E-mail a friendLt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu
airdate September 1, 2008
As Louisiana's lieutenant governor, Mitch Landrieu continues a family pubic service tradition—his father was New Orleans mayor; his sister is the state's senior U.S. senator. He also served in the state legislature for 16 years and taught at his alma mater, Loyola University Law School. In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Landrieu helped develop Louisiana Rebirth. He has also created the World Cultural Economic Forum, to promote his state as the embodiment of a global cultural economy.
Louisiana lieutenant governor gives an update on his state and explains why Gustav is not another Katrina. (4:35)
Full interview. (5:21)
Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu
Tavis: First lady Laura Bush speaking earlier tonight here in St. Paul about relief efforts for those affected by Hurricane Gustav. Most of tonight's scheduled events were canceled here and John McCain and the GOP are taking things at this convention one day at a time.
In just a few moments, I'll be joined by the former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, but first up an update from the Gulf Coast with Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu, who joins us on the phone from Baton Rouge. Lieutenant Governor, thank you for the time. Glad to have you on the program.
Lt. Gov. Landrieu: That's great, thank you so much for having me.
Tavis: I know you're busy, I don't want to keep you but a few minutes, and I also know you just came out of a press conference. Tell me what you can tonight about how things are in your state.
Landrieu: Well, a couple things. First of all, we want to really thank the people of America. The outpouring of support has just been tremendous from every corner, from east to west. Senator Obama has called a number of different times this morning, Senator McCain, President Bush. The entire country and the community is really helping us, and on behalf of the people I want to thank everybody.
This was a very serious storm, and it did some very serious damage. Now, we're just getting estimates in because the storm has not completely passed us yet. It appears as though New Orleans dodged somewhat of a bullet. It has some damage; there haven't been any levee breaches in the New Orleans area. Jefferson Parish as well - the most heavily populated areas.
However, some of the lower-lying parishes along the coast - Morgan City, Thibodaux and Houma - got hit fairly badly. We have search and rescue teams on the ground as we speak. Of course it's getting a little bit dark so I don't know how good our visual's going to be at this time. But we will be out throughout the night and working on that.
We have about 800,000 people that are without power right now. So it's a serious storm and it's not over yet. We want to encourage people who are listening not to try to go back home too early. Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals tells us that most of the deaths in storms - Katrina is an exception, of course - happen after the storm.
And so we're just getting through it, but it's going to be a tough time for us again. But we thank everybody for the help.
Tavis: Tell me why we should not believe, Lieutenant Governor, that what happened last time won't happen this time, which is to say that the last time the hurricane passed by, the city of New Orleans didn't get hit hard by Katrina. It was the flooding in the days after.
Landrieu: Well, we've been very concerned about that. Ironically, Tavis, today is Monday, and three years ago to the day we're doing the same thing - the storm passed in the morning, we thought we were okay, but by 1:00 that afternoon the levees breached.
So obviously we have been very sensitive to that issue and we have been watching very, very closely. It does not appear that any of the major federal levees have been overtopped or breached. There is one non-federal levee in Lower Plaquemines parish, which is south of New Orleans, which is at risk of breaching.
If it does, there'll be a distance between that levee and the levee at the river, and there are about 400 homes in that area. So we're watching that very, very carefully, we just don't know that yet. But on the major levees that were the subject of the Katrina devastation, those levees seem to have held. That storm has passed us for the most part, but we will see.
But of course we're nervous about that, but we don't have any indication that they're going to breach at this point in time. We'll continue to look at them very carefully and we're ready to react if they do.
Tavis: Let me ask you right quick - I know it's early on in the process - your sense of how the city and the federal government and the state managed this time versus three years ago.
Landrieu: Well, this thing comes in stages and those of us that have been through this are very humble about this. The first is preparation and evacuation. That seems to have gone far better than last time. The coordination and interest of the federal government this time was extraordinarily different from the last time. The partnership between the state, the federal government and the city and their preparation was good, and the execution was good.
So we feel very good about having evacuated 1.9 million people in a very short period of time - that's the largest evacuation in Louisiana history, and I don't really have anything to compare it to on a national level. Having said that, the evacuation is pre-game. We're in the middle of the game right now, and the storm is, as I said, kind of moving through us.
Now, we have some other phases of this that are equally important, and the governor has instructed everybody tomorrow to be ready. Search and rescue's number one; moving services in that people have, making sure that people are safe is on our agenda tonight and early tomorrow morning. So the game's not over yet and we have a long way to go.
After that, of course, we have a number of different individuals that are from the areas that evacuated that are presently in shelters, and we are sending people - make sure they're comfortable, and then after that, of course, we need to get everybody home as quickly as possible.
So we have a very long way to go. The first responders have been great, and I have to say again, Tavis, the people of America, from every piece of this country, have just been tremendous and we feel very blessed to have so many friends. And you're one of our best friends, and I really appreciate it.
Tavis: No, we're glad to have you on. I wish we had you on under different circumstances, but delighted nonetheless. I know you've got to run. In 30 seconds, let me ask you right quick - and again, we're early in this process - how do you think the people of the city of New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and for that matter your state are going to deal with this moment Lieutenant Governor, psychologically? Here we are again three years later.
Landrieu: Well, as we've said many, many times, we're a very resilient people, and I think people are going to stand back up. And they're going to come home and they're going to do what they've done before, and I think show America how to rebuild from the ground up and be the laboratory of democracy for our great nation. I'm very proud of the people of Louisiana, I have no doubt that they're going to stand up to it and do very well.
Tavis: Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu, in Louisiana. Nice to have you on, thanks for the update, and we'll talk to you in the coming days.
Landrieu: Thank you so much.
Tavis: My pleasure.
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