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CNN SUNDAY MORNING

State, Federal Authorities Sending Mixed Signals on Repopulating New Orleans

Aired September 18, 2005 - 09:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning, everyone. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING, I'm Betty Nguyen.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Tony Harris. All day today, on left side of your screen, you will see pictures of children who have been missing since the arrival of Hurricane Katrina nearly three weeks ago now.

NGUYEN: We are working with National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help bring Gulf Coast families back together. Some parents though don't have reason pictures of their children. You can see it right now, there's just a silhouette up there. All we have are names and ages. But, if you recognize either the name or the picture of the children, please call the number on your screen. It's 1-800-843-5678 or 1-800-the-lost.

HARRIS: And we begin this hour with mixed signals New Orleans. The mayor is putting out the welcome mat allowing some evacuees to come back home but the man in charge of the relief effort says, not so fast. Business owners in the Garden District have started to stream back in to survey the damage. But Vice Admiral Thad Allen says residents should consider delaying their return due to health and safety concerns. Live now to CNN's Mary Snow in New Orleans.

Mary, good morning.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Tony, and Mayor Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, is defending his plan to rephrase the population here, saying that day one was smooth and successful. He also said that the city of New Orleans worked cooperatively with the federal government to develop a sensible re-entry plan.

Here, today, we are in Saint Bernard Parish, and this is one spot where people will not be returning anytime soon permanently. This weekend, people started coming in to see firsthand the damage, because the water has receded. And this is what they're looking at, Tony, if you can see, we're going to have Dave pan over and see some of the thick cakes of mud and sludge, this after water as high as 13 feet were -- had to recede from these areas. Also, some of the homes had been ripped from their foundations. People are coming back and saying that they were absolutely shocked and heart broken, really they're using words like "decimated" to describe this area.

Also, residents of Saint Bernard parish were told earlier this week that they will not be allowed to return here permanently for perhaps another six months. In the "Times-Picayune" today says that about 75 percent of the homes in this parish will have to be raised. There's also an environmental concern, 89,000 gallons of gasoline spilled, most of it has been contained, but still a lot of worries there. Now, it is a very different scene in areas that suffered less amount of damage. Uptown district, the French Quarter and the central business district, these three areas started reopening to business owners this weekend as they came in and assessed the damage firsthand. This the first step towards rebuilding.

Now, tomorrow some residents of Algiers will be allowed to return to their homes. That area has been up and functional, and that is really the first area will residents be able to return. But here in Saint Bernard Parish a very different scene. And we want to show you something. One sign of life we found this morning while we were here is a lone dog we found. He had been barking in a yard. Our crew members were able to feed him, give him some water, and he is OK. So, if anybody sees this dog and recognizing him, he is OK and we are in the process of contacting animal rescue. We have -- we'll tell them where he is. But, that is the scene that is here in Saint Bernard which has a daunting task to rebuild.

HARRIS: Mare, that dog looks like it's been through some -- well, it's been through a hurricane.

SNOW: Yeah.

HARRIS: I have to ask you a couple of questions. First of all, do you numbers you need to animal control? Is that something we can help you with?

SNOW: Yes, we are in the process of doing that.

HARRIS: OK great. With regard to Algiers is this a situation where people are going to be allowed back in their homes to stay or are they going to allowed to, under some kind of curfew? And power, electricity, is the juice back on there?

SNOW: Algiers, really is in the best shape of any community around here. People are going to allowed to return to their homes. Most of the power, if not all of it, has been restored there, but the rest of the city is a very different situation. The water, though, is also different there. For most of the city, it is not to be drunk -- people are not to drink it, they can't bathe in it, but Algiers we are being told that power is being restored and the mayor is (INAUDIBLE), he initially had said that within the next week or two areas that can be restored to power will get electricity within the next week and two.

HARRIS: OK, Mary Snow, appreciate it. Mary thank you.

And as the gulf region begins to turn the corner toward recovery, CNN will continue keeping you as close to the story as possible. Beginning tomorrow and all week we'll be reporting zip code by zip code as New Orleans rebuilds. Tomorrow we focus in on 70114 the Algiers district that we were just talking about. It's the only west bank part of New Orleans -- of Orleans Parish and it's named for a sharp right angle bend in the Mississippi River. And of course, we'll continue tracking developments throughout the gulf region.

And then later this morning, Vice Admiral Thad Allen, director of Katrina relief operations, will be on "Late Edition" with wolf Blitzer. That's at a special time, 11:00 a.m. Eastern, 8:00 a.m. in the West.

