Storm Isaac Threatens New Orleans; Weathering The Storm
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. You're watching a special edition of "Starting Point," and we are coming to you live this morning from the French Quarter in New Orleans. Our "Starting Point" this morning is Isaac on the verge of becoming a full blown hurricane right now and taking aim at Louisiana, the biggest threat storm surge and rainfall. CNN forecasters are predicting flood waters up to 12 feet. And with an eye on Isaac, the Republicans press ahead with the national convention in Tampa. We've got a packed show for you this morning. We're going to be talking to New Orleans mayor, Mitch Landrieu, Louisiana senator, Mary Landrieu and David Vitter will join me. Congressman Randy Forbes of Virginia is my guest and columnist, Joel Stein, will join us. It's Tuesday, August 28th, and STARTING POINT begins right now. Good morning. We're coming to you live from the French quarter in New Orleans. Our "STARTING POINT" this morning is tropical storm Isaac, it is gaining strength and has overnight, and it's closing in on the Louisiana coast. The storm is expected to make landfall tonight or early tomorrow morning as a category one hurricane. Storm surge and potential flooding are the biggest concerns right now. Isaac is expected to bring as much as 20 inches of rain when it hits, could create storm surges up to 12 feet. Thousands of people in Louisiana, in Mississippi, and Alabama are evacuating. We've found many though, even here in New Orleans who have decided to hunker down and ride out the storm. Here's a live picture of Jackson square this morning, St. Peter's street, a slight wind. We've had rain on and off as well. The big question for the folks in this city and outside the city, will the updated levees and pumps hold against Isaac? CNN has got coverage for you this morning of tropical storm Isaac. Let's get right to Rob Marciano live this morning at the Port of New Orleans. Hey, Rob.</s>ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad. You're right about the levee and pump situation. That stuff is all beefed up and ready to go. They had a bit of a dry run during hurricane Gustav in 2008 but even more work has been done since then. It is not a hurricane yet but might as well be, 70-mile-per-hour winds and huge moisture field as well. The last couple frames of the satellite picture, the signature is becoming more classic, on the verge of becoming a hurricane officially. It's 150 miles southeast of New Orleans proper and heading directly for the French quarter and crescent city at 12 miles an hour. Forecast track highlights that. But at this stage of the game, the exact track is really of no consequence because so many people are going to be affected from Morgan City all the way up to Biloxi, the Gulfport area there. And the surge, anywhere from six to 12 feet, so they are fairly confident that levees we saw yesterday and I had the opportunity to fly over yesterday afternoon with the coast guard and elaborate system, 133 miles worth of this stuff, flood gates, canal closures and pump systems that are going to be put to the test when hurricane Isaac makes its way onshore. Again, a six to 12-foot storm surge expected. On top of that the rainfall is going to be excessive. This is what we expect for forecast rainfall totals, 10 to 18 inches of rain expected of a long duration event. This is probably going to be a longer duration event than hurricane Katrina. I know we keep making comparisons to Katrina. It is a weaker storm and not as big, but it's going to be moving slower. It's going to be longer duration wind and rain event. The question really Soledad, is we think the levees will hold up but how about the pump systems? They are only designed to pump an inch an hour and during a hurricane you can get three to four inches per hour. I think it's likely we'll see some flooding. The question is, how bad is it going to be?</s>O'BRIEN: That's the big question today. When you talk about making comparisons to Katrina, tomorrow will be the seventh anniversary of hurricane Katrina, something here in the gulf coast area knows very well. The massive storm triggering hurricane warnings along a wide stretch of the gulf coast, including the entire Mississippi coast, some spots very, very familiar with disaster. Katrina storm surge totally smashed homes in places like Waveland and Gulfport and long beach on the eastern side of the storm, killed more than 200 people in the state. Seven years later, those places are in the same dangerous position. Many people are evacuating there. David Mattingly is live in Gulfport with more on what's happening there. Good morning.</s>DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. What we're looking for right now is a lot of rain coming this way. When people look back at Katrina seven years ago, they talk about the storm surge. Storm surge from that storm would have been six to 10 feet over my head where I'm standing right now. They are not expecting anything like that with Isaac as it comes ashore. Instead they are going to be looking at a lot of rain and flooding in low lying areas. But so far two out of the three counties here on coastal Mississippi have declared mandatory evacuations for people living in some low- lying areas. But again, those evacuations are targeted. It's not a massive evacuation across the coast. Everyone, however, watching the storm closely. Over the years since Katrina, there's been a lot of rebuilding going on here all across the Mississippi coast, rebuilding structures and rebuilding infrastructure and roads and bridges and higher, stronger than it was before. And right now people are looking to this storm with more confidence than they would have been prior to Katrina but at the same time still treating this storm with respect. Watching to see what it's going to do now. Soledad?</s>O'BRIEN: David Mattingly for us in Gulfport. Appreciate the update. Time to get the latest. Richard Knabb, the director of the National Hurricane Center. Let's talk with what rob Marciano and David were telling me, storm surge and rain. Has to be the biggest concerns right now.