President Bush Visits FEMA Headquarters
KAGAN: Before we went to break, we were listening into the news conference of the mayor of Galveston, Texas. We missed a little bit of what she had to say, so here's some tape for you.</s>MYR. LYDA ANN THOMAS, GALVESTON, TEXAS: It is suggested that they take a bedroll or their own linens. It is just a refuge, just for a few hours. So please don't plan to stay there. Once the storm passes, we will ask you to return to your homes, of course, as soon as the streets are clear enough for you to do that. There are Galveston Independent school district custodians there. That's all they are. They are there to help in any way they can. There are no nurses, no doctors, no triage. It is just a refuge, and I would like to make that clear. If there are people on Galveston Island who are fearful and who have not been able to leave, or have just now decided to leave, you may go to 53rd and N 1/2 (ph), the Alamo School, where you...</s>KAGAN: And so we were listening into Lyda Ann Thomas, the mayor of Galveston, Texas, talking about basically a shelter of a last resort for folks who are still in Galveston. If they really are afraid, they can go to this area, but as you heard, she was saying it is bare bones. It is not trained rescuers that are there. It is school janitors, and they are just doing it to give you a roof over your head. Expect to hear from President Bush. He went to FEMA headquarters in Washington D.C. earlier today to thank those who are working on planning in advance of Hurricane Rita, and he apparently did answer some questions while he was there. We'll be getting that videotape shortly and play it for you as we do get it. Meanwhile, looking at forecasters predicting Hurricane Rita could strike land some time overnight in the Beaumont, Port Arthur area of Texas, about 75 miles east of Houston. It includes a stretch of refineries and chemical plants. On the phone with us again from Port Arthur is Mark Sudduth. He is editor of the Web site hurricanetrack.com. I think actually hurricanelivenet.com -- Mark.</s>MARK SUDDUTH, HURRICANE TRACK.COM: You got them both right. Hurricanetrack is the free site and hurricanelivenet is our subscriber-based site. But hurricanetrack.com is where the public can get the latest information from what I'm doing. But I want to talk about what's going on here. The wind is starting to pick up. I think you can see a live feed from my camera there. We haven't had any rain yet here, but that's coming, and the people here are very nervous. I was talking with Steve Fudderman (ph) from CBS News, and he is very nervous himself. He was asking me what to expect. These folks have not seen a major hurricane in this area since 1983, I believe, with Hurricane Alicia, and they're on edge. They saw what had gone on with Katrina, and now they're seeing what's going on in New Orleans with the levee problem and -- but on the other hand, they are prepared. But they're very nervous, anxiously awaiting as this hurricane closes in.</s>KAGAN: Well, in your business, as a hurricane chaser, and expert, and lover and scientist, basically, you try to put yourself exactly where you have, and that is, it looks like you've gotten very close to where this Hurricane Rita is expected to make landfall.</s>SUDDUTH: Yes, that's correct. I do a lot of education work around the country each year. For example, I go around to different Lowe's Home Improvement stores. They're the biggest supporter of my work, and we have a massive education program, education based on experience. Seeing is believing, Daryn. I mean, you know that, seeing is believing. If I can show people how bad these hurricanes can be, but do that smartly by setting up these remote cameras and remote-weather stations. I'm not going to sit out in this hurricane. I'm not stupid. I've got children and people that are depending on me to survive, and I'm going to practice what I preach. Yet as the scientist in me wants to get close to this, I do have to be here where the worse conditions are going to come in to document, to record weather data and send that out over the Internet as best as I can, and to report to the world on what's going on, just like there are hundreds and hundreds of other journalists and storm chasers and universities doing excellent research. It's all about what's coming up in the next 20 hours or so.</s>KAGAN: OK, but in the next 20 hours, you have some help from some -- what you're calling virtual hurricane watchers. These are boxes that you're able to leave in more dangerous areas than it would be smart for you to stay.</s>SUDDUTH: That's correct. Real quick, the hurricanelivenet.com site is subscriber-based because I cannot provide free streaming video to a million people. The servers will crash. I mean, I think people should understand that. So we've kind of have clamped it down by having -- asking people to sign up. But, what that will allow them to do is see these three different remote cams that I'm going to set up. One is in my hotel room. That's the fourth camera. That will always be with me. The other three will be set up -- one in Port Arthur, right along the waterfront. One of them here at the hotel, with a bird's eye view down onto the parking lot. And two others that I haven't decided yet. Plus the weather station. But I will be shooting video and doing updates for hurricanetrack.com. Obviously, a free site, it doesn't cost a dime to go there. The other site, again, has to be subscriber-base because I just can't...