NGUYEN: Tony, talk about will to survive for 18 days Gerald Martin sat trapped in the attic in New Orleans. His house surrounded by toxic floodwaters. Finally a search and rescue team located the 76-year-old man, here he is, with no food, and his water running out. Searchers in a boat heard him call out, "Hey, over here!" How he survived more than two weeks in the attic with temperatures in mid 90s is anybody's guess. Rescuers said Gerald Martin was in surprisingly good spirits, but of course, very thirsty and very lucky to be alive.

HARRIS: All right, as if you didn't need a reminder, hurricane season isn't over. Two new storms are spinning in the Atlantic Ocean.

NGUYEN: Yeah, talk about reminders, something we definitely don't want to hear. And Jacqui Jeras is here, though, to talk about what is happening out there.

Good morning Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning guys. And we need to hear it because it could be affecting the United States, especially TD No. 18, if you live in the Florida Keys or south Florida; you need to pay close attention to the storm's approach Monday night and into Tuesday. It may or may not make landfall here across south Florida. It's expected to be moving through the Florida Strait. So, hopefully it'll just sneak on through there. But, we'll have to wait and see as it continues to develop. It should be strengthening; 30-mile-an-hour winds now, but expected to become Tropical Storm Rita within the next 24 hours or so.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands also for the southeastern Bahamas. And then a hurricane watch in affect for the northwestern Bahamas as the storm will likely reach hurricane strength over the next two or three days.

Here's the forecast track for the National Hurricane Center. You can see it's just forecasted to move right over the open water and just kind of stay in this area. But the storm be will be large enough that either way we're likely going to see some of these outer band across south Florida and into the Keys and possibly over Cuba as well. We'll monitor this closely and continue to bring you updates.

We also tropical storm Philippe right there a couple hundred miles away from the Lesser Antilles, yet. This one is forecast to move on up towards the north and to the west hopefully staying away from the United States coastline. We'll worry about Philippe a little bit later when and if it gets a little bit closer.

Back here the home today, some strong showers and thunderstorm across the nation's mixed section, then pounding central parts of Missouri. We've been watching the fog in the Ohio Valley all morning. Checking in on Cincinnati, we can take a quick peek at Cincinnati. Take a look at that. You can't see a whole heck of a lot at this hour. An eighth of the mile visibility should be improving in the next two hours. We'll talk more about the rest of the nation's forecast, I promise, before the end of the hour. Back to you guys.

NGUYEN: Like pea soup there in Cincinnati. Thank you Jacqui.

It is a chilling thought, hundreds perhaps thousands of children are still separated from their parents in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. CNN has been working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help reunite them. And thanks to you, it is working. CNN's Kimberly Osias joins us now from Alexandria, Virginia with much more on this. And of course everyone is elated to know that it's working. We need it work even more -- Kimberly.

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Betty. Well, it's a little bit quiet here right now, but don't let that sound mislead you because there are a number of volunteers also manning the phones upstairs which you can't see. And it's -- you know, these volunteers have been working very, very long hours. And this is a full push, unlike any other. I mean, nobody's really asking for money here. What they're doing is they're asking for you to look at those names because a lot of times all we have are names on the right side of your screen and to see if that keys any kind of memory for you or when you look at those pictures of children, if any of their images remind you of anything because each clue can actually help put together the piece of puzzle in helping to find these children. Join me now is Tom Shamshack and he came from Massachusetts. You were a former police chief, I know, there about of we've chatted some yesterday.

TOM SHAMSHACK, VOLUNTEER: Yes.

OSIAS: Long days, really tough, but yet this is something that you really feel in your heart you feel called to do.

SHAMSHACK: Absolutely. It's paying off-we are connecting families reuniting loved ones and that's what this is all about.

OSIAS: Now, this is something that is different. I mean, any -- no other investigation is quite like this. I mean there are all kinds of complications, oftentimes cell phones aren't working. How is sort of the lack of information or sort of old photographs and sometimes not even photographs does that hinder your effort?

SHAMSHACK: Well, it may impede, but in the long run, the thrust of each investigation lends itself to a resolution. There are people -- we take calls initially here and then there are more advanced investigations that link those threads together that you were talking about. So you know, it may be an impediment, but certainly it's not an insurmountable obstacle.

OSIAS: And also, I mean, it's not just when those sort of "eureka" moments happen in the big successes. I know there are also -- I mean, we were talking a little bit about how it's providing hope to families. I mean, as these days go on, is it dismal or are you thinking things can still happen?

