the federal government that we give it to them because we know that power is the most essential need in recovery. people need to get back home so they can start rebuilding their homes and their lives. we need to make sure that they can have air conditioning, make sure gas stations can have electricity, hospitals. the sewer pumps. electricity is the basic element of recovery which is why we re making sure it can happen quickly. eddie you re from mississippi. i m sure you ve been in touch with people down there. this storm hit land as a category 4 and now a lot of people who need power don t have it and they haven t reached some of the people who need to be reached. absolutely, willie. not only do i have family on the gulf coast i have family in new orleans gulf coast of mississippi but in mississippi as well. i wanted to ask a basic question. we ve both been through hurricanes we know the difficulty that one experiences
news alert out of louisiana because water has come over the top of a levee near new orleans there. reports of people trapped in their homes. close to 415,000 people now without power in that state alone. we have fox team coverage. phil katy something in theodore, alabama. first, let s go to jonathan serrie live in new orleans. good morning, again. you mentioned the power outages. we still have electricity in this portion of downtown new orleans. most of the city is reportedly without electricity. however, city officials say this is not affecting the drainage system. all of the sewer pumps are working. power outages not affecting them. the levee system protecting new orleans is holing up and forgetting the city. but it s a different story in portions of placquemine parish. there is a levee on the east bay that s been overtop.