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CNN Live Sunday

Aftermath of Rita

Aired September 26, 2005 - 14:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Home is where the heartbreak is. This is amateur video of floodwaters swallowing a home and community in southern Louisiana. Today the damage is tallied and the missing are sought.
And good afternoon everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Welcome to an extended edition of CNN LIVE SUNDAY with continuing coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.

Let's begin with an up to the minute assessment across the region. We should tell you that flooding extends into Texas as well. And the governor tells CNN that despite an estimated $8 billion in damage, there has not been a single death reported since Rita charged ashore.

Traffic is flowing back into Houston, a far cry from the clogged roads that plagued the evacuation. The state implemented a voluntary program that's allowing evacuees return in stages.

Some 1.5 million homes and businesses are without power in four states. Utility companies say it could take a month to fully restore electricity.

Oil refineries mostly have been spared and production could return very soon. That could well prevent a much feared spike in gas and diesel prices. CNN has reporters positioned all along the Texas and Louisiana coast this afternoon. They will be joining us live throughout the hour.

Let's begin in southern Louisiana where a search and rescue mission is being waged by air and sea. That sea, of course, is the floodwaters that have swallowed many communities. Crews are manning helicopters and boats to search for people believed to be stranded by floodwaters. Let's get the latest from Louisiana's Vermillion Parish, and CNN's Ed Lavandara. Hi, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.

Well, there's some good news we can pass along now. We just finished speaking with one of the fish and wildlife officials who is heading up the boat search throughout the floodwaters. And he tells us that it's been a very slow morning spoke with you have the fish and wildlife officials heading up the boat search through the floodwaters. He tells us it's a slow morning. They are getting very few calls from people who need help. And that is a good sign. They are starting to really get the sense that perhaps they have rescued all of the people, or most of the people that they needed to rescue. And also the officials here in this parish also tell us that there have been zero confirmed deaths. But however, the search and rescue mission does continue. You can you see here behind me the helicopters that have been flying from here doing the aerial searches. They have actually been targeting specific areas, based on GPS coordinates and calls that have come in to the emergency centers here to conduct they're searches. So, they are trying not spend too much time up in the air, just targeting what they need to.

It was a harrowing couple of hours here yesterday morning when just before sunrise the floodwaters started to come up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some were in the attic. Some were on top of the roofs. This water came up early this morning from forward to 7:00 the storm surge came in over the roads, over levees, and into people's homes and they just had no place to go. They were trapped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: That was CNN's Ed Lavandera. We interrupted him, because we want to take you now to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where a short time ago the president made comments alongside the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco. The president obviously getting an update from FEMA officials on the ground there. The Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen and other local government officials, the president there, as you can see, touring one of the facilities on the ground there in Baton Rouge. Let's listen in to the president.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The governor and I just got briefed by Admiral Allen on the progress here in Louisiana. There's still assessment on the damage of Hurricane Rita.

One of the things that is important for the citizens of this state to do is to listen to the governor about when it is OK to return back to your homes.

I know a lot of people want to get back home. It's important there be an orderly process, important there be an assessment done of infrastructure. And it's important for the people of the affected areas of Louisiana to listen carefully to the governor and local authorities about the proper timing of return home.

We also got briefed on the levees in New Orleans. There is flooding, obviously, in the Ninth Ward. The Corps of Engineers gave us a briefing about rebuilding, repairing levees and then once again, pumping the water out of that part of New Orleans. It's -- I would say it's an optimistic appraisal in the sense that work has started now and they can start to -- they are draining that part of the city, again.

But I am here to thank the people in the operations center for their hard work and dedication to helping the people of Louisiana recover from a second major storm in a very quick period of time. Governor, thank you for your hospitality again. I know you have been through a lot. And I know the people of this state have been through a lot. We ask for God's blessing on them and their families. Thank you.

GOV. KATHLEEN BLACO, LOUISIANA: Well, we want to welcome you back. I am sorry we brought you back under another stressful event. But we do appreciate your support. And I do want to tell you how much we appreciated watching all of the integrated forces at work as one.

And as we talked, I know that it was possible to do it quickly and to move in as one with federal, state and local folks working all together. We talked about what happens next year and how quickly we could marshal the right kinds of forces again.

And I think that together we are going to work out some very important plans that citizens of the United States could feel will work effectively and efficiently.

BUSH: Thank you.

BLANCO: Thank you.

BUSH: Thank you all.