SHAMSHACK: I think things will still happen. I mean, we do a lot of crisis invention along the way, but that's soothing to family members. But the -- you know, I'm quite confident that over the long haul we will reunite virtually all of these families. Just given, you know, the amount of energy and focus that's being put on and a lot of credit goes to CNN for seizing the initiative in putting this out there.

OSIAS: Well really, the credit to you, of course, I mean we really are hoping that the public will look at these photographs and then call in and sort the amalgamation, a big effort for everybody -- Betty, Tony.

NGUYEN: All of yesterday, Kimberly, we want to hear those phones ringing once again today.

HARRIS: Yeah, there you go. (LAUGHING)

NGUYEN: Thank you.

HARRIS: And some other stories across America this morning. It is party time in Louisiana. The Festivals Acadians in Lafayette. I got a friend, a new neighbor, from Louisiana is here.

NGUYEN: That's how you say it?

HARRIS: That's how you say it. Lafayette.

NGUYEN: Lafayette.

HARRIS: Lafayette. Is said to be the biggest Cajun festival in the world and there are plenty of partygoers doing the two-step, as you can see. Nearly all of Lafayette's 150 people are helping shelter Katrina evacuees from New Orleans.

Fire lights up the night sky south of Miami, trouble is it's burning out of control in a landfill. So, while it will be hard to contain it might not smell good, either. And dumping there is probably on hold for a while.

Federal transportation inspectors are investigating a fatal train derailment in Chicago. Two passengers were killed and more than 80 others injured. The double-decker commuter train was carrying 185 passengers Saturday when the locomotive and five railcars jumped the tracks south of downtown.

Some lucky lottery player is a few dollars richer this morning, Betty.

NGUYEN: Just a few.

HARRIS: Two-hundred-fifty million?

NGUYEN: Oh, that's nice.

HARRIS: Yeah, the winning Megamillion ticket was sold at this store in New Jersey, 250 million bones. That's the prize. That's before taxes, of course.

NGUYEN: Oh, but who cares at that point. You're still going to be a multimillionaire. Just got to claim that prize. Whoever it is...

HARRIS: After taxes, you're broke.

NGUYEN: No.

HARRIS: After taxes you got...

NGUYEN: I'll take it after taxes, Tony.

HARRIS: And still ahead this morning, taking insurance companies to court. Can homeowner policies that didn't cover flood damage still be forced to pay up the fine line that's leading to a big fight, that's next.

NGUYEN: And later, turning the impossible into mission accomplished. Housing some 26,000 evacuees in Houston. Meet the teen who made it all happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Making the distinction amidst the destruction. Millions are at stake as the legal wrangling begins over who should pay for the rebuilding bill. CNN's Allan Chernoff has more from the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Marion Williams' insurance adjuster looked at his home's damage and said, "It's the result of a flood, not a hurricane."

MARION WILLIAMS, BILOXI RESIDENT: It was driven by the wind -- the wind, the hurricane is wind, you know, strong wind that blow it. It pushed the water in here.

CHERNOFF: Williams has no flood insurance, neither does his neighbor, 82-year-old Bill Vierling, still waiting for his insurance adjuster Vierling he'll fears he'll also hear the damage came from a flood.

BILL VIERLING, BILOXI RESIDENT: Baloney. All the way through here from the beach all the way through diagonally across here, there's evidence right on down the line of some low pressure sucking things up. Flood didn't do that.

CHERNOFF: in a lawsuit filed Thursday, Mississippi's attorney general charges insurance companies with illegally trying to get out of paying compensation to Katrina's victim. JIM HOOD, MISSISSIPPI ATTORNEY GENERAL: If we don't get this stopped what insurance companies are trying to do, it's going to bankrupt the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, Louisiana, and parts of Alabama, as well.

CHERNOFF (on camera): The insurance companies and their "standard policies" exclude damage resulting from water, even if that water is driven by wind. The companies say, homeowners need to buy separate flood insurance, offered by FEMA. But relatively few people in the area bought such insurance because this is not a designated flood zone.

(voice-over): Named in the lawsuit and are State Farm, Nationwide, All State, and other insurers. State Farm said, "The attorney general's action threatens to undermine the insurance industry's financial stability." Nationwide said, "It was deeply disappointed with the attorney general's charges." All State said, "It's unfortunate that a lawsuit has been filed so early in the recovery process."

The industry's trade group says, "The policies are clear."

