PBS NewsHour - 2005-08-31 (Hurricane Katrina)

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

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[3:37] Good evening. I'm Jim Lara. On the

[3:39] NewsHour Tonight, the news of this

[3:41] Wednesday, then extended coverage of the

[3:43] continuing efforts to come to grips with

[3:45] the deaths and the destructions of

[3:47] Hurricane Katrina. And the latest on the

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[4:01] Somewhere West of Topeka, someone's

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[4:08] and why a train is transporting corn and

[4:11] why ADM is turning corn into ethanol, a

[4:14] renewable, cleaner burning fuel.

[4:17] Somewhere west of Topeka, someone's

[4:19] getting out for a breath of fresh air.

[4:21] And lots of us are helping make sure

[4:24] that fresh air is actually fresh. ADM,

[4:28] resourceful by nature.

[4:31] >> David and Kathy just built a beautiful

[4:34] new home right at the W's edge.

[4:38] >> I'll tell you the real story. I've been

[4:40] a professor at a local university since

[4:42] I was 28, and my husband's been at it

[4:44] longer than I have. You don't build a

[4:46] big nest egg on a couple of teacher

[4:47] salaries. You need a plan and a

[4:49] financial consultant who isn't afraid to

[4:51] roll up his sleeves.

[4:56] >> Smith Barney. This is who we are. This

[4:59] is how we earn it.

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[5:10] and by contributions to your PBS station

[5:13] from viewers like you. Thank you.

[5:19] The crisis in New Orleans grew more

[5:21] desperate today. Mayor Ray Negan

[5:23] announced Hurricane Katrina killed

[5:25] hundreds of people, possibly thousands.

[5:28] He warned bodies could trigger outbreaks

[5:30] of disease. Water finally stopped

[5:33] surging through breached levies today,

[5:35] but the city remained flooded. Louisiana

[5:38] Governor Kathleen Blanco appealed for

[5:40] help to stop looting and to help

[5:42] survivors. We believe that we need to

[5:44] free up the National Guard essentially

[5:46] to do security in the city. And uh I'm

[5:50] asking for military presence to uh to do

[5:55] all of the to do help us with the

[5:58] evacuation to take take charge of the

[6:00] evacuation and do u all of the other

[6:03] things that our people have been doing.

[6:05] >> Officials in Mississippi reported at

[6:07] least 110 people killed there. The worst

[6:10] of the storm blasted the Bualuxy and

[6:12] Gulfport areas and left little intact

[6:15] along their coastlines. Across the Gulf

[6:18] region, at least 70,000 people were in

[6:20] shelters. Federal officials said some

[6:22] may never be able to return. Disaster

[6:25] relief efforts moved into higher gear

[6:27] today. 21,000 National Guard troops were

[6:30] mobilized and the US Navy dispatched a

[6:33] hospital ship, helicopter carriers, and

[6:35] supplies. President Bush flew over the

[6:38] damaged zone on his way back to

[6:40] Washington from Texas. He spoke later in

[6:42] the Rose Garden at the White House.

[6:45] >> The folks on the Gulf Coast are going to

[6:47] need the help of this country for a long

[6:48] time.

[6:51] This is going to be a a difficult road.

[6:58] The challenges that we face on the

[6:59] ground are unprecedented.

[7:03] But there's no doubt in my mind we're

[7:05] going to succeed.

[7:09] Right now, the days seem awfully dark

[7:10] for those affected. I understand that.

[7:14] But I'm confident

[7:16] that with time, you get your life back

[7:19] in order.

[7:21] New communities will flourish.

[7:23] The great city of New Orleans will be

[7:25] back on its feet,

[7:27] and America will be a stronger place for

[7:29] it.

[7:30] The president also urged all Americans

[7:33] to help by contributing to the Red

[7:35] Cross. We'll have much more on the

[7:36] hurricane's aftermath and the response

[7:38] right after this news summary. The

[7:41] hurricane cut oil output in the Gulf by

[7:43] 95%. So today, the energy department

[7:46] opened the strategic petroleum reserve

[7:48] to make up the shortfall. In response,

[7:51] oil futures in New York dropped nearly

[7:53] 90s to settle under $69 a barrel. But

[7:57] the refinery shutdowns along the Gulf

[8:00] fueled gasoline prices. They spiked 30

[8:02] to 50 cents overnight across the

[8:05] country. We'll have more on the energy

[8:07] part of this story later in the program.

[8:09] Wall Street had a hurricane rally today.

[8:12] Investors bought oil company stocks and

[8:14] shares in companies that could help

[8:16] rebuild the Gulf Coast. The Dow Jones

[8:18] Industrial Average gained more than 68

[8:20] points to close at 10,481.

[8:24] The NASDAQ rose 22 points to close at

[8:26] 2152.

[8:28] Hundreds of Iraqis were killed in a

[8:30] stampede in Baghdad today. The health

[8:33] ministry said 769 died, most of them

[8:37] women and children, more than 300 others

[8:39] were hurt. It happened as thousands of

[8:42] Shiites were crossing a bridge in a

[8:44] religious ceremony. Rumors of a suicide

[8:47] bomber in the crowd ignited panic and

[8:50] the victims were trampled or jumped into

[8:52] the Tigress River and drowned. We'll

[8:54] have more on this story later in the

[8:56] program. Back in this country, the Food

[8:58] and Drug Administration approved a new

[9:00] flu vaccine today made by Glaco Smith

[9:03] Klein. The company will be the country's

[9:05] third major supplier. There were only

[9:07] two last year and one had to stop

[9:09] production over contamination fears. A

[9:12] top FDA official resigned today in a

[9:14] dispute over emergency contraception.

[9:17] Susan Wood had been director for women's

[9:19] health. She criticized the agency for

[9:22] not allowing sales of the morning after

[9:24] pill without a prescription. The FDA

[9:27] said last week it could not decide how

[9:28] to enforce an age limit for such sales.

[9:32] And that's it for the news summary

[9:33] tonight. Now it's on to the tragedies

[9:35] along the US Gulf Coast and across a

[9:38] bridge in Baghdad.

[9:49] The terrible stories of Hurricane

[9:50] Katrina continue. Spencer Michaels

[9:52] begins our coverage with this report on

[9:55] the day's developments.

[9:57] While officials assessed the damage and

[9:59] attempted to relieve the misery, the

[10:02] people of New Orleans tried to cope with

[10:04] an unprecedented disaster. With water

[10:07] pouring into city streets through two

[10:09] levy breaks and 80% of the city

[10:11] underwater, the mayor said he had no

[10:14] choice but to order the total evacuation

[10:16] of the city. He added that New Orleans

[10:18] won't be functional for 2 or 3 months.

[10:22] Attempts to plug the breaches with

[10:24] sandbags have thus far failed. The risk

[10:27] of disease is growing as officials

[10:29] confirmed bodies are floating in the

[10:31] water around the city. So today,

[10:34] refugees awaited help. There are as many

[10:37] as 1 million homeless people across the

[10:39] region.

[10:40] >> I got to keep a strong friend in front

[10:42] of my children and if I panic, then

[10:44] they're going to panic. As long as I

[10:45] have my family,

[10:49] everybody else is all right

[10:52] and we're very grateful.

[10:53] >> Coast Guard teams continued rescue

[10:55] operations by helicopter, plucking

[10:58] people huddled on rooftops. Hundreds

[11:00] remained stranded on rooftops and

[11:02] balconies, frantically waving and

[11:05] holding signs, calling for help, hoping

[11:08] for rescue. This woman had to decide

[11:11] which of her family members to leave

[11:13] behind because the police rescuing the

[11:16] family had limited space.

