marker. their blood type, their d.o.b., their social, in case the very worst happens. that s how dire and how broad this storm is on the coast of texas. so obviously, over these next few hours, we ll be covering this. we re a bit hampered because communications right at this point, after landfall, can often enter into a kind of dark side of the moon phase. some satellite television trucks because of rain fade and high winds lose their ability to broadcast a signal. even some satellite phones can t work. cellphone service is down along with power. so we ll bring you reporting from it from our friends at the weather channel, from our own meteorologist bill karins, when we can. now to the other news that is happening tonight. somewhat under the cover of the first natural disaster of his presidency, a category 4 hurricane making landfall in the united states, the president and
lot of the equipment was. and in fact, the navy sailors aboard the fitzgerald were forced to rely upon satellite cell phones to kind of communicate that this collision took place. so there was a real damage to the communications gear and again, a lot of damage to the sailors struggled valiantly to try to keep this ship from sinking, the fitzgerald as flooding with as coming in. they were forced to rely on satellite phones and he they think this delayed the communications aspect of this. relaying what happened back to their higher headquarters. just a tragedy and we ll look forward to more answers as these investigations continue. ryan browne, thank you for your reporting from washington. staying in that port of the world, we are following a developing story out of china. where a desperate search is under way for more than 120 people missing after part of a mountain gave way. the landslide buried more than 60 homes, scores of rescuers are on the scene. digging through the rubble
this is considered a big hit by the u.s. coalition. also in syria today, the u.s. announced a drone was shot down. this is the second time in less than a month, shep, that the u.s. has shot down an iranian drone. shep? shepard: jennifer griffin at the pentagon. thank you. the bodies of seven american sailors that died when their destroyer died with a container ship are headed home. that s according to the u.s. navy. the cash happened off the coast of japan. the sailors were aboard the u.s. fitzgerald. some compartments flooded and trapped the men inside. those on board tried to use satellite phones but the associated press reports investigators are trying to figure out why it took nearly an hour for the crash to be reported. in other words, why the container ship didn t send out a call. as senate republicans try to
with us. they assumed that we were leaving every day. we want help! we weren t. we never left the city. and so when we told that to them, they then said, well, you ve got to have some way of talking to people. they said well, we had satellite phones. and that s when people began tearing up pieces of paper or writing down telephone numbers. they were certain if someone knew, that they would come and be rescued. they gave me the numbers and begged that i call. and every evening when i got done with work and when there were a few free moments, i d start making my way down the list. the first thing i realized is that nobody answers their phone anymore. it s always voicemail after voicemail and the message i would always leave was the same, you don t know me, i m a reporter, i m in new orleans, i saw your uncle today in the convention center or i saw your aunt or i saw your sister. they re okay. one of the people actually wrote
reporter: i was in the superdome when katrina struck. couple of days later, i was here at the convention center. this place was far worse. there were thousands and thousands of people in days inn without any help. they were desperate. we have been out here for three days. reporter: they begged us to take them with us. they assumed that we were leaving every day. we weren t. we never left the city. so when we told that to them, they then said you have to have some way of talking to people. i said we have satellite phones. that s when people began tearing pieces of paper or grabbing cardboard or writing down telephone numbers. they were certain that someone knew they would come and be rescued. they gave me the numbers and begged that i call. every evening when i got done with work and when there were a