JEANNE SALVATORE, INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE: The insurance industry is not charging them for flooding and flooding is not covered under standard homeowner's policy.

CHERNOFF: The Red Cross estimate Katrina damaged more than one- third of the home as long Mississippi's Gulf Coast. Residents like Bill Vierling hope the state's lawsuit will get insurance companies to soften their stance. He says his only other hope is a bailout from the federal government.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, Biloxi, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Hmm. With so much money at stake the legal battle will certainly be hard fought. Robert Wooley knows a few things about insurance policies. He is Louisiana's insurance commissioner and he joins us live from Baton Rouge with more.

Good to see you, sir.

ROBERT WOOLEY, LOUISIANA INSURANCE COMMISSIONER: Good to see you, Tony. How you?

HARRIS: Good. Good. Well, let's see if we can cut through this. Are you concerned, Robert, that you're about to see kind of a flood, sorry pardon the pun, of lawsuits coming out of policy owners who are, you know, just distressed right now not knowing which way to turn? Are you foreseeing just a lot of lawsuits and maybe class- action suits?

WOOLEY: I think there'll be a lawsuits, in fact, some of them filed here in Louisiana already and we're going to deal with them just like we have everything. But, you know, what people have to realize is 60 percent of the people in this country are underinsured. Everybody takes that chance that it won't happen here. In fact the World Trade Center was underinsured. They only insured the collapse of one tower. They never thought of a catastrophe that would eliminate both towers. So, it's not uncommon. People take that chance. We go around every year at start of hurricane season and tell people, your homeowner's doesn't cover flood. It floods in areas that don't normally flood during hurricane season and you should purchase additional coverage.

HARRIS: So, as state's insurance commissioner, what are your jobs here? I mean, are you working with the insurance industry? Are you a liaison for homeowners and their insurance companies?

WOOLEY: I have a balancing act to do. I protect the policyholders I make sure that they get every penny they're entitled to. But, also I have an obligation to make sure insurance companies have the money to pay claims when the time comes that they are solvent they don't do things, invest in risky things. We make sure that these companies are solvent. And that's going to be the problem. If you start making them pay for something that they were not accepting a premium for and weren't reserving for, then you may not bankrupt them now, but you'll impair them. And when will they bankrupt is the question, not if they will, but when they will, which disaster is it going to be? Is it going to be in your hometown, you know, and you're going to be suing then going why did you spend all of my money on Louisiana claims that you didn't know.

HARRIS: Hey Robert...

WOOLEY: I'm going to sue you now because you did that.

HARRIS: Hey Robert, let me ask you something. How do you come into Louisiana OK, and some of these cities in Florida, as an insurance company and not provide flood insurance? How do you do that?

WOOLEY: Because the National Flood Insurance Program was set up in this country to cover flood. And those companies that work with in NFIP, in fact State Farm sells flood insurance, but they sell it for the National Flood Insurance Program. All State sells flood insurance. You could actually buy an additional flood coverage, there's a lot of gaps in coverage. $250,000 is the max. But you could go to a company and buy more if you so desired.

HARRIS: Hmmm, OK. Robert, let's leave it there. You had a last point?

WOOLEY: No. The other problem is that most people don't buy it unless they're required by their mortgage company. And their mortgage company will require it because they're trying to protect their investment in your home.

HARRIS: OK, Robert Woolly, Louisiana state insurance commissioner. Robert, thanks for the time this morning.

WOOLEY: Thank you. NGUYEN: Afghanis and Germans head to the polls today and we will tell you why both could be history making. That is coming up when we go global.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Two countries are holding elections today and the outcome could change the way the U.S. government relates to them.

Also more deadly violence in Iraq.

NGUYEN: Let's turn it now over to the international desk and CNN's Hala Gorani.

Good morning.

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Betty. Good morning Tony. Another deadly day in Iraq. Two civilians were killed when Baquba when attackers threw grenades and other explosives at a busy shopping area in a Shiite neighborhood. There were other attacks, one of them a U.S. soldier was killed while on patrol in western Iraq. His Army combat team was hit by a roadside bomb in a volatile region near Syria. Now, this caps a bloody week -- a very bloody week of upsurge in violence where car bombs and insurgent attacks have killed more than 250 across the country.

A historic day in Afghanistan, as you were saying, polls are now closed in that country's first parliamentary election in over 30 years. There were threats from the Taliban to disrupt the vote, but reports from the ground seem to suggest turnout was relatively high. Final results are expected at the end of October.