[11:18] >> I was trying to send the baby and my

[11:22] daughter with the police officer because

[11:25] the baby have a respiratory problem.

[11:29] But I'm looking at my other daughter

[11:30] with her three kids and my brother

[11:33] standing there and it's like I want to

[11:35] be there with them because I feel like

[11:37] when my daughter

[11:40] had a chance to go with the policeman,

[11:42] it would it would have been a good

[11:43] choice. But to leave my my brother and

[11:47] my grandkids and my other daughter, it's

[11:51] like I couldn't do it. But my my baby

[11:54] girl with the baby, she was screaming it

[11:58] out and saying, "Mom, if you don't come

[12:01] kill myself, you got to come with me."

[12:04] You know, so my daughter told me, she

[12:07] said, "Mom, take my daughter, take

[12:10] Lexus." And she said, "Go."

[12:13] >> Many residents didn't evacuate because

[12:15] they didn't have cars, money for gas, or

[12:17] anywhere to go. A quarter of New Orleans

[12:20] residents live below the poverty level.

[12:23] It's

[12:23] >> just a thing that uh that always

[12:25] happened. The one that had the lease

[12:28] seem like they'll hit harder than

[12:29] anything else.

[12:31] >> Other residents made the conscious

[12:33] decision to weather the storm.

[12:35] >> I work for the sheriff at in all Parish

[12:38] and I was afraid, you know, if the water

[12:40] wasn't high, I'd have to go to work. So,

[12:42] we decided to ride it out

[12:45] and uh it was a bad mistake. This man

[12:47] was looking ahead to rebuilding, but he

[12:50] has no insurance.

[12:51] >> Don't nobody give me any kind of

[12:52] assistance. I'm just going to have to

[12:53] try to do it piece by piece, piece, wood

[12:55] by wood, paycheck by paycheck.

[12:58] >> Lutters roamed the streets, particularly

[13:00] in the French Quarter, which sits on

[13:02] higher ground and wasn't flooded as

[13:04] badly as the rest of the city.

[13:06] >> It was a disaster. It was people were

[13:09] shooting right across the street from

[13:11] me. And

[13:11] >> they were shooting guns.

[13:12] >> They were shooting at each other. They

[13:14] were saying that they didn't care about

[13:16] life anymore. And uh it was just it was

[13:19] just disastrous. It was rioting. They

[13:22] had a building burning down, a pawn shop

[13:24] where they had seted a fire and uh

[13:27] people were just looting and it was just

[13:30] it's like a movie to me. You know, I

[13:32] still haven't woke up. I feel like I'm

[13:34] in a dream or something.

[13:36] >> Others wandered the flooded streets

[13:38] desperately looking for basic supplies.

[13:41] water, food, shelter, and gasoline.

[13:44] There's no electricity and no running

[13:46] water, and many communication systems

[13:49] remain down. Inmates from a jail were

[13:52] moved out of their flooded cells and

[13:54] onto exit ramps of nearby highways as

[13:57] guards stood by with guns. Not far away,

[14:00] the Super Dome, where tens of thousands

[14:03] sought shelter, was surrounded by at

[14:05] least 8 ft of water. Thousands more

[14:08] refugees sat outside the Superdome

[14:10] waiting for shelter. Texas Governor Rick

[14:13] Perry and his response team today

[14:15] explained they'd shelter the 23,000

[14:18] refugees at Houston's Astrodome,

[14:21] transferring them in a bus caravan.

[14:24] >> The Astrodome is a county facility. We

[14:26] have worked closely and have contingency

[14:28] plans to use the dome as a emergency

[14:31] disaster recovery and and refuge center

[14:34] in the event of a storm here in Houston.

[14:36] We are implementing those plans today

[14:38] for New Orleans. Uh the dome is not

[14:41] suited well for this kind of a crowd for

[14:44] a long term. The problem when you put 20

[14:45] or 30,000 people in a single place, you

[14:48] have problems of privacy. You have

[14:49] problems of just social social issues,

[14:52] psychological problems. When you put

[14:53] those people in that kind of an

[14:54] environment, we are also dealing with

[14:56] people who have been without food,

[14:57] without water, without sanitary sewer,

[15:00] uh without the ability to take a shower

[15:01] for three or four days. They're not

[15:02] happy when they come here and we are

[15:04] cognizant of that. uh we will provide a

[15:06] place for as long as is necessary but

[15:08] are working closely with FEMA with the

[15:10] governor's emergency management

[15:11] officials to try to move them through

[15:13] the dome to other facilities uh where

[15:15] they would be better better suited for

[15:17] the longer term.

[15:18] >> Army National Guard troops continued

[15:20] arriving on the scene to assist and keep

[15:22] law and order and four Navy ships left

[15:25] from Norfolk, Virginia today to join the

[15:28] relief effort. that case of water may be

[15:30] the case of water that that makes it to

[15:31] one of my family members and uh you know

[15:34] just just knowing that I had a small

[15:35] part in that is going to be u you know

[15:38] good for me just knowing I in some way I

[15:40] helped

[15:41] >> 32 mi northeast of New Orleans this is

[15:44] all that remains of the town of Slidell

[15:47] >> is gone it's total disaster nothing left

[15:50] everything

[15:51] >> we just didn't think it would be that

[15:52] bad but um inside our home uh the water

[15:56] was up to here

[15:58] >> interstate A10 used to go through

[16:00] Slidell, but now it looks like a jigsaw

[16:02] puzzle. Katrina tore out the bridge

[16:05] leading into the town of 25,000.

[16:08] This house was cut in half by a fallen

[16:11] tree. Jim Day was sitting in his garage

[16:14] when the tree came through the roof.

[16:17] >> Crash bang. I dove out of the car into

[16:18] the house.

[16:21] >> Where was your heart?

[16:22] >> It was still in the car. Next door in

[16:24] Mississippi, Gulfport today lies a city

[16:27] in ruins. Residents stood in line for

[16:30] ice as military police patrolled the

[16:32] streets. In Baloxy, casinos and homes up

[16:36] and down the coast were flattened by the

[16:39] 30foot storm surge.

[16:41] >> There's not a word to describe it.

[16:44] Wondering how long it's going to take

[16:45] for things to get back to normal. Power,

[16:47] water, um, food, gas, stores destroyed,

[16:51] gas stations destroyed. um homes

[16:54] destroyed, loss of life. It's just

[16:58] there's no question in my mind if

[16:59] there's ever a storm, you know,

[17:02] approaching. Next time we're going to

[17:04] leave the area and we won't worry about

[17:06] trying to get back because a lot of

[17:07] times there's not, as you can see,

[17:08] there's not much to come back to.

[17:10] >> We raised seven children here, my wife

[17:12] and I are 73 and 74.

[17:15] And yesterday,

[17:17] this hurricane wiped us clean. Every one

[17:20] of my children lost everything they had.

[17:22] This property right here has been in the

[17:25] the family.

[17:27] This was my uncle's house right here.

[17:30] This was my grandmother's house.

[17:36] This was my pawn shop over here.

[17:40] And I also had a jet ski rental business

[17:42] out of there's a house right back in the

[17:44] back back over here that uh you can't

[17:47] quite see it, but it's my aunt's house

[17:50] and it's totaled. These are just gone

[17:53] completely and uh you know we have a

[17:57] pretty long history here on the Connor

[17:59] and it's all gone. It's just it's

[18:02] devastating. It looks like someone nuked

[18:05] the place. It's just

[18:08] I'm an emotional mess. I mean I just I

[18:10] can't deal with it.

