>> we begin with a story that is prompting international outrage. this is a news conference that is about to get underway right now in sydney australia. today, a cairo court sentencing baher mohammed, fahmy and peter greste, as you see here sentenced in abstentia, deported back to his native australia in february. the other two were taken into custody after that verdict today. all of this beginning in 2013. here is peter greste. >> a fairly briefly statement and i will take some questions from you guys. the first thing i want to say is that i am absolutely devastated, sickened, frankly, by the verdict that was handed down in egypt last night. i know what prison is like. i know what my colleagues are going to have to go back to. i know what they are going

through at the moment. he job description prisons are never particularly comfortable places at the best of times. i don't know exactly where they are being held at the moment. we are trying to find that out. but i am pretty sure that it won't havep have been a defendant comfortable night for them. i also know their families. i know baher has a young, very young family. he has three young children, including a young 1-year-old baby who celebrated his first birthday just on friday. i also nom fahmy's wife. i spoke to her late last night. as you can imagine, she is assessment devastated by this. they were only married about a month ago. this is an injustice. this is a form of suffering they and their families are having to go through. it is absolutely wrong innocent men should be in this position. i am also convicted and sentenced to three years in prison. i am also in the. there is never -- there was

never any evidence the court presented, that the processing cuter presented in the first trial or in the second to confirm any of the allegations against us. in fact, i would like to publichallenge the prosecutor to present evidence of anything that we produced that was falsified. it's one of the most serious allegations against us that we have produced or rebroadcast false news. the prosecutor has had almost two years to present, to find that evidence. it is on the public record by definition, everything that we produced is out there online. and yet, neither he nor anyone else has ever been able to present anything that was falsified. so we will continue to fight this using every available means open to us this for me is a matter of natural justice. as you all know, i was removed from the country on an order of the egyptian president.

i was not in the egypt not because i was on the run but because i was taken out of the country undejob description law in accordance with the egyptian law. i was placed on trial i was denied one of the most fundamental prince for law and that is the right of an accused person to defend themselves. >> ought to be enough to have my conviction tossed out. this isn't just about the injustice against myself and my two colleagues. it is about what this means for due processes in egypt. it's about what it means for the rule of law in egypt. it is also about what it means for freedom of the press and democracy in egypt. in the absence of any evidence of wrong doing, the only conclusion that we can come to is that this verdict was politically motivated. president sisi now has an opportunity to undo that injustice, to correct that

injustice. the eyes of the world are on egypt. the eyes of the world have been watching this trial in particular to see egypt's commitment to those principles. it is now up to president sisi to do what he said he would do from the outset. >> that's pardon us if we were ever convicted. this is a wrong. everyone knows it is wrong. so we will be doing -- using every legal, political, diplomatic and social means at our disposal. i have also spoken to foreign minister juliebin who has personally expressed her support who the said she will do everything in her power to use every diplomatic means available to support our cause and get this over turned. i am grateful for the support but we need more than julie bishop's and the government's support, we need from governments around the world, glommats around the world and everyone who has ever tweeted or support or liked facebook pages

and written letters to continue the fight because to give up now frankly would be a repudiation of everything that they for tug for and everybody we have fought for and will continue to fight for [question posed) >> it would be almost impossible for me to continue as a foreign correspondent. it means i can't travel not only to any country that has an extra did addition treatwy egypt. i can't leave australia without running the risk of being arrested on a red notice, on an international arrest warrant, and having to fight any extradition request from egypt. it means i will have to carry a criminal record. i am going to have to carry that conviction as a terrorist. but let me be clear about this. this isn't -- i mean, whatever going to have to go through, whatever this means for me, it is an inconvenience compared to what my colleagues are facing at the moment.