And history could be made today in Germany while the country -- will the country get its first-ever woman chancellor? Recent surveys give an edge to conservative challenger Angela Merkel over incumbent Gerhard Schroeder. But 25 percent of the voters say they're still undecided, so at this stage, it's anyone's victory -- Tony, Betty.

HARRIS: Really closed in the days leading up to this election.

GORANI: Right.

HARRIS: She had a big lead and it closed up.

NGUYEN: Thank you Hala.

HARRIS: Hala, thank you.

It's still standing but not for long. Coming up, Saint Bernard Parish nearly destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Could man now finish what Mother Nature started? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mother Nature holds many secrets even about robots. And James McLurkin is using the SWARM project to reveal them.

JAMES MCLURKIN, MIT. GRADUATE STUDENT: The inspiration for the SWARM comes from nature. Ants, bees, termites all insects produce very complicated group behaviors.

SIEBERG: And it's these group behaviors that McLurkin is aiming to imitate. By creating software he hopes to understand how to program large numbers of robots to perform tasks that are complicated and dangerous for humans.

MCLURKIN: We have an earthquake and have a rubble pile this is a task humans are particularly ill suited for. Imagine you have 20,000 cockroach sized robots and they scurry to the pile looking for a survivor and they send a signal out. You get a rat sized structural engineer, that robot will then assess the structural integrity of the building, figure out how to pull the rubble off the survivor is something that is almost impossible for us to do with current technology.

SIEBERG: McLurkin, the 2003 winner of the $30,000 Lemelson MIT Student Prize says there's still many technical issues to be worked out such as power sources for these energy hungry robots.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this CNN SUNDAY MORNING I'm Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. All day today on the left side of your screen you will see pictures of children who have been missing since the arrival of Hurricane Katrina nearly three week ago.

NGUYEN: We are working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help reunite children with their families. Some parents, though, don't have reason pictures of their children, so you will only see a silhouette, which you see right now in most cases, of course, there are others who do have pictures. But, if you recognize any children, please call the number that you see on your screen, it is 1-800-843-5678. That's 1-800-the-lost.

HARRIS: While New Orleans talks about repopulating, there's a far different discussion taking place in neighboring Saint Bernard Parish. CNN's Sean Callebs explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Virtually every house and business in Saint Bernard Parish has been damaged or destroyed, 27,000 homes, gone. People here have nowhere to live or work.

AL BOUDREAUX, ACCOUNTANT: Total devastation.

CALLEBS: Al and Linda Boudreaux are partners in an accounting business and came back for the day to salvage what they could. Their humble office building still stands but it doesn't stand for much.

LINDA BOUDREAUX, ACCOUNTANT: It feels like the end of the world, you know? How you imagine it would be.

CALLEBS: Saint Bernard Parish is 30 minutes east of New Orleans. Damage here is so severe, residents had been told they can't return for months. If ever there was a beacon in the night for storm victims, this is it, the Saint Bernard Parish courthouse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank goodness it was an island that saved a lot of people.

CALLEBS: Judge Kirk Vaughn (ph) is the senior judge in the parish. He says the night Katrina blew in as many as 500 people sought solace as in this courthouse. Today, Vaughn, and emergency personnel still call this building home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the 29th, where you're sitting, you'd be under water. Your head would be under water. The water came up to the courthouse like that. It's never done that before.

CALLEBS: Many of the town leaders have always called this home. When they talk about disasters, they don't refer to certain years. They recall names like Betsy and Camille. In times of crisis, citizens always come here for safety from the storms. Now judicial leaders are looking to set up a temporary courthouse perhaps in the town of Slidell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no chance of anybody getting back here to conduct any type of business for the foreseeable future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to submit a man to Louisiana Supreme Court so we can begin functioning and get to the criminal justice back in order.

CALLEBS: At best, the judges in Saint Bernard Parish expect to have modular buildings instead of this stately old structure that dates back to the great depression.

As the accountants squeeze remnants of three careers into two vehicles all agree to sharing one dream -- the day when residents once again brighten the streets of their rural parish.

Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, virtually nothing left in Saint Bernard Parish. What is it in its future? Joining us to talk about that is Louisiana Congressman Charlie Melancon who represents a district that includes Saint Bernard. He joins us by phone.

The first thing I want to ask you, is you have walked through the homes this parish. Talk to us about specifically what you've seen?