[18:12] >> Late today in New Orleans, one ray of

[18:15] hope amid what officials are calling an

[18:17] impossible situation. Water stopped

[18:20] rising as the levels between the city

[18:22] and lake poncho train equalized and in

[18:25] some places the water appeared to be

[18:27] dropping slightly. But New Orleans is

[18:30] far from out of the woods.

[18:33] Cammy Nzaram of Independent Television

[18:36] News is in Beluxy, Mississippi. He spent

[18:39] the day surveying the damage with

[18:40] residents of the area

[18:43] >> are totally devastated and gone. Um

[18:45] these um were businesses that used to

[18:48] exist before the hurricane Katrina.

[18:51] >> Paul is looking for his friend. His bar

[18:54] used to be on the beach here, but now

[18:56] it's gone.

[18:57] >> I was working in this bar the night

[18:58] before the hurricane came through.

[19:00] >> But I mean there's it's gone. There's

[19:02] nothing left.

[19:02] >> There's absolutely nothing left. Um

[19:05] except for the sign. It's no longer here

[19:08] and I no longer have a job.

[19:11] Gulfport Beloxy's 27m man-made beach is

[19:14] quite frankly no more. Hurricane Katrina

[19:18] leveling the town and also social

[19:20] barriers, million-dollar mansions and

[19:22] shacks alike. The storm did not

[19:24] discriminate. And amid the wreckage,

[19:26] heartfelt reunions.

[19:28] >> The reason I'm still here is because of

[19:30] that. That protected you. That that big

[19:32] building behind you, the tower block. If

[19:35] that wasn't there, you'd have been

[19:36] flattened. It

[19:37] >> been gone.

[19:38] >> I didn't think it was going to be that

[19:39] bad. I really didn't. I underestimated

[19:41] it.

[19:42] >> See where the water level was?

[19:44] >> It was all in the garage and of course

[19:46] everything floated.

[19:47] >> My my apartment complex is in the Gulf.

[19:51] >> Looks like a battle zone.

[19:52] >> Yeah.

[19:54] >> People here have run out of everything.

[19:56] There's still no power. Not long after

[19:58] sunrise, it's already in the '9s. It's

[20:00] starting to smell feted.

[20:02] >> Man, you're a godsend.

[20:03] >> Hey, hope it helps.

[20:05] >> Oh man. Every little

[20:09] Thank you, brother.

[20:11] >> I guess you could call Paul and Eddie

[20:13] lucky. Many were not. At least 30 killed

[20:16] when their apartment block collapsed.

[20:18] Even those already at peace weren't

[20:20] spared.

[20:22] What you can see about 2 mi in the

[20:24] distance is a floating casino ship.

[20:26] There was another floating casino there.

[20:29] That casino is now here. It's moved 2

[20:32] miles down the beach and it in doing so,

[20:34] it's completely leveled this hotel. This

[20:37] was a 20 row holiday in and it's

[20:39] completely gone by three rows. The power

[20:42] of this thing was just devastating

[20:44] today. The beach an escape route. Casino

[20:47] workers no longer with jobs. Many simply

[20:50] with nowhere to go.

[20:51] >> We're from Oregon, California.

[20:53] >> And um you going to be coming back here

[20:55] soon?

[20:56] >> No.

[20:57] >> Probably not in my lifetime.

[20:58] >> Probably not in our lifetime.

[21:01] >> What What is the situation back there?

[21:02] >> Um

[21:02] >> it's horrible. It's

[21:04] >> pretty much houses are gone. People have

[21:06] lost all their stuff.

[21:08] >> Total chaos.

[21:10] >> Our house was completely covered in mud.

[21:12] >> But anybody on the first floor wouldn't

[21:14] have made it.

[21:15] >> And neighbors now bonded by more than

[21:18] just proximity.

[21:19] >> And the storm surge would take it up.

[21:22] Then after a little bit, it would come

[21:24] down and then it would rise again. And

[21:26] each time it came in, it got higher and

[21:27] higher. And it was way over our heads.

[21:30] It was probably what about 12 ft. The

[21:32] first floor was completely covered,

[21:35] >> windows and all.

[21:36] >> Yeah.

[21:37] >> The beachfront a wretched reminder. This

[21:40] is all that's left.

[21:42] >> Troantus of Newsweek magazine has been

[21:45] driving from the baton from the Baton

[21:46] Rouge area toward New Orleans all day

[21:48] today. He spoke by phone with Ray Suarez

[21:51] a short time ago. Joe Contrarus,

[21:54] welcome. Why is it so hard to get back

[21:56] into New Orleans?

[21:59] Since the immediate aftermath of

[22:01] Hurricane Katrina on Monday morning, law

[22:04] enforcement authorities have been

[22:07] sharply restricting access to the New

[22:10] Orleans metropolitan area and in

[22:12] particular the center city. All major

[22:16] access routes have been blocked and

[22:18] because of the unique topography and

[22:20] geography of New Orleans, there are

[22:22] very, very few access roads under normal

[22:26] circumstances. I just got turned back

[22:30] about maybe five miles outside the

[22:33] outskirts of the city. And essentially,

[22:36] law enforcement authorities want to keep

[22:38] a very, very

[22:41] close control on the number of people

[22:43] entering the city in view of the

[22:45] deteriorating security situation on the

[22:47] streets of New Orleans.

[22:48] >> Well, you're finding it hard to get back

[22:50] in. Are people still pouring out of the

[22:52] area?

[22:54] I have not seen a lot of vehicles

[22:57] streaming

[22:59] westbound out of the city today. Um I

[23:02] think that um there are some people who

[23:07] remained in the city who are being bust

[23:10] out but by no means is it an exodus at

[23:13] this point. I suppose in view of the

[23:15] very uh restricted

[23:18] supply of available vehicles for

[23:21] transporting people out of the stricken

[23:22] area.

[23:23] >> You had tried to get on a boat, didn't

[23:25] you? What came of that? been trying to

[23:27] organize maritime transport for the last

[23:30] 36 hours and have yet to find either a

[23:34] boat owner willing to brave the security

[23:37] situation in the city or willing to risk

[23:42] having his vessel possibly damaged by

[23:46] overturned trees floating in the water,

[23:49] pieces of metal debris floating in the

[23:52] water. Uh so yes, that has proven to be

[23:55] a dead end.

[23:57] >> It's estimated 4 million people are

[23:59] without electricity in the areas

[24:01] affected by Hurricane Katrina. As a

[24:04] practical matter, what has that meant to

[24:06] daily life in southern Louisiana?

[24:09] >> Well, it's meant for example that uh no

[24:12] one can get gasoline in large stretches

[24:16] of that part that portion of the state.

[24:19] I'm at a gasoline station near a rural

[24:23] area called Lelass and I just heard a

[24:27] refugee complaining to a friend of hers

[24:30] on this very pay phone that they are

[24:32] stuck. They have only a quarter tank of

[24:34] gas. They can't back get back into their

[24:37] home. They're being told by authorities

[24:39] to go to Tennessee. They don't have

[24:40] enough fuel in their tanks to get much

[24:44] past the border with Mississippi. uh in

[24:47] Baton Rouge, the state capital, which

[24:50] really emerged only with cuts and

[24:51] bruises, relatively speaking, from

[24:54] Hurricane Katrina, there are long lines

[24:56] of cars at gasoline station that do have

[25:00] power and I spent the night in a very

[25:03] very upmarket suburb uh with a family

[25:07] and we all just sweated out the brutal

[25:10] humidity of a Louisiana summer.

[25:12] >> Now, I noted you use the word refugee.