HARRIS: And there you have it, comments just a short time ago from the president and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. The president being briefed by Governor Blanco and officials on the ground with FEMA, and the Vice Admiral Thad Allen who is the man at the center of the FEMA effort on the ground in Louisiana and of course also along the Texas coast as well.

President Bush thanking people in that operation center that you see there for their efforts over the past few weeks. And the president was also briefed, he mentioned just a moment ago, on the flooding that has returned to the Ninth Ward in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.

We want to get back to now to CNN's Ed Lavandera. And Ed, share with us again some of that good news you were talking about just a few moments ago about the situation on the ground there.

LAVANDERA: Thanks Tony. Well, we are starting to hear from more officials here. As they have been sending out the helicopters and many of the boat mission out into the flood waters. And they are starting to come back. That first wave of people who have gone out are telling us that the flood waters are starting to go down.

They are still technically in what they describe as a search and rescue mission. But it appears that perhaps in the next couple of hours, that might be winding down. we Are getting indications from folks here on the ground that perhaps all of the people that need to be rescued have been rescued at this point. In fact, they says that they're probably going to go into what they're calling engineering mode, which is start surveying the road damage and all of the other arteries that account for how people get around in this area. But we also wanted to show you the incredible home video that was taken by one of the residents just south of here in the Abbeyville area who woke up yesterday morning, and in just a couple of hours his home was taken over by the floodwaters. He described it when he first walked outside, that it looked like the ground was moving and then just a few hours later, the water started rushing into his house through the windows. Eventually, the water got so high, it was 9 to 10 feet high.

He made his way into the attic and took a shotgun and blew a hole through the roof to get himself outside. And he was later rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.

One thing is to hear people describe what it is like to be in these flood situations, another thing I think is to watch those incredible images. It was fascinating to see how quickly the water kind of took over this man's home.

HARRIS: It really is. OK. CNN's Ed Lavandera. Ed, thank you.

Let's check in now in Texas where earlier today, Governor Rick Perry took a helicopter tour of his state's damage. He spoke with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on the early damage estimates and the federal recover in his state's recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK PERRY, TEXAS: We have seen some numbers from our homeland security and our emergency management folks that are well up over $8 billion. So again, that's preliminary damage. And our expectation is that our congressional delegations, and the administration will pay fully the cost of this. And, you know, Texas has already been impacted in a rather substantial economic way with Katrina. And the great job that Texans opened their hearts, and their arms, and their homes, and their pocketbooks.

So our expectation is that the federal government will be generous, and appropriately so, with Texas, with the Katrina and the Rita impact on our state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Perry says there have no deaths reported since Rita hit his state. He calls that, quote, "a real blessing."

Well, one of the more pressing issues right now is the return of evacuees. Traffic has been flowing well into Houston. That's a welcome contrast to the nightmarish gridlock that marred the exodus. But caution and patients are the watch words of the day. Here's CNN national correspondent Bob Franken in Houston.

Hi, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Tony.

And yes, it is certainly flowing better inbound than it did outbound. There are some traffic jams throughout the area, but there always are on highways. The fact is is that an awful lot of people are just flat ignoring the phased entry plan that officials are really asking them to follow. People are, for the most part, just deciding to come into Houston. And thus far they've been able to do it. Police officials are just shrugging their shoulders. They have no plan to enforce this three-day return.

Now, the city is delaying the opening of schools. A lot of businesses are being asked not to call back their employees, although the mayor said in a news conference this morning that he wants the people who work in filling stations, such as convenience stores, actual filling stations, people who work as jobbers, they need to get on the job to start distributing the gasoline that so many people need. There still are some lines at gas stations, although the resourceful driver is able to find that badly need petroleum to make the drive back.

Houston, of course, did not get the kind of hit from the hurricane that the other communities have gotten, leaving the mayor to express his feelings this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL WHITE, HOUSTON: I mean, obviously a sigh of relief that the nation's fourth largest city didn't see the suffering that was inflicted on our brothers and sisters in Lake Charles and Western Louisiana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And as a matter of fact, Houston fared so well from the storm, even with problems like power out for about 300,000 people so far, there are enough resources that the city has that it is sending some of them to help in Lake Charles and other places east that got hit harder -- Tony.

HARRIS: Bob, thank you for us. Bob, thank you.