those are the ones, it's that that makes me feel sick to my stomach at the moment. those guys shouldn't be there. they shouldn't be suffering. their family shouldn't be suffering. >> [ (po [question posed". >> we had the twitter feed i am sure most of you are following. i am loathe to make any conclusions about what the judge may or may not have said based upon a fairly patchy collection of quotes from stwiter. we need to have a closer look at a transcript from the hearing. we are going to need to have a look at the written statement which we are expecting to come out sometime within the next month before i can really make any kind of assessment about the detail of what the judge said but let's go back to the basics. what we understand was that we

broadcast false news there was never any evidence of that. fundamentally and you have seen the reaction from leaders around the world, fundamentally, this is an injustice. >> the laws have been changing. it's difficult for us to know where we stand. we need to take more advice on that t i also haven't had a chances -- it's up to my colleagues as to exactly what they will do. i would be very surprised if we don't use every air peel open to us and the court of kasatian, the highest court looked at the evidence in the first 2r50i8. it described the verdict then as flawed and contrad i can't occur. we have seening in not subsequent trial that was additional to that. the prosecutor presented no new evidence. it's hard to imagine that the court would come to any other conclusion if it's asked to do

so again. there is also the question of a presidential pardon as i said. that's a last resort. president sisi has said in the past, if we were convicted he would consider a pardon and i would ask that -- we are going to be asking him to do that again. >> say again. [question posed] >> this is a difficult one. officially, legally, it's going to be hard for me to ask the court if i am not fiscally present. that's a challenge for us. my colleagues in egypt, my colleagues, there are a number of other journalistsix others that were convicted the first time around and they weren't able to appeal. their con visions stand. they would be waiting for a presidential pardon the it's hard to see how i can ask for anything different how i will be

treated any differently. >> (question posed.) >> i need to make -- get some clarification, but the process is that we -- we need to go through the whole legal estimate before the president can then make his pardon. we have to exhaust every available avenue open to us before he can make -- he can consider a pardon (question posed) >> julie bishop is quite a forceful personality. i am grateful for the support she has given us. there is no doubt -- i have no doubt she will live up to her commitment to do everything that she can. but australia as a nation has very little leverage when it comes to egypt.

our trade relationships are marginal. we don't have a great deal of aid. there are not many pressure points that australia can use to lean on egypt but australia has lots of friends around the world. i have spoken in the past to the white house, state department of. i met president obama in washington who also said that he would be speaking to president sisi about this issue. i would hope that the united states continues to support us, continues to make statements and remind egypt that this kind of behavior is un acceptable. as most of you would know, i am a dual national, a latvi a. n australian, the latvian minister tweeted about his outrage over the convictions. again, i haven't had any conversations with the latvians or the european union. but in the past, they have been extremely supportive. i would hope and expect that that support would continue.

>> (question posed.) >> that's a separate argument for another day, i think. today, i really want to talk it about our case. there are questions about that. i don't think there is any suggestion. certainly the australian government has never suggested that i would be stripped of my nationality. there are flaws but as i said, i think that's a discussion for another day. >> [/* /- (question posed.) what i would expect and ask the british government and the prime minister is that they will use every opportunity that they have to remind president sisi of his

obligations under law and as a man who insists he is a democrat and make it very clear that this, that there can be no -- that they need to respect those principles of due process rule of law and freedom of the press. i think what we need is constant engagement. i think the reason, one of the reasons that i am here, the reason that i am out of prison in the first place, was because it became incredibly difficult under international pressure for president sisi to continue to hold me. we need that pressure to corporate group with every possible point. if the british government is engaging with the egyptians, i think it needs to use every opportunity to remind them of what this sentence means. remember, i am also a european. there is a british national, two british national did, in fact.ed, who were convicted. the british have a particular interest in this case.

though need to keep reminding sisi that this is unacceptable and he needs to get this verdict overturned. he needs to issue pardonons. (question posed.) >> the conditions vary quite widely. one the things i would say is that we, because of -- because of the international tension that was focused on me, and my colleagues in the first trial, we were held in one of the better prisons. we always had a place to sleep. we always had water. we always had basic food, but the food is not particularly good. the food is pretty rough. oftentimes, the cell did are chron chronically overcrowded. one cells he was in was about 8 foot square with 16 guys in it. >> was quite unusual but

overcrowding is a massive problem. those guys were in, early on scorpion prison in solitaire confinement, sleeping on the floor, sleeping in rat and lyse-in fested cells with no way of keeping cool in the summer or warm in winter. the conditions are pretty shocking. they will spend the next -- the next period, the next couple of weeks almost certainly in solitary confinement. they won't have access to their families. they won't have access to lawyers. they will have almost no communication with the outside world. i am sure that the canadian diplomats will be trying to see mohammed fahmy but i am sure they will find that difficult as well. it's the psychological pressure on them as men who know that they are innocent, telling them to go back to prison, leaving their families is going to be incredibly tough for them