[25:14] Now, you're someone who across your

[25:16] career has covered a lot of calamities

[25:19] in Central and South America. Is this a

[25:21] word that you use with care in this

[25:23] situation?

[25:24] >> I do use it with care, but I think it is

[25:27] opposite because the term evacuee does

[25:30] not quite capture the full human drama

[25:34] and suffering that people in this part

[25:37] of the country are enduring. As I said

[25:40] to your colleague Neil Conan yesterday,

[25:43] the images that I've seen, the motel and

[25:46] hotels of East Texas and southern

[25:48] Louisiana packed with people from all

[25:52] walks of life brought to mind images of

[25:56] Parisians fleeing the French capital as

[25:59] the Nazis advanced in May of 1940. It

[26:02] brought to mind scenes that I have

[26:04] witnessed in El Salvador, in Angola, in

[26:07] Mosmbique, in Nicaragua,

[26:10] uh, of of people who are displaced. But

[26:13] in those cases, they had their worlds

[26:15] turned upside down by military conflict

[26:18] as opposed to natural disaster. I

[26:20] covered the Mexico City earthquake in

[26:22] 1985 that killed 20,000 people. And I

[26:24] never witnessed anything like the drama,

[26:28] the human suffering, and the sheer

[26:32] quantity of people whose lives have been

[26:34] turned upside down by a natural

[26:37] catastrophe as what I have witnessed in

[26:39] the last 36 hours.

[26:40] >> What have people been telling you about

[26:42] what's happening to them, what they're

[26:44] going through?

[26:46] >> Well, frankly, they're saying that life

[26:49] as they knew it will never exist again

[26:51] for a very, very long time. I heard the

[26:54] president of the New Orleans City

[26:56] Council, Oliver Thomas, saying earlier

[26:58] today that there is so much water in the

[27:02] city that it should be recristened Lake

[27:05] New Orleans. He said that he remembers

[27:07] how the Twin Towers at the foot of

[27:10] Manhattan were renamed ground zero. And

[27:14] to him, New Orleans should be called

[27:16] Lake Zero. This is a city that will

[27:20] require decades to rebuild, reconstruct,

[27:24] and many people are frankly walking

[27:28] around like zombies, like people out of

[27:31] a horror movie because of the dimensions

[27:35] of the biblical scale of the disaster

[27:37] that has happened to their lives.

[27:39] >> Joe Contrarus from Newsweek, thanks a

[27:41] lot for joining us.

[27:43] >> Thank you.

[27:45] As the frustrations have grown in New

[27:47] Orleans and the surrounding area today,

[27:49] government relief efforts have been

[27:51] criticized by by some local residents. A

[27:54] short time ago, Louisiana Governor

[27:56] Kathleen Blanco responded to those

[27:59] criticisms and spoke about her own

[28:01] frustrations.

[28:03] >> You need to understand that we are

[28:04] working in a what is essentially a

[28:07] primitive site condition.

[28:09] uh it it um these conditions make it

[28:13] extremely impossible to do everything

[28:16] that is absolutely essential to be done

[28:18] simultaneously.

[28:20] So we have deployed our people um in a

[28:24] prioritized fashion and our goal is to

[28:26] save as many lives as possible. We

[28:28] begged all of those people, the mayor

[28:30] begged the people, the parish presidents

[28:32] begged people to get out. The people

[28:35] chose who stayed chose to stay in some

[28:38] cases and in other cases had limited

[28:41] resources but they were given

[28:43] opportunity. Even those with limited

[28:45] resources were given opportunities and

[28:47] perhaps the communications network did

[28:49] not filter rapidly enough. We were

[28:51] working on a very short timeline when

[28:54] that hurricane turned its firepower on

[28:56] Louisiana. We acted as rapidly as

[28:59] humanly possible and we got out over a

[29:01] million people out of that region. Now

[29:04] you know uh we have limited resources.

[29:07] No state, no region is prepared for the

[29:10] dimensions that we have dealt with. But

[29:12] I will tell you something. We have

[29:14] heroes a minute in this operation. We

[29:17] have people who have extended themselves

[29:20] in such a dramatic fashion. You know

[29:22] that you'll have plenty stories to write

[29:24] about our heroes. But I I do want to

[29:26] tell you what angers me the most is that

[29:31] usually disasters like this bring out

[29:34] the best in everybody. And that's what

[29:38] we expected to see. And now we've got

[29:40] people that is bringing out the worst

[29:42] in. And we're going to restore law and

[29:45] order. We are not going to put up with

[29:47] the kinds of things that we have heard.

[29:50] We're not going to put up with petty

[29:52] criminals or hard hardened criminals

[29:54] doing their business. This is not a time

[29:57] or a place for any of that behavior. And

[30:00] I am just furious. This is intolerant.

[30:04] Louisiana people are too good. They're

[30:06] too strong. They're too they're too

[30:08] wonderful. They're too noble for our

[30:10] reputation to be destroyed by these this

[30:13] criminal element that is that is just

[30:16] making us um have to turn essential uh

[30:20] people over to to taking them off the

[30:23] streets. And we will take them off the

[30:25] streets and they will be dealt with

[30:26] appropriately. Now, you know, this is

[30:29] massive. I think that anybody who's seen

[30:32] it firsthand knows that the logistics

[30:36] are impossible. The Red Cross cannot set

[30:38] up in that disaster area. All people

[30:41] have to come out to get the kind of help

[30:43] that is necessary. Um there's no place

[30:46] to function there or function in a

[30:49] rational civilized fashion. And as we

[30:54] eliminate the water from the streets and

[30:57] from the houses, people will be able to

[30:59] go back in. We will be able to to

[31:02] actually assess the situation. We know

[31:04] that there are people trapped in their

[31:06] in their atticss. We're trying to get

[31:08] those out. The ones who are alive are

[31:11] being removed right now. The ones who

[31:14] didn't make it. We don't even know where

[31:17] they are. We don't know which houses had

[31:20] people and which didn't. Certainly, a

[31:22] lot of people are calling in knowing

[31:23] that their relatives were in certain

[31:25] houses. We've got addresses, but I will

[31:27] tell you, addresses mean nothing right

[31:29] now because street signs are underwater

[31:31] in so many places. Um, you know, so you

[31:34] have to have a coordinated effort. You

[31:37] have to have some people who know the

[31:39] area, who do it systematically, who pick

[31:41] up people as they come upon them. Now,

[31:44] Gwen Eiffel looks specifically at what

[31:47] happened to New Orleans levy system.

[31:52] >> It is now nearly impossible to tell

[31:54] where Lake Pont Train ends and the city

[31:57] of New Orleans begins. The Crescent

[31:59] City, wedged at the mouth of the

[32:01] Mississippi River below sea level, has

[32:03] finally lost its centurylong battle

[32:06] against the waters which surround it.

[32:08] Cascades are rushing in through two

[32:11] large breaches in the wall of levies

[32:13] designed to keep the combined waters of

[32:15] the river, the Gulf, and the lake at

[32:18] bay.

[32:18] >> There is no delineation between the

[32:20] river and this neighborhood. It looks

[32:21] like the neighborhood was built in the

[32:23] Mississippi River. Mayor Ray Negan told

[32:25] ABC this morning, "The situation is

[32:28] dire."

[32:29] >> So, what's happening right now is the

[32:30] bowl effect that everybody talked about

[32:33] is happening as we speak. And the water

[32:35] will rise to try and equal the water

[32:39] level of the lake, which is 3 ft above

[32:42] sea level. And that's significant

[32:44] because on St. Charles Avenue, one of

[32:46] our most uh famous avenues, it it's 6 ft

[32:49] below sea level in elevation. So there

[32:52] will be 9 ft in that area and probably

[32:54] 20 feet in other areas of the city.