And words of patience are also echoing in New Orleans. Many neighborhoods there are uninhabitable, and some areas are newly flooded by Hurricane Rita. The man in charge of the federal disaster effort in the city says the return of evacuees must be phased in cautiously. CNN's Wolf Blitzer spoke to Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICE ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, U.S. COAST GUARD: The first two steps, having the businessman come back in and reenter the west bank is not problematic at this time. What there needs to be is a protocol and a way to have the remaining citizens of New Orleans come back in, take a look at their houses, get a sense for the type of damage that has occurred and to think of next steps after that.

In some cases, these people are going to find that their houses are completely destroyed and are uninhabitable. And just going in and understand that allows us to understand what the next steps are. But the steps following the business district and the west bank don't have dates attached to them right now. And they're based on setting the conditions for reentry

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Allen says any so-called repopulation of the city also must take into account its impact on another evacuation in the event of another storm or levee failure.

Emergency teams got to work just after dawn in Lake Charles, Louisiana where some of the most extensive damage is being reported. The storm pealed off roofs, flattened some buildings and unleashed widespread flooding across much of the community. CNN's Jason Carroll is in Lake Charles with more for us -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And hello to you, Tony. In fact, this was one of the spots that was flooded just yesterday. Obviously, we are able to stand here today, so that's encouraging news for some of the folks here that the floodwater has receded in some areas. And that's also encouraging news for the emergency crews, that way they can get out and get a chance to assess a lot of the damage that Lake Charles sustained during Hurricane Rita.

We had a chance to sort of patrol the town. And what we saw was a lot of what you have been hearing, a lot of those downed trees and power lines, structural damage to homes, to businesses. In fact, downtown Lake Charles, one of the businesses that was badly damaged, of all places, was the Allstate Insurance Company. That building -- that business badly damaged, as well.

Another area that we saw was south of here about 20 minutes, that was at Lake Charles Regional Airport. The main terminal there. The roof caved in. Structural damage in several of the buildings there. So it will be a while before that's up and operating, again.

But, again, the encouraging news is that much of the floodwater has receded. And that's good news to some of the people out here, people like Brian Reddin. He had an opportunity to finally go home and assess the damage there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN REDDIN, LAKE CHARLES RESIDENT: As you look inside the floors are all muddy. I mean, here's a waterline, there's a waterline. I never thought it could get this bad. I mean, this is a lot worse than I ever thought.

Well, that's where the couch was here. And the light was on that stand. Of course, that's the water level, that where it came up to here.

Here we are at oceanfront view. This was -- we had some looters start hitting yesterday morning. And we don't really tolerate looters, so that's just something we believe in. We are not going to tolerate it. It's terrible. Like I said, if you didn't get hit by the water, you got hit by the winds. I mean, I just can't tell you how many hundreds of homes are damaged because of trees going right through them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Water and wind, that is definitely the story here in Lake Charles. Reddin says he bought that home, located actually just a few minutes from where we're standing, bought that home about two years ago. He did not have flood insurance. And now he's going to be just like the thousands upon thousands of other people now left homeless because of a hurricane -- Tony.

HARRIS: Jason, just a kick request question. Is the damage that you are seeing about what you expected? I remember talking to you in the wee hours of the morning, shortly after the storm made land fall, and you were reporting debris flying around your location in the corridor in a hospital, as I remember. Is the damage you are seeing about what you expected?

CARROLL: Well, I like to consider myself -- I am somewhat of an optimist. So, in terms of when I got out there and started looking around, I did see some things that surprised me.

But it's about what I expected. We heard, as you know, in those very late hours we heard a lot of things breaking up out there, but it was too dark to see exactly what was breaking up. Now we know probably in our area it was just those downed trees and buildings that were just taking a heavy pounding from Hurricane Rita -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. CNN's Jason Carroll for us. Jason, thank you.

Fleeing from a storm not once, but twice. One family's story of survival as it copes with the aftermath of Hurricane Rita and Katrina.

And draining New Orleans for a second time, just how long will it take? We'll have a live report straight ahead.

Plus, a briefing from the acting FEMA director. We'll bring it to you live when it happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Northeast of Houston, hurricane-related damage has raised fears for the Lake Livingston Dam on the Trinity River. Right now, officials are releasing water from the lake, up to 100,000 cubic feet will be released each second for the next several days. Now downstream, in the town of Liberty, city officials say up to 500 people will be told to leave their homes because of the threat of flooding.