(question posed.) >> i guess if you scrape around the bottom of the barrel, you are looking for reasons to be grateful, i guess that is a small mercy. but the original sentences weren't confirmed. but again, prison time is prison time and let's also look at the fundamental. look at what lies at the basis of this. the fact is that we did nothing wrong, that there was no evidence of wrongdoing, that these guys are innocent men and innocent men are in prison. that's what this is about. never mind the sentences. one day in prison would be unjust. any other questions? thanks very much, everyone. >> you have been listening live to peter greste live from sydney, australia saying, we did

nothing wrong. the bottom line is innocent men are in prison. journalists turned defendant termed glomat as he finds himself the spokesman for the press. once again, the question is being asked: is journalism a crime in egypt: reaction in global from doha, the acting general. >> an attack on press freedom. we will not rest, he says, in this baher, peter, mohammed and the six al jazeera staff who have been sentenced in abstentia are freed and formally acquitted from the trumped up charges against them. as we mentioned, their families, human rights groups continue to speak out announcing their jailings now for a second time. many say it is another form of repress being enforced by the new egyptian regime. >> we found this verdict unacceptable. we set it before during the first stages of the trial that the charges were just

outlandish, and this verdict confirms that this is a gross miscarriage of justice now. >> it's a might mayor for them and press freedom from egypt. this is such a dangerous situation. it goes to show that there really is no free expression in that country and that the judiciary has no interest in appropriatelying human rights but rather that they are simply a tool for the political regime of the day. >> this is a government that has decided it is hostile toward any independent press. we have seen a number of egyptian journalists having been started. many have fled into exile. now, the message is to the international press that you will not be allowed to come to egypt apt report independently. >> a cairo report sentencing three al jazeera journalists to three years in jail. greste as you heard speaking from australia was sentenced in absentia, deported back to australia, his native country in february.

fahmy and mohammed certain into xuft after the verdict was announced. all of this beginning in 2013, all three arrested and falsely accused of aiding the now banned muslim brotherhood and spedding false news from the begin can. as you heard, al jazeera condemning the arrest and their imprisonment. an associate with the middle east center at the university of massachusetts, he also served as an egypt analyst at the state department, he is live for us tonight from washington, d.c. mr. aston, your action to the verdict in some respects, this is symptomatic of what has been going on egypt for quite some time now. in fact, in earlier this month, a counter terrorism law was passed which makes it a crime to report on terrorist incidents that don't conform to the government's line. journalists can face fines of from 25,000 to 6 $4,000.

these are penalties that would be imposed against egyptian journalists. in some respects this is part of a trend. >> which raises the question: what as journalists are we missing? and to put it mildly, what is egypt trying to hide they don't want journalists doing their jobs? >> well, that's a good question. i don't have a good answer to that. but, you know, the vast majority of egyptians are opposed to terrorism. so, i think it's counterproductive for the government to go after journalists. you know, journalists want to report the truth or the truth as they see it. of course, you know, there is always discrepancies but nonetheless, you don't want to go after a group that is part of the polity of egypt, if you will. this is, working against, i think, the government's counter terrorism you are in washington.

the president nodes what is going on. the white house has reacted to what is going on. we sit talking about it now, a year and some monthses after they were initially arrested. is the white house, is washington where you are doing enough to put pressure on the al-sisi government? secretary carry was in cairo in early august, and he started on rye stated the strategic dialogue between the u.s. and egypt. secretary carry's speech, which was made public, he said that the egyptian government should uphold the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, so there is some pressure of coming from washington on the egyptian government and as the austedtralian journalist just said, he has had discussions, himself, with president obama on this issue. so, the united states is raising this issue, i think publiand privately but, you know, whether this will have an effect is another question. >> there is an old saying that

talk is cheap. actions speak louder than words. the u.s. calling on egypt to do something about this. as you mentioned, to uphold the rule of law but behind the scenes restoring that $13,000,000,000 in military aid and even though the u.s. says it is not that big a children of the egyptian military budget, it is a lot of money. >> yes, but, you know, u.s. military aid for the most part was suspended from october, 2013, until march of 2015. and the idea was that this would be a leafer to convince the egyptian government to pursue more democratic norms. >> didn't work. so now, the obama administration's policy is to restore that military aid but at the same time continuing to talk about human rights and political freedoms. there is always a debate whether cutting aid or keeping aid gives you more or less leverage.

route now, the obama administration has settled on the issue that the policy of keeping military aid going and using that as a leafer to try to influence the egyptian government . >> i am always fascinated, being from washington, as to the amount of pressure that washington chooses or, in this case, does not choose, to exert. we talked about the white house, but capitol hill has been relatively silent. why? >> well, there is a large number of congress men now who sea president sisi in a very good light because he has taken a very strong stand against isis and, also, calling on muslim religious figures to be more outspoken against the he knew tremist ideologies of groups like isis and al-qaeda. >> has gone down very well with a large segments of congress, but at the same time, you do have some members of congress

even in a bi-partisan w way calling on egypt to respect democratic norms. shortly before kerry restarted the strategic dialogue, a bi-partisan group of senators sentence kerry a letter saying we should continue to press egypt on these democratic norms. >> gregory aston dillion joining us from washington, d.c. this evening. thanks for being with us. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> coming up on al jazeera america, katrina 10 years later, louisiana remembering the hurricane that changed a city and the nation forever. plus police say this is the man who executed a texas sheriff's deputy deputy. the officer was just filling up his cruiser at a gas station. home owners had a very large

gap. >> the residents forced to flee. >> escorted onto a plane by gun point without someone telling me where i'm going. >> and the city's future. >> why should a business come here when this neglect has been allowed to go on? >> an america tonight special, katrina: after the storm.

this time 10 years ago, the gulf coast was change did forever. hurricane katrina hitting and the levees following. swallowing one of the most unique cities marking the catastrophic event with promises of a bright future while at the same time saying it will never forget the past. at an events called the power of community, former president bill clinton. see him here speaking, he said despite the progress, new orleans has a long way to go.

>> i think the people are pessimistic under state and under estimate the shear magnitude of what has been accomplished against enormous odds. i think the people who under estimate the continuing disparities by race, by income and access to education, income, jobs, capital, i think they under estimate how important it is to keep living in the future and not the in the past. >> let's go to jonathan martins who is live for us in new orleans. jonathan, an emotional day today in the big easy. >> yeah, del, an emotional day. a day of celebration for some people. august 29th is a tough day, a tough day for a lot of people here in new orleans because it is the date that 10 years ago, this city started to change so drastically and dramatically but as the years have gone by now, a decade out from the storm, we know that the city has come back

in many ways. they know the people have come back and for some people, they tell us that has made reflecting on katrina just a bit easier. >> for some, it may seem odd to celebrate on the anversary of a disaster. but true to new orleans, this parade in the city's lower ninth ward is about resilience. >> it's about people coming back, clinging to roots and demanding to rebuild. >> nadi outlock and stanley's home was destroyed. had he returned a decade later still sell braces surviving. >> that's what we do in new orleans. celebrate life. earlier in the day, a softer, somber tone at the city's permanent katrina memorial remembering the 1800 lives lost following the storm. mayor mitch landrieu and nancy pelosi laid a wreath to honor the bodies never identified.

every august 29th is painful for mohasan mohammed? >> the devastation to not only our city, the lives lost of our friends and our neighbors, the abandonment by the federal government. >> like so many did following the storm, mckenzie jones, a teacher from baton rouge traveled to new orleans to volunteer joining a city-wide day of services. >> teaching and talking about katrina for the last two days with my students and talking about the resilience of the city and i think that shows here today with everybody who volunteered not only at this place but other did he havecites, too. >> even with time, many of new orleans stars have yet to -- scars have yet to heal. while it's tough to count all that was lost, this second-line parade is a symbol of what new orleans didn't lose, distinct cup tufr and will to bounce back. >> the second line is the

triumph, overcoming resilience, resurrection, redemption. it's not just a part but a way to move through the grief and back into the joy and that's what second lines are for. >> so this wraps up a long week and important week for new orleans. we know earlier this week, president obama was here. yesterday, former president bush was here as we saw before you talked to me, former president clinton left town not too long ago. a lot of focus here on this city. on this nice warm night, another example of new orleans coming back, all of the people you see behind me after katrina