[32:56] >> The levies are a principal component in

[32:58] a line of defenses erected over the

[33:00] years to protect New Orleans. They act

[33:02] like the walls of a fortress on the

[33:04] city's southern edge that keep the

[33:06] Mississippi River penned in. And on the

[33:08] city's northern border, they keep the

[33:10] 600 square miles of Lake Poncho Train at

[33:13] bay. In the east, a levy has breached

[33:16] along the industrial canal which

[33:18] connects the lake to the river. A large

[33:20] swath of East New Orleans is under deep

[33:23] water as a result. On the north side of

[33:26] town, a 150yard section of the 17th

[33:29] Street Canal has been decimated. The

[33:32] results simply disastrous. As this

[33:35] cross-section of the city shows, nearly

[33:37] the entire city is below sea, river, or

[33:40] lake level. There is nowhere for the

[33:42] water to go once it invades. Ordinarily,

[33:46] a vast network of giant pumps moves

[33:48] water through and out of the city, but

[33:50] the rising tide has knocked out many of

[33:52] those pumps. The Army Corps of Engineers

[33:55] built or fortified much of the present

[33:57] system. This afternoon, Louisiana

[34:00] emergency management officials outlined

[34:02] efforts to plug the levies with giant

[34:04] sandbags.

[34:05] >> There are 3,000 lb sandbags that have

[34:08] gone some have gone in. Okay, we've got

[34:11] another hundred that are ready to go

[34:13] into the hole.

[34:15] As soon as the slings arrive on

[34:17] location, we have 20,000 lb sandbags

[34:22] that are going to be filled

[34:24] and ready for drop into the hole

[34:27] sometime later today and tonight.

[34:29] >> Once the levies are repaired, it could

[34:31] take up to a month to pump out the

[34:33] contaminated waters now inundating New

[34:36] Orleans.

[34:38] For more more now on the design of the

[34:39] levies and the difficulties ahead, I'm

[34:41] joined by John Renie, the editor of

[34:43] Scientific American magazine. John

[34:46] Renie, many of us are hearing about what

[34:47] these leveies are and what they do for

[34:49] the first time in the case of New

[34:51] Orleans, a very unique case. What is it

[34:53] that this this set of levies were

[34:55] supposed to do and how were they

[34:56] breached?

[34:57] >> Well, really the the levies were

[34:59] basically constructed to make it

[35:00] possible for there to be a city of New

[35:02] Orleans. New Orleans is is built in a

[35:04] basically in a bowl uh beside Lake

[35:07] Ponchart Train and uh if the leveies

[35:10] weren't there, there wouldn't be enough

[35:11] dry land for you to be able to build the

[35:13] city on. Uh in this case, unfortunately,

[35:15] what happened was that the the surge of

[35:17] water associated with Hurricane Katrina

[35:19] moved through the lake, struck the

[35:21] leveies, and opened up these holes in a

[35:23] few places, allowing the waters from the

[35:26] lake uh to then start to flow down into

[35:28] the city. These um le levies were built

[35:30] to withstand a hurricane of this

[35:33] magnitude. Obviously not. But what was

[35:35] the idea about what they would be able

[35:37] to withstand?

[35:39] >> New Orleans has been hit by a lot of

[35:41] hurricanes over the years. And the

[35:43] levies really are constructed so that

[35:45] they they can withstand a lot of the

[35:47] sorts of of pressures and strains

[35:49] associated with typical hurricanes. Um

[35:51] the fact is that even if if Katrina had

[35:54] really hit uh New Orleans dead on and if

[35:57] we'd seen the kind of 25- foot surge uh

[36:00] that was associated with other parts of

[36:01] it uh in the worst part of the storm. If

[36:04] that had hit New Orleans, even if the

[36:06] levies had held up, an enormous amount

[36:08] of water would have still spilled over

[36:09] them and flooded the city. So really

[36:11] nothing is built to withstand uh

[36:14] something that the strength of of

[36:15] Katrina. But the fact is that in in

[36:17] practice, New Orleans didn't have to

[36:19] experience that extraordinary level of

[36:21] of force. Um, it was still enough though

[36:24] to to break open these areas of the

[36:25] levies.

[36:26] >> Now, there are also canals and there's a

[36:27] pump system. Does the pump system kick

[36:30] into uh gear at a time when the levies

[36:32] fail?

[36:33] >> That's right. There's automatically the

[36:35] these pumps are supposed to start uh

[36:38] pumping water back over into the the

[36:40] areas in in the lake uh to help keep the

[36:42] city dry. They're normally designed, I

[36:44] think, to be able to handle, for

[36:45] example, in heavy rains, something on

[36:47] the order of an inch of water an hour

[36:49] arriving. However, they they do break

[36:51] down and a lot more water was coming in

[36:53] a lot faster than that this time.

[36:55] >> Was there anything avoidable in this

[36:57] circumstance or was this a catastrophe

[36:59] waiting to happen?

[37:01] >> Unfortunately, this really was a

[37:02] catastrophe that was waiting to happen

[37:04] uh by by almost every measure. Uh back

[37:06] in 2001, Scientific American published

[37:08] an article on this subject. Uh because

[37:11] the levies themselves needed a lot of

[37:13] work. Um it was obvious that eventually

[37:16] some sort of disaster could occur, but

[37:18] also the the lands uh uh involving the

[37:22] marshy lands surrounding New Orleans

[37:23] have also degraded so fast that they're

[37:25] a kind of natural buffer uh that would

[37:28] usually help to protect the city against

[37:30] some sorts of New Orleans and in fact

[37:31] have done that in the past. But they're

[37:33] disappearing very very fast and

[37:35] unfortunately uh with every year they

[37:38] leave the city more and more exposed to

[37:40] the the raw power of the ocean and hur

[37:42] hurricanes like this.

[37:43] >> I read in that Scientific American

[37:45] article that you mentioned that the city

[37:46] was actually losing an acre every 20 or

[37:49] the area every 24 minutes an acre of

[37:51] wetland was going away. So what is it

[37:54] that's right? So what is it that the

[37:55] city, the state, the government could

[37:57] have been doing to to shore up uh these

[38:00] levies and this system, this irrigation

[38:02] system as it were against this sort of

[38:04] catastrophe?

[38:05] >> Well, it is a tricky problem. In fact,

[38:07] since 1995, the Army Corps of Engineers

[38:10] has been involved in a project of of

[38:11] trying to fortify the levies and

[38:14] modernize the pumping systems. Um,

[38:16] unfortunately, in the last few years,

[38:17] some of the spending on that actually

[38:19] had had fallen off what was recommended.

[38:21] And I'm sure that's going to be

[38:22] controversial as people are looking who

[38:24] to blame. Beyond that though, uh really

[38:26] the biggest problem is that it calls for

[38:28] a lot of commitment to look at these

[38:29] areas outside of the city proper and

[38:31] start to try to allow those those

[38:33] wetlands to uh to be reconstructed. And

[38:36] uh that's an expensive project. Um it's

[38:38] something that goes against natural

[38:40] development interests. And um you know,

[38:42] unfortunately it would have been

[38:43] expensive, but it's going to it would

[38:44] have been a lot less expensive than what

[38:46] we are looking at having to do in New

[38:47] Orleans. Now,

[38:49] >> assuming that they find a way to to plug

[38:52] these holes in the dyke, as it were, how

[38:53] long would it take for the city, this

[38:55] bowl to drain?