</s>RICHARD KNABB, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: People often think of the hurricanes and tropical storms as primarily wind storms but that's just part of the equation. The water components are often the more deadly and sometimes the more damaging and we have two water hazards, the storm surge from the rainfall that could lead to inland flooding. Now, the storm surge still the potential on the Mississippi coast, southeast Louisiana is six to 12 feet in some spots, depending on exactly where the winds are pushing into the coast. That's why folks have been -- some folks have been told to evacuate from particular areas that are the most vulnerable. It's not just going to be a coast alley vent. As it moves inland, this large tropical storm, we're still anticipating to become a hurricane, is going to move slowly inland. It's the large size combined with the slow motion that's going to contribute to very large rainfall totals as this moves inland. And even outside this cone we could see very heavy rainfall totals. Some spots could see as much as 20 inches. That could lead to significant flooding and river flooding in a few days.</s>O'BRIEN: So let me ask a couple of questions, Richard. You talked about the eye wall forming and not forming. What's the significance of that and the fact it's slow moving, that means all of the rain is going to sit over whatever area that's happening, correct?</s>KNABB: Yes, the last few days Isaac has been struggling to develop a solid inner core and takes baby steps along the way. It's getting closer and closer and even right now, we see a blow-up of thunderstorms near the center the air force reconnaissance plane showing the pressure falling a little more, all indications it's getting there but hasn't getting over the threshold to become a hurricane yet. The other component is driven by the steering current around it and there's going to be a little bit of blocking high pressure ridge that will keep this from moving quickly inland. For any one spot in the area where it's going to be moving ashore, and this whole swath of moisture could drop a lot of rain for a lot of people. And that's the inland flood risk that we're concerned about. Inland flooding historically has been responsible for a lot of fatalities and tropical storms and hurricanes come ashore. So it's not just going to be a coastal event.</s>O'BRIEN: Thank you, Richard. We'll see you at the top of the next hour to get another advisory update from you. Folks living here in New Orleans are hoping that $10 billion in improvements to the levee system will hold during what is now the first real test. Senator David Vitter went out with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He's with us this morning. Nice to see you.</s>SEN. DAVID VITTER, (R) LOUISIANA: Good morning.</s>O'BRIEN: You've embedded yourself in the army corps of engineers. What did you want to figure out?</s>VITTER: This is going to be some sort of a test of the post Katrina system so I want to see how we all perform in the test including the corps of engineers in terms of their preparations and processes. I'm going to be with them all through the storm.</s>O'BRIEN: You've been very critical of them in the past. Yesterday we had weather like this, a little bit balmy, doesn't feel, rain on and off. How was yesterday?</s>VITTER: All of preparations seem really strong. We'll see how everything goes. Apparently this won't be a very, very string ent test, knock on wood because it will remain a relatively weak hurricane. We're hoping for that. It will be an important test for the system.</s>O'BRIEN: You've evacuated your family.</s>VITTER: Yes.</s>O'BRIEN: A lot of people are not evacuating.</s>VITTER: Yes. I think that's reasonable given the strength of the storm. I got them out of town so I could do my work and I knew they were safe. Given this nature of this storm, I think it's reasonable that most people would stay.</s>O'BRIEN: What's your biggest concern right now?</s>VITTER: My biggest --</s>O'BRIEN: Is it flooding, as we just heard from Richard Knabb?</s>VITTER: My biggest concern is not with the system that's been built since Katrina. It's with all of the areas outside that system. We really built the system for the last storm. There are major populated areas outside of that system, Western St. Charles, lower Jefferson, those are very, very vulnerable areas with significant population in them.</s>O'BRIEN: Many of them have already evacuated in some cases, like Plaquemines had mandatory evacuation. Of course seven years ago, hurricane Katrina, anybody who lived through that or even a reporter who came to cover it, it brings back a lot of bad feelings and anxiety. Is that what you're seeing?</s>VITTER: Yes, but, again, people in this area are very experienced and know this is not Katrina. So I think they are taking the proper precautions and taking things seriously without panicking.</s>O'BRIEN: I know there are some gaps that you found as you've been doing this chore with the Army Corps of Engineers. What are the gaps, and have they been fixed?</s>VITTER: These have been known and identified for quite some time. They are about eight specific discreet small gaps where the corps has to come in with temporary measures when a storm is coming like this. Usually that means one of two things, temporary sheet piling into the ground or big baskets --</s>O'BRIEN: Mesh sort of --</s>VITTER: With sand bags.</s>O'BRIEN: We'll check in with you again tomorrow morning so we can see how the second day went for you. Nice to have you.</s>VITTER: Good to be with you.</s>O'BRIEN: Good luck today. Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, we'll continue our special live coverage here in New Orleans. The storm clouds from Isaac taking center stage at the Republican National Convention taking place in Tampa. What happens if there is a major flooding event here? What would they do with the event? Would they cancel it? We'll talk to Congressman Randy Forbes up next. We have to take a short break and we're back in just a moment coming to you live from New Orleans.