</s>KAGAN: Right. Let me ask you...</s>SUDDUTH: It will crash.</s>KAGAN: Yes. Let me ask you -- because we did have a picture of what this virtual box looks like. It looks to me like a big, black suitcase.</s>SUDDUTH: There it is.</s>KAGAN: So how does it work? Yes. How does it work?</s>SUDDUTH: Yes, that's a Storm Case. People also -- they refer to them as a pelican case. But Storm Case is the brand name, made by the Hardigg Corporation. They're very tough boxes. I bought several of these and have tested them last year during Hurricane Ivan, this year during Hurricane Katrina...</s>KAGAN: So there's a camera -- is it a camera in there?</s>SUDDUTH: Yes, the camera -- inside these boxes, a giant battery, a VCR and a laptop, a Sprint PCS connection card and all the connections to get everything out. The camera runs outside the box through a sealed hole, through 90 feet of cable, if I need to, so I can put the boxes up high so they won't float away, like they did in Katrina. I did this same experiment in Katrina, but I lost the boxes. They got swept out to sea. And I have learned from that. And we'll see if I have, indeed, figured out a way to keep that from happening. But this is going to offer people a bird's -- I'm sorry, point of view, not bird's eye view, a point of view that would otherwise be lethal, perhaps, for me to do. And yet, we can still see what goes on. Even at night. Because two of the cameras are going to have night-vision on them.</s>KAGAN: OK, Mark, well, we wish you well, and we'll be looking for the pictures. Once again, hurricanelivenet.com, and hurricanetrack.com. Mark Sudduth, hurricane chaser, trying to bring us the latest pictures. President Bush handling this hurricane very differently. He will BE heading to U.S. Northern Command to ride it out. First, though, he is in Washington, D.C., and he stopped by FEMA headquarters. He is there to thank those that are working on Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina. And while he was there, he did answer some questions from reporters and we have that tape for you now. Let's listen in.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... get a full briefing on Rita. We're now facing yet another big storm. And I appreciate the folks here who are working so hard to help the folks on the ground prepare for the storm. I'm going down to San Antonio to see the prepositioned assets and to understand the relationship, that the federal government's role is to support state and federal governments. I want to watch that happen. And then I'm going to go out to our North Com headquarters to watch the interface between our United States military, and, again, the state and local authorities. Our job is to assist, prepare for and assist the state and local people to save lives and to help these people get back on their feet. Again, I want to thank the people here in Washington who are working with the folks in the -- out in the field to do everything we possibly can to prepare for this second big storm that's coming in into the Gulf of Mexico. Thank you all.</s>QUESTION: Sir, what good can you do going down to the hurricane zone? Might you get in the way, Mr. President?</s>BUSH: One thing I won't do is get in the way.</s>QUESTION: I mean, how -- what good can you actually do? I mean, isn't there a risk of you and your entourage getting in the way?</s>BUSH: No. There will be no risk of me getting in the way. I promise you. We're going to make sure that we're not in the way of the operations. What I am going to do is observe the relationship between the state and local government, particularly out in Colorado Springs. That's what I want to see. See, North Com is the main entity that interfaces -- that uses federal assets, federal troops, to interface with local and state government. I want to watch that relationship. It's an important relationship and I need to understand how it works better.</s>QUESTION: ... overcompensation for the response to Katrina?</s>BUSH: We will make sure that my entourage does not get in the way of people doing their job, which will be search and rescue immediately. And rest assured, I understand that we must not and will not interfere with the important work that will be going forward. Thank you.</s>KAGAN: President Bush answering just a few questions there at FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C., saying that he is intent on not getting in the way. He is going to U.S. Northern Command, military command, to watch how, as he was saying, the military will be interfacing with local and state authorities as Hurricane Rita moves onshore. A little bit more to go. We're back after this break.