So the system that made land fall as Hurricane Rita is spreading heavy rain as it continues it's push inland. Let's get the very latest now from meteorologist Brad Huffines. Brad, good afternoon.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: On the run from one hurricane and slammed by another, Quinn Jones and his wife and baby fled New Orleans just before Hurricane Katrina hit. They had been staying with his parents in Lake Charles. Now they are dealing with Hurricane Rita's aftermath. Quinn and his father Bob are with us now from the storm battered city in southwestern Louisiana. Good to see you both.

QUINN JONES, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: Good to see you.

HARRIS: Well, you look strong. You look healthy. You have weathered another storm. And Quinn, let me first ask you, what was different? And then, maybe I will ask you what was similar. Let's start there, what was similar about this experience of riding out Hurricane Rita?

Q. JONES: Well, just all the packing up. I mean, I guess what was different, first of all, New Orleans, we only had literally less than 48 hours to get ready. This storm, at least we could see it coming for about five days and kind of had it coming in the back of our minds. But it was a very familiar feeling packing up the wife and the child and getting on the road, and not knowing what's going to happen to your house when you leave, and when you will come back.

HARRIS: So Bob, have you been through anything like this before?

BOB JONES, LAKE CHARLES RESIDENT: Well, when I was it a kid, we had a hurricane called Hurricane Audrey which hit dead on to Cameron Parish, just like this time. Except back then, it was very short notice. It was a hurricane that blew up just off the Yucatan, and over 500 people died.

HARRIS: So how was this experience for you? How did you weather it?.

B. JONES: Well, we got on out of Dodge this time. And spent the night in Baton Rouge. And just came back over early this morning to see what remained, what damage was done and all.

HARRIS: What have you seen?

B. JONES: Well, we were fortunate. Personally, our house was OK. We We had to unload some refrigerators. We are going be a while without electricity. Our office building got beat up pretty bad. But by and large, we're among the lucky ones.

HARRIS: Bob, were you able to help your son? In any way other than providing shelter, were you able to calm him down, to calm the family down? I know you were very nervous and scared as Katrina rolled in. But what were you able to do to help them?

B. JONES: Yes. He had friends and baby sitters. And we had quite a few evacuees that were staying with us in that little apartment we have. And it's one of those things where everybody pitches in, you do what you got to do.

HARRIS: Quinn, two storms, weeks apart, a double dose of adversity, how are you coping with that?

Q. JONES: Well, just trying to get my business back on-line and try to get to some sense of normalcy in both my business life as well as personal life. Trying to get our child into preschool here in Lake Charles. But now those plans are obviously put on hold. And we are hunkering down in Baton Rouge with out cousins. And will be attending the LSU football game tomorrow night.

HARRIS: There you go. There you go. Life goes on.

Quinn, I have to ask you, though, on a personal level have you asked yourself the question -- why us?

Q. JONES: I have asked that question. And the other question I've asked is why Rita now? If Rita would have happened last year or next year it wouldn't have been quite such a big deal. But sometimes you have to roll with the punches and play the cards you are dealt.

HARRIS: And Bob one last question, maybe you can answer for yourself and your son as well, do you see an opportunity in here to really build a better life for yourself.

b. JONES: Say that, again. The wind is blowing. I can't hear you.

HARRIS: Yeah. Do you see an opportunity to build something better out of what has happened to both of you?

B. JONES: I think -- I will be real happy if we just got back to where we were. In Lake Charles, I think, the people -- the folks that live in this part of the country are pretty resilient and we are going to come back.

HARRIS: Good to talk to you both, father and son, Bob and Quinn. Be well. Take care of your family.

Hurricane Rita pushes back plans for drying out New Orleans after a breached levee refloods parts of the city. Mary Snow has the latest coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Streets under water, buildings torn apart and a search for stranded victims, 35 hours after Hurricane Rita roared ashore. Welcome back everyone. I'm Tony Harris at CNN's center in Atlanta.

The very latest now on Hurricane Rita's aftermath. One day after the storm smashed ashore, officials are starting to assess the damage. Among the hardest hit areas, Vermillion Parish on the Louisiana coast. Rita lashed that area with ferocious wind and punishing rain, and its storm surge trapped hundreds of people on their roofs with calls for help still coming in. Searchers are looking for people who are still stranded.

To the east, in New Orleans, the flood waters are back in the city's devastated Ninth Ward. Parts of that neighborhood are now under eight feet of water. Rita's storm surge send floodwaters over breaches. And the levee damaged earlier by hurricane Katrina.

An estimated 16,000 National Guard troops are now on the ground in Louisiana's hardest hit parishes and more are on the way. Nearly 2400 Guard troops in Mississippi and Alabama who are....

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