[38:57] >> It's a very good question. I'm I'm

[38:58] seeing different estimates of that. Um,

[39:00] one estimate I saw said that once they

[39:02] can close that up, assuming that the

[39:04] levels of the water don't rise a lot

[39:06] higher, maybe in a month, maybe more,

[39:08] they would be able to pump that back

[39:09] out, which is actually an astonishing

[39:11] feat. But at this point, I think people

[39:13] are still coming to grips with just how

[39:15] bad the problem is. and and no one

[39:17] really knows how hard it's going to be

[39:18] to fix.

[39:19] >> And how do they plug it up? How I mean

[39:21] plug it up makes it sound simpler than

[39:23] it probably is.

[39:24] >> Well, it is although fundamentally

[39:26] that's that's basically the problem. You

[39:27] you have this rupture in the levey and

[39:30] it's a big hole in the in the dam in

[39:32] effect and the water is spilling

[39:33] through. Um they've already tried to do

[39:35] things like drop uh big sandbags down

[39:38] into to that to to fill it up and that

[39:40] hasn't worked so far. This is kind of an

[39:42] engineering nightmare because it's very

[39:45] hard to to uh for the engineers to get

[39:47] access to these points where they have

[39:49] to try to build the these these patches.

[39:51] And the problem is that even when they

[39:53] start to to build these patches, the the

[39:55] more of the hole they fill, the faster

[39:57] the water that's coming through the the

[39:59] remaining open part. So, it keeps

[40:01] tearing away at the surface. It's it's

[40:03] very very hard. They're not even sure

[40:04] how big the ruptures in some parts of

[40:06] the levey are. I've seen estimates of of

[40:08] 300 yards, but I've also seen estimates

[40:10] of 500 yards and maybe growing.

[40:13] >> So, now that the water has stopped

[40:14] rising, which they say has happened, now

[40:17] what? Do you just wait for it to go down

[40:18] some more or do they just keep dropping

[40:20] sandbags until you hope it stops?

[40:22] >> Well, you you have to keep on throwing

[40:24] down those sandbags and then you have to

[40:25] start the pumping and it's it's going to

[40:27] be very very difficult. You

[40:28] unfortunately you can't wait for gravity

[40:30] to take the water away because again,

[40:32] New Orleans itself is it's built under

[40:35] the sea level. So, um, naturally water

[40:37] wants to cover New Orleans to a depth

[40:39] of, uh, you know, in some places 20 ft.

[40:42] >> John Renie, a tough problem. Thanks a

[40:44] lot for helping us with it.

[40:46] >> Thank you.

[40:55] >> Now, Jeffrey Brown explores what the

[40:57] hurricane's done to US oil production

[41:00] and supplies. Our citizens must

[41:03] understand the storm has disrupted the

[41:06] capacity to make gasoline and distribute

[41:09] gasoline. That from President Bush a

[41:11] short time ago, assessing the damage

[41:13] from Hurricane Katrina. Today, the

[41:16] president announced the decision to

[41:17] release oil from the nation's strategic

[41:19] petroleum reserve to keep refineries

[41:22] supplied. The reserve consists of some

[41:24] 700 million barrels of crude oil

[41:27] stockpiled underground in Texas and

[41:29] Louisiana. Joining me to discuss the

[41:31] situation is Red Cavani, president of

[41:34] the American Petroleum Institute and

[41:36] Industry Trade Group. And welcome to

[41:37] you.

[41:38] >> Thank you, Jeffrey. Why don't we start

[41:39] by describing the range of facilities in

[41:42] the area that have been affected?

[41:44] >> They're quite significant. Uh maybe to

[41:46] help you understand 25% of the total

[41:49] domestic production of crude oil comes

[41:52] out of that Gulf region and about u

[41:55] little more than 20% of the natural gas.

[41:57] So it's very very significant. Out in

[41:59] the Gulf itself there are about 6,500

[42:02] uh production facilities and on the

[42:05] ground there are a large number of

[42:08] refineries, pipeline distribution

[42:10] systems and everything. It's the most

[42:12] complex infrastructure that we have. And

[42:15] so when we talk about damage in an area

[42:17] of that scale, it's going to affect not

[42:19] just that region, but of course the

[42:21] areas for which they distribute their

[42:23] product, which is basically from the

[42:24] Midwest, everything east. Is it possible

[42:27] to know how many of these facilities

[42:30] have been damaged yet?

[42:31] >> Well, right now when you look at the uh

[42:33] offshore rigs, there are uh basically

[42:36] rigs that are close inshore that that uh

[42:39] try and bring the oil and the gas out

[42:41] and about 23 of those principally older

[42:43] ones uh were destroyed. Uh when you look

[42:46] at the more sophisticated drilling rigs

[42:48] that are out there, uh four in the

[42:50] shallower water and four out in the deep

[42:51] water. The deep water is important

[42:52] because that's where the really big

[42:54] volumes are in the big investment. And

[42:56] so there are eight of those that have

[42:57] been damaged and we don't have a full

[42:59] assessment on how quickly they can be

[43:00] brought on stream. Of our refineries,

[43:02] however, in the area, we know that there

[43:04] are nine that are out of commission at

[43:06] present for various reasons and some of

[43:08] them have not even been able to be

[43:09] visited yet. So it's very hard to say

[43:11] exactly what kind of timetable those

[43:13] refiners can be brought back on stream.

[43:15] >> Now we know about the flooding damage a

[43:17] problem. Of course, there's also the

[43:19] power problem.

[43:20] >> Yeah. And the problem is you can't deal

[43:22] with both of these at the same time. You

[43:23] have to go in sequence because if you

[43:25] have refineries that are flooded, you've

[43:26] got to get all the water out before

[43:28] you're going to put electricity in

[43:29] there. And then after you put the

[43:30] electricity in, what you need to do is

[43:32] you actually need to try and start up

[43:34] and run tests on your refinery to see

[43:37] whether or not it can be run safely. And

[43:38] only then can you bring it up and start

[43:41] to create some actual production. So,

[43:43] uh, we have to rely very much on the

[43:45] local community and the first responders

[43:47] to help us get the water out. And then

[43:49] of course the utility industry which has

[43:51] been just terrific in terms of getting

[43:53] people from all over the country down

[43:54] there to help.

[43:55] >> Now the president's announcement today

[43:56] about releasing some of the oil from the

[43:58] petroleum reserve. What does that mean

[44:01] exactly and and what and how might that

[44:03] help?

[44:03] >> That's a big asset because one of the

[44:05] things that also has been affected by

[44:07] this are the pipelines and most of the

[44:10] crude oil and the gasoline, the diesel

[44:12] that travels around our country moves in

[44:14] pipelines. Well, with no electricity,

[44:15] you can't have any pipelines running. So

[44:17] we did have just outside this critical

[44:20] area where we have the nine refineries

[44:22] uh that are basically out of operation

[44:24] for the moment uh we have some

[44:26] refineries that exist but their concern

[44:28] was how am I going to get crude oil

[44:29] there and the normal channels uh weren't

[44:32] able to do that. So by accessing the

[44:34] strategic petroleum reserve, uh those

[44:37] people are going to be able to know that

[44:38] they're going to have crude oil product

[44:39] to convert to gasoline and other things

[44:41] and so they'll keep going and they'll

[44:43] run very very efficient. Without the

[44:44] strategic petroleum reserve release,

[44:47] they would have been concerned that they

[44:48] would run out of the raw material crude

[44:50] oil and therefore would have to shut

[44:51] down and we'd be even in a bigger

[44:53] problem. So the strategic petroleum

[44:55] reserve is very important. Now how how

[44:57] big a difference does it make and how

[44:59] quickly does it get into these

[45:01] refineries? uh they can literally

[45:03] because they're located in that

[45:04] particular area uh within a matter of a

[45:06] day to a day and a half they from when

[45:08] they decide to make that first release

[45:10] it actually becomes of use. But it's

[45:11] also a psychological thing knowing that

[45:14] it's going to be coming in very short

[45:15] order allows you then to take more

[45:17] confidence that you can run your

[45:18] existing inventory full rather than sort

[45:20] of backing off a little bit. It also

[45:22] helps those refineries that are down

[45:24] that may have said well we can get our

[45:25] refinery up but we can't do much if we

[45:27] can't get crude oil. Now they know with

[45:29] the strategic petroleum reserve there,

[45:31] they have a backup plan and they can

[45:33] have some good confidence that they can

[45:34] get the the machineries running, get the

[45:36] refinery up and going, the crude oil

[45:38] will be there.

[45:38] >> I see. But to be clear for the moment,

[45:40] this is just to help refineries that are

[45:42] up and running. This obviously has no

[45:43] impact on the ones the eight or nine

[45:45] that are down.

[45:46] >> No,

[45:46] >> not at all.

[45:47] >> Okay. Now, the president also instructed

[45:49] the EPA to relax some Clean Air Act

[45:52] provisions about the production of oil.

[45:54] What why what does that do? Well, it

[45:56] helps you because right now uh even

[45:58] before uh we had the hurricane, we had a

[46:01] circumstance where we were in the prime

[46:03] driving season and the fact that prices

[46:06] were where they were was the law of

[46:07] supply and demand. There was as much

[46:09] demand as there was supply and so

[46:11] therefore everybody was bidding up the

[46:12] price of the product and

[46:14] >> in fact, excuse me, but in fact most of

[46:16] our discussions about this of recent

[46:18] weeks and months has been about the

[46:19] demand problem.

[46:20] >> Exactly. Demand driven. And now we have

[46:22] a situation where you have a supply is

[46:23] driving this particular equation.

[46:25] >> So the circumstance that people need to

[46:27] be concerned about was uh if special

[46:31] blends the government sort of tells us

[46:33] what kind of blends can go in what part

[46:34] of the country. That's part of the rules

[46:36] of way we have to distribute them.

[46:38] >> But if we can't make certain blends that

[46:40] means we can't deliver product to an

[46:43] area that requires another blend without

[46:45] a waiver. So, by giving a waiver, it

[46:47] basically says we can get gasoline to

[46:50] wherever it's needed and and in the near

[46:52] term between now and September 15th, we

[46:54] don't have to uh be concerned about the

[46:57] effects of these various regulations.

[46:58] So, it's very helpful. Makes us more

[47:00] flexible, allows us to move that around

[47:01] to where it's needed, and I think

[47:03] ultimately will allow us to bring in

[47:04] some imports we might not otherwise be

[47:06] able to do.

[47:06] >> In the immediate term, the impact on

[47:09] most citizens will be at the gas pump.

[47:12] Yes, that they will see more opportunity

[47:14] for supply with this kind of flexibility

[47:16] than we would have otherwise had.

[47:18] >> And why does it why does it hit so

[47:20] quickly? I people wonder how that works.

[47:22] Why does it why is it overnight that

[47:24] prices rise so high?

[47:26] >> Well, what what happens is there are

[47:27] about 160,000

[47:30] retail outlets where the consumer

[47:31] actually buys their gasoline and diesel.

[47:33] Uh about little less than 10% are owned

[47:36] and operated by the industry itself, the

[47:39] refiners and the people that produce it.

[47:40] the rest are uh small businessmen and

[47:43] women, small companies that they own

[47:45] those things and it's a very competitive

[47:47] marketplace because I don't think

[47:49] there's any other industry that actually

[47:50] posts its price for everybody to see

[47:53] every time they go by. And so what you

[47:55] see is the dynamic move of people trying

[47:57] to decide that I want to steal some

[48:00] customers away from my competitors so

[48:01] I'm going to lower my price by two cents

[48:03] or somebody else saying look I think I

[48:05] can make more money by holding my price

[48:07] with fewer customers. And so those those

[48:09] are the kind of decisions that

[48:10] ultimately drive the market.

[48:11] >> Right now people are seeing it go up

[48:13] though.

[48:13] >> People are seeing it because the problem

[48:15] with the commodity is if you have that's

[48:17] the product you're giving to consumers.

[48:19] You don't want to be caught without it.

[48:20] So you'll pay almost anything to get

[48:22] that last truckload to be able to take

[48:24] care of your customers.

[48:26] >> Okay. Red Cavanany, thank you very much.

[48:27] >> Thank you.

[48:37] And finally tonight, the stampede in

[48:39] Baghdad that resulted in the deaths of

[48:42] hundreds of Shiite pilgrims. Lindseay

[48:44] Hilome of Independent Television News

[48:47] begins our coverage of that tragedy.

[48:55] >> As if there hadn't already been enough

[48:57] grief in this city, enough violence and

[49:00] killing. shoes on the bridge left by the

[49:03] hundreds who were crushed or plunged to

[49:05] their deaths this morning.

[49:12] >> They gathered at dawn, hundreds of

[49:15] thousands of devout Shia commemorating

[49:17] the martyrdom of the seventh Imam Musar

[49:20] Kazim in 799.

[49:22] He's buried at the shrine in Kazmir, a

[49:24] suburb of Baghdad named after him.

[49:28] Trouble started early when at least

[49:30] three mortar bombs were fired into the

[49:32] crowd, leaving telltale fan-shaped

[49:34] impact marks. Seven people were killed,

[49:37] others taken to hospital.

[49:42] >> We rushed to the blast scene. We saw the

[49:44] dead scattered on the ground and the

[49:46] injured were taken to Alhadmir hospital

[49:48] for treatment. There were more injured

[49:50] children than men and women,

[49:53] >> but worse was to come. While some called

[49:56] themselves in the Tigris, hundreds of

[49:58] thousands of pilgrims streamed up onto

[50:00] the Aima Bridge over the river leading

[50:02] to the shrine. The atmosphere was

[50:05] feebal. Everyone aware that any small

[50:07] incident could lead to disaster. A rumor

[50:10] spoke someone had seen a suicide bomber.

[50:17] After we arrived at the sacred Kadinia

[50:19] area, we heard that there was a suicide

[50:21] car bomber. There were thousands of

[50:23] people on the bridge and because they

[50:24] were afraid, they began to panic and

[50:26] run. Then they began to trample all over

[50:28] each other.

[50:31] >> Total disaster. Some jumped into the

[50:34] river and drowned. Others fell to their

[50:36] deaths onto the concrete approach at the

[50:38] end of the bridge. Still more were

[50:40] suffocated in the crush.

[50:46] >> I tried to help women, children, and old

[50:48] men. When I lifted them up, their lips

[50:51] were blue and their ears were bleeding.

[50:52] Their noses were dripping blood. Each

[50:55] person was lying on top of another,

[50:56] tangled up together.

[51:00] >> The shoes tell the story. Thousands

[51:03] abandoned in panic by victims and

[51:05] survivors alike. Testament to a

[51:07] catastrophe even more deadly than the

[51:10] daily bombings in Baghdad.

[51:12] Terrence Smith spoke by phone a short

[51:14] time ago with Los Angeles Times reporter

[51:17] Bourzu Dargahi in Baghdad.

[51:21] >> Boru Dargahi, welcome to the broadcast.