REP. CHARLIE MELANCON (D), LOUISIANA: Let me clarify that. I've walked through streets and looked into the homes. No one, no normal person, other than if it was their personal house would want to walk into the homes. The devastation, it looks like a small tornado that was just dirt, mud, and water, and sewer, and everything all combined inside the houses. Don't look for the refrigerator in the traditional place, it's in the bedroom, even thought you've have a tough time getting it in the house. It could have been in the back of the house. Spoke to one couple, actually the coroner; he and his wife encountered two snakes as they went through their house looking for valuable and mementos and such as that. And so, it's a mess down there. It is an absolute mess. Yesterday, as I told friend and my daughter when I was talking to her there is going to be a lot of tears cried in Saint Bernard yesterday because it's not going to what they left. It will be something that they couldn't imagine until they actually saw it.

NGUYEN: Yeah, we're actually looking at some video right now and it is just sheer devastation there. And that doesn't even begin to describe the smell. The stench of what is left behind. So your proposal -- or what do you think about, at least, this proposal of tearing down all of the homes and starting anew? Is that the only way to do this? Because there are thousands of homes.

MELANCON: Yeah, I would think, and that's -- and I'm not the one that makes that decision -- but to have each insurance company go there, door by door, take picture by picture, handle claim by claim will take an eternity. If the insurance companies that have the coverage down there would just realize up front they've got a total loss, just as soon, clear it and pay the limits of the policy, give the people the benefits that are there and move forward, this community and the other communities affected can be back and up in line a lot quicker. It is not going to be a short period of time. It's not a three month or six month, and probably won't even a total of a year before this community become a real community again. But it can and it will because I know the determination of the people in this area.

NGUYEN: So, how do you even begin to tear down a whole town? And who's going to pay for that?

MELANCON: Well the -- you know, those people that had insurance, their carriers should allow for the demolition and then have the cost for the reconstruction. Those that don't I would assume that there's allocations or allotments in FEMA moneys for people to start rebuilding in some way, shape or form. Now, one of the questions is going to be, is there a requirement that the houses are off the ground a certain height and such as that? And I'm sure that's something that'll have to be resolved.

NGUYEN: Here's another question that we have as far as those requirements go. And Tony and I have been talking about this, this morning. Because a lot of people in these areas don't have flood insurance which means a lot of their damage is not covered. So when you go to rebuilding, should you require the people who move back into these areas to have, to obtain, to pay for flood insurance? MELANCON: Well, as you noted, people remember these things by the name and not the year or the -- and so what you've got here, the topping of the levees, this is not normal and if in fact we come back and the administration and the Congress agree that we ought to be putting these levees up at a higher level rather than for a Category 3, at either a four or a five, then you're going to have areas that are going to be flood prone and you're probably need to make sure they build to that level. But, you know, you don't -- it's just like running a business. You don't put 20 people at the counter if you only need three and you don't -- you can't put those people all day long in anticipation that you might have enough people to work 20 at a time. So, same thing that applies in a business sense would apply here. You don't make them do something have expenses unless it's the norm. And if it is the norm, then you know, then yes, the application would be a reasonable request.

NGUYEN: Because a lot of people probably won't be able to afford that right now. They're just trying to put their houses back together. Reprehensive Charlie Melancon with Louisiana's third district which of course includes Saint Bernard Parish. We thank you for your insight today.

MELANCON: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Tony.

HARRIS: He was good. That was good.

A partisan group of congressional leaders are heading to the Gulf Coast region to see firsthand the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina. The group will first visit New Orleans and see how the recovery effort there is going and then it's on to hard-hit Waveland, Mississippi. The contingent includes members of the Homeland Security and Government Reform committees.

As the gulf region begins to turn the corner toward recovery, CNN will continue keeping you as close to the story as possible. Beginning tomorrow and all week we'll be reporting zip code by zip code as New Orleans rebuilds. Tomorrow we focus in on 70114, the historic Algiers district. It's right across the river from the French Quarter and provides a great view of downtown. But this neighborhood provides its residents with everything associated with home, the schools, shops, churches and, all things that make it a great place to call home and of course we will continue to tracking developments throughout the entire gulf region.

NGUYEN: Straight ahead, housing 26,000 evacuees in less than 24 hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIEUTENANT JOE LEONARD, U.S. COAST GUARD: If somebody called me two weeks ago, you're going to be running the largest shelter in U.S. history, I would have said they're nuts.

(END VIDEO CLIP) NGUYEN: Well guess what? They're not nuts. Thousands washed out by Katrina were welcomed in Texas. Meet the team who made it all happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And our top stories this morning, in Iraq a member of Parliament was among three people killed in a drive-by shooting about 25 miles north of Baghdad. In a separate incident, a U.S. soldier was killed in a bomb blast.

