGUYEN: OK. We have been listening to officials there in Jefferson Parish, also, the parish president, Aaron Broussard, talking about the importance of these evacuations today on both the east and west banks. So, right now, we understand that at the top of the hour, 9:00 o'clock Eastern, 8:00 a.m. Central Time, the west bank will be under mandatory evacuation. Then at noon Central Time, the east bank will be under mandatory evacuation.
So, for those who decide to stay, a curfew is going to be in effect. And this as he described is essentially a home incarceration because, not only will you not have city services, you won't have emergency service, you're completely on your own without power, and water, and whatnot. But if you venture outside your home he says, quote, "You will be treated as a suspicious person." So, they're not playing around with this storm. And they want to make sure that people get out and if you decide to stay, then that is up to you and you take your own risk.
HOLMES: And, this is different from last night, as we've been talking about. The east and west bank, they're going -- certainly you've been hearing a lot about that this morning -- but the west bank now, essentially the west side of the Mississippi, the Mississippi split through New Orleans pretty much, but the west side is what scathed relatively unscathed from Katrina because Katrina hit on the other side. This time, this storm is coming, Reynolds, on the other side. There it is again here.
But, Reynolds, I know you can illustrate this a little better. But the storm is coming on the different side, if you will, of New Orleans than Katrina did. So the west bank there in New Orleans is the side that's really under the greatest threat now.
WOLF: Oh, you're absolutely right. I mean, what you have is -- we were talking about that earlier. I mean, think of it as a prize fighter, a prize fighter with the really strong, a really good right hook.
Well, if I'm a prize fighter and I've got a big right hook and this storm will actually spinning a little bit to, say, it's moving in counterclockwise fashion, if the storm happens to be on this side of New Orleans, well, it's like New Orleans would be hit by the fist of this storm so to speak. As opposed to last time, the storm passed much farther to the east.
So it didn't catch the full brunt of it. This time, the storm possibly is moving to the west. So, it's going to catch the heaviest rainfall, the strongest wind gust, the highest storm surge, and all what you don't (ph) want to deal with in those kind of areas.
I'm going to show you something. We're going to go back in time. This is one of the earlier frames that we're showing in the last half hour. How there was some dry air advection that was moving into parts of the storm, weakening in a little bit. Winds dropping to 120 miles per hour sustained.
When you have dry air advection, it's kind of like think of a wagon wheel. Back in the old west wherein the scenery you have the cog with the thing (ph) you have the spokes that run out. Well, if you have dry air coming in, it's like getting that wheel and knocking out some of the spokes. The wheel is not quite as strong. Now, what I'm going to do is step off and show you some of the latest frames. And unfortunately it does not look. Take a look at what I'm talking about. We put it into motion and here you go. You'll notice that big dry area is now beginning to fill in with more convection, which gives you an idea that the storm is now moving into the gulf loop current. That warm batch of water.
Here you have, it is north of the Yucatan, to the northwest of Cuba. And as it's getting that warm water, it's beginning to intensify, again, your center of circulation right about here. I would not be surprised when the next update comes up, that would be around 11:00 o'clock Eastern Time, that we see stronger wind gusts, winds topping, say, 100, and say, well, possibly going up to 125, maybe 130.
Very quickly let me show you the path we have from the National Hurricane Center. As it stands, the storm, although weaker, is still a major hurricane, category three. If you put it in motion, you'll notice it is forecast to regain some power going to say, a cat four as we get into 2:00 a.m. on Monday. Winds to 145 miles per hour, possibly making some landfall into the area, I'd say, just the southwest of New Orleans.
But keep in mind, even though when the eye comes ashore, places like New Orleans are going to be dealing with that heavy rain, the storm surge, the strong winds long before the storm comes on shore and it will begin to die out a little bit but still a huge maker for parts of Texas and Louisiana into Wednesday and Thursday.
We've got a lot of information. We're going to be sharing them with you all morning long. But for now, let's get a little bit of a breather and send it back to you guys at the news desk.
NGUYEN: Yes, because we haven't even begun to talk about Hannah which is coming.
WOLF: Oh, you bet.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet, guys.
NGUYEN: OK. So, had you heard of Sarah Palin before Friday? Some people have been saying for a long time that the Alaska governor would make a good running mate for John McCain.
HOLMES: Yes, who are those people and what did they know that nobody else did?
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