[51:24] Uh I understand that you got to this

[51:26] area not long after the stampede

[51:29] occurred. Tell us tell us what you saw.

[51:32] Well, it was still a lot of very very

[51:34] skittish and nervous um pilgrims as well

[51:37] as a lot of uh uh uh police police and

[51:40] and Iraqi soldiers uh firing their

[51:43] weapons into the air trying to uh uh

[51:45] sort of maintain crowd control. Um there

[51:47] was a lot of uh very very upset people,

[51:50] very sad people. Um people would gasp as

[51:53] they walk by a pile really a mound of of

[51:57] um uh plastic slippers that uh uh

[51:59] apparently belong to the uh those killed

[52:02] and injured in the uh in the incident.

[52:04] Um there was a a bunch of politicians

[52:06] including Ahmed Talabi who came uh to

[52:09] the scene with their security

[52:11] entouragees and uh were were sort of

[52:14] surveying the area. So, I'd take it that

[52:17] even in Baghdad where you've had and

[52:20] seen so much violence, this was this was

[52:22] a shocking event.

[52:23] >> You know, this was just really awful. I

[52:25] I mean, the one of the the the things

[52:27] that keeps staying in my mind is the uh

[52:29] those those piles of plastic slippers

[52:31] and and just sort of looking at them,

[52:33] you could tell um by by looking at them

[52:36] what kind of people were um in this uh

[52:38] incident uh were were killed and injured

[52:40] in this incident. And they were just

[52:42] very poor people, you know, very very uh

[52:44] small people, very like elderly and and

[52:47] uh and and uh young and and women um and

[52:50] and people who were too poor to afford

[52:52] shoes.

[52:54] >> Now, I understand that some Iraqi

[52:57] officials have charged that this story

[52:59] that there was a suicide bomber in the

[53:01] midst uh that this whole thing was in

[53:03] their words a deliberate act of

[53:05] terrorism and yet other officials, Sunni

[53:08] officials deny that. Is there any

[53:10] evidence one way or the other?

[53:11] >> There's no evidence one way or the

[53:13] other. There's a there's as many stories

[53:14] as there are victims that we spoke to

[53:17] today. Um and we haven't been able to

[53:19] nail down anything. Um I will say that

[53:21] most of the people most of the military

[53:23] officials and security officials um that

[53:25] I spoke to on the scene uh conceded that

[53:28] um their security precautions played a

[53:30] big role in in in in sort of in in

[53:33] exacerbating the problems here. um the

[53:36] concrete bar I took I spoke to several

[53:38] high level military officials who were

[53:40] saying that you know we had ordered

[53:41] these concrete barriers that were in the

[53:43] middle of this bridge to be removed um

[53:46] that you know we could foresee this

[53:47] trouble that these concrete barriers

[53:49] that were there to prevent uh the uh the

[53:51] the vehicles from traveling back and

[53:53] forth between Sunni Adamia and Shiite

[53:55] Kadmia would create problems for

[53:57] pedestrians that this bridge was not

[53:59] ready for pedestrians for some reason

[54:01] these concrete barriers were not

[54:02] removed. So is it clear then um or is it

[54:06] believed that this was a deliberate

[54:08] effort to set one community against the

[54:11] other uh or is it still too much

[54:13] confusion to know?

[54:15] >> It's absolutely impossible to know and

[54:17] and and I think that you know it's it's

[54:18] good to be cautious in this in this uh

[54:21] in this arena. Um, you know, like

[54:23] traditionally, uh, the the residents of

[54:25] Admiria, which is the Sunni Arab

[54:27] neighborhood right across the the the

[54:28] river from Kadmia, are known for giving

[54:31] water and and refreshments and and

[54:33] sweets to the uh the pilgrims that walk

[54:36] across. Um, and and and today there was

[54:38] a police trucks going around saying, you

[54:40] know, um, uh, don't drink the water,

[54:43] it's poison. And, you know, there was

[54:44] these rumors going around that the

[54:46] Sunnis were trying to poison the the

[54:47] Shiites. Um, and we could find no real

[54:50] evidence of that. Um and and you know

[54:52] even today even amidst this chaos and

[54:54] amidst all of this uh this this tension

[54:57] we we found uh Sunni Arab uh people who

[55:00] helped victims and and took them to the

[55:02] hospitals. So it's not clear that the

[55:05] sectarianism drove this event.

[55:07] >> What was the reaction? What has been the

[55:09] reaction in among the people of Baghdad?

[55:12] Well, I can say that a large number of

[55:14] the victims were from Solder City. And

[55:18] tonight, Solder City is is a scene of

[55:20] utter mourning and and grief. Um, as as

[55:23] people set up funeral tents and and get

[55:26] bodies prepared um for burial down in

[55:28] the Shiite shrine city of Najaf

[55:30] tomorrow. Um, people are very angry

[55:33] there and very upset. Sold city, as as

[55:35] some viewers may know, is the uh uh is a

[55:38] is a vast Shiite slum in East Baghdad.

[55:40] And these are people who are lacking

[55:42] services. They don't get much water.

[55:44] They don't get uh any any you know

[55:46] sewage. They don't have electricity. And

[55:48] this just adds to their misery.

[55:51] >> Adds to the tension as well I suppose

[55:53] between the two communities just at a

[55:55] point when you're when the the country

[55:57] is trying to move towards a

[55:59] constitution.

[56:00] >> That may be but it's at this point it's

[56:01] also sort of creating problems for the

[56:03] uh uh the the government. um you know

[56:07] and it it could very well be that it was

[56:10] more a matter of municipal

[56:12] uh mismanagement that that caused this.

[56:15] You know, it remains to be investigated,

[56:17] but it it seems like the um uh crowd

[56:20] control strategy that they employed here

[56:23] um knowing full well that there would be

[56:24] a million pilgrims um could have been

[56:27] probably better handled uh there there

[56:30] there were less pilgrims, many were

[56:32] saying, this year than last year. So,

[56:34] you know, they should have known that

[56:35] there would have been this many

[56:37] pilgrims, Iraqis say. Um, and the people

[56:39] that I spoke to at the scene, uh, quite

[56:42] frankly, they blamed Ibrahim Jafar's

[56:44] government, prime minister's government

[56:46] for for the handling of this rather

[56:48] than, uh, I didn't hear any sectarian

[56:51] slogans.

[56:52] >> And finally, I understand that there are

[56:54] some what three days of mourning,

[56:56] national mourning that have has been

[56:58] declared.

[56:59] >> Yeah. Ibrahim Jafari, the prime minister

[57:01] has declared a state of a state of

[57:03] mourning. It should be said also that

[57:05] the United States government has uh uh

[57:08] expressed its condolences and and

[57:09] offered to help in any way it can uh by

[57:12] releasing a statement uh from uh um

[57:15] Ambassador Zme Khalil.

[57:18] >> Boru Darahi, thank you very much for

[57:20] filling us in.

[57:21] >> It's been a pleasure. Thank you.

[57:30] And again, the major developments on the

[57:32] hurricane. The mayor of New Orleans said

[57:34] Katrina killed hundreds of people,

[57:36] possibly thousands. Water stopped

[57:38] pouring through breached levies, but

[57:40] most of the city was still flooded.

[57:42] Officials in Mississippi reported at

[57:44] least 110 people killed there. President

[57:46] Bush said the recovery could take years,

[57:49] but he said the Gulf Coast and New

[57:50] Orleans will come back. And late today,

[57:52] in an unrelated story, federal

[57:54] authorities announced terror indictments

[57:57] in Los Angeles. Four people allegedly

[57:59] plotted to attack