In Chicago, still no word on what caused a commuter train to derail yesterday. Two people were killed. The Metra train was inbound from Joliet, Illinois. More than 80 people were hurt.

And Michael Jackson says he's working full speed ahead on a charity song for the victim of Hurricane Katrina. He told the Associated Press he and his children are in Bahrain resting and recovering from his molestation trial.

And all day today on the left side of your screen, you will see pictures of children who have been missing since the arrival of Hurricane Katrina nearly three weeks ago.

NGUYEN: We're working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help bring Gulf Coast families back together. Now, some parents don't have recent pictures of the children, so you will see a silhouette instead of a picture. Whether it's a name or face if you recognize any of these children, please call the phone number that you see on your screen. It is 1-800-843-5678. That is 1- 800-the-lost.

And getting thousands upon thousands out of Hurricane Katrina's path and into shelters was a logistical nightmare; about 375,000 evacuees were relocated to Texas. Thousands of those who were housed at a Houston Astrodome have now moved next door to the Reliant Arena area. Now, getting the job done, though, literally made grown men cry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEONARD: I want to know how things are flowing over there because I know they had some problems yesterday.

NGUYEN (voice-over): Whatever today's problem is it doesn't even compare what the people in this room faced when Katrina slammed ashore. The mission, find shelter for tens of thousands and do it in less than 24 hours.

LEONARD: If somebody told me two week ago, you're returning the largest shelter in U.S. history, I would have said you're nuts.

Do you think we'll have a resolution on that today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope so. NGUYEN: But Lieutenant Joe Leonard of the Coast Guard and his team of federal, state, and local officials refused to believe this was mission impossible. In a matter of hours they had shelter, showers, and food for desperate hurricane survivors who fled to Houston for help.

(on camera): A lot of people say the reason why this works is, of course, there is a team effort. But a main part of that is you and the role you're playing in all of this.

LEONARD: I appreciate that. I am part of a team here, this I not a one-man show. Anyone who thinks this is a one-man show is crazy. And if they want to try it, they're more than welcome to come down here and try to run this by yourself.

RICK FLANAGAN, ASST. CHIEF HOUSTON FIRE DEPT.: You know the purpose of why we're here.

NGUYEN (voice-over): At his side are the other two men leading the effort of epic proportion. Rick Flanagan, assistant chief of the Houston Fire Department and Bob Royale, chief of the Houston Fire Marshals Hazardous Materials Team.

For him this mission hits close to home.

BOB ROYAL, CHIEF HOUSTON FIRE MARSHALS HAZMAT: We have extended family that's lost there -- me and Ralph, have extended family that's lost their homes in Slidell, Louisiana.

NGUYEN: With the need so great, Lieutenant Leonard's own father, who's faced some 35 disasters in his lifetime with the military and Red Cross is back on the front lines.

NGUYEN (on camera): Are you giving him any advice?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at all.

NGUYEN: Not at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just helping out.

LEONARD: I invited him down because of his knowledge and skills. I have never run a shelter in my life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But, the important thing is...

NGUYEN (voice-over): Whatever's happening in the room is working.

LEONARD: If we're not able to get everybody out, we should be able to move them down here by the end of the week.

NGUYEN: The goal, get all of the evacuees out of the four main shelters in Houston and into homes by the weekend.

LEONARD: Trying to do the best we can to get ourselves fired. NGUYEN: Representatives from New Orleans traveled with Louisiana's governor on this trip to thank Houston for its hospitality.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, because you all have been so great to us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do want you to know...

NGUYEN: When something remarkable happened...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that sound, that you hear, that's our counsel president Oliver Turner, who's just gotten an opportunity to see his wife and his daughter, so just bear with us a minute.

OLIVER TURNER, COUNSEL PRESIDENT: I said I wasn't going to cry no more.

NGUYEN: And that brought tears to the men who did the unimaginable. Together, they reunited families and changed lived including their own.

LEONARD: That was something. It's the first time I've seen a reunion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was great!

LEONARD: Yeah, that made this all worthwhile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And it was all worthwhile. Texas housing officials are offering more help to Katrina evacuees. They're providing dozens of rent-free homes in Houston and Dallas, Fort Worth.

HARRIS: Oh boy. Could another hurricane be headed for the gulf? The messenger, just the messenger, Jacqui Jeras has that in your forecast coming up on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Diehard fans of "Lost "or the "West Wing" listen up, CNN.com is your guide to the Emmy red carpet event this year. Learn how a newcomer show "Desperate Housewives" garnered a whopping 15 nominations including best comedy series while "Scrubs," which first aired in 2001 received its first Emmy nomination in that category. You can also learn more about the nominees in this gallery.

Also, check out Emmy fashions. See what Jennifer Aniston and Miss Piggy wore in '04. Plus, a look back at Emmy fashion trends including those made of feather and lace. Test your Emmy I.Q. with this audio quiz. And guess which clip belongs to which nominee.

And if you like to keep track of who's taking home a statuette, keep score with this printable ballot. And click though this interactive. Watch clips from nominees in six major categories as well. That's our special report on CNN.com/Emmys.

From the Dot-Com Desk I'm Richard Lui (ph).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: You know, if you're going to get this kind of news about the weather, at least it comes from someone who is as pleasant...

NGUYEN: As Jacqui.

HARRIS: As Jacqui Jeras.

NGUYEN: He always put a nice spin on it.

JERAS: You know, I don't even want to talk about it, you guys. It's so unbelievable. You know?

NGUYEN: Well, it's a tropical depression in every sense of the word.

HARRIS: That's right.

JERAS: Yeah, you know, that really is the way to put it. And you know, some of the new models are coming in. And I don't even want to tell you what they're saying because it's not a pretty picture. There's been -- there's high pressure that's sitting in the Gulf of Mexico, basically, right now. And if that high stays there, that means the storm is going to stay across the southern Gulf of Mexico and not affect the United States. Unfortunately some of the models are starting to shift the high farther off to the east and that means, we could have another landfalling Gulf Coast hurricane. So, we need to bear watching on this one. We'll get a new advisory in from the National Hurricane Center at 11:00.

Now it would still be a week away. First we need to keep in mind what's going to happen before that. And that means you across the Florida Keys and into south Florida. This is a tropical depression right now, TD No. 18. It is forecast to strengthen and likely become Tropical Storm Rita in the next 24 hours or so. It's moving off to the west right now, packing winds 30 miles per hour. The forecast has it moving through the Florida Straits. Hopefully that's what's going to happen because that's the best case scenario for you guys here. Unfortunately, it could be not great in terms of that it's going to stay over the open water which means, it's got that heat engine, means that can continue to strengthen, likely going to become a hurricane.

Look also at the timing on this one. Probably overnight Monday and into Tuesday it will at the very least bring in gusty winds, some high surf and also some pretty heavy rain across the Keys and southern Florida. What happens after that? We'll see what happens with that height. But if you live in Texas, you live in Louisiana, you live across anywhere really in the Gulf Coast, you need to pay attention. But I'm more concerned about the western Gulf of Mexico at this time, in addition to south Florida and the Keys. Philippe, not quite as worried about that. Well, we're not going to write it off. But, it is a tropical storm right now. It is forecast to head northward and stay away from the U.S. coastline. If there are any changes on that, we'll bring it to you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Way to go, Jacqui.

NGUYEN: That's the Jacqui we know.

JERAS: End it with a smile.

NGUYEN: Yes.

HARRIS: Nice job.

NGUYEN: Another hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING is straight ahead, so stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK).

DR. MAE JEMISON, THEN AND NOW: You know when you're growing up you have lots of things you want to do. I always assumed I would go into space.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ignition and liftoff.

ANNOUNCER: On September 12, 1992 at age 35, Dr. Mae Jemison boldly went where no African-American woman had gone before.

JEMISON: It was really after we got in orbit that I had a sensation, that I belonged anywhere in this universe.

ANNOUNCER: Jemison makes it her life mission to explore the universe in any way she can. This high achiever is also a chemical engineer, Peace Corps veteran, physician, author, and teacher.

In 1994, Jemison started an international science camp for teens called The Earth We Share. These days Jemison is the founder and president of the BioSentient Corporation where she is working on a device that provides mobile monitoring of people's nervous systems.

JEMISON: We think there are real application in the future for trying to identify certain diseases. It can also help people monitor how effective drugs are.

ANNOUNCER: In addition to her work in the sciences, Jemison says she may explore the field of politics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Well, here's a question: Is New Orleans safe enough for people to return? It depends on who you ask, it seems. The mayor says yes. But does the federal government agree? NGUYEN: And what happened to the victims of Katrina who left home without their medicine? A doctor tells his story of feeling helpless while trying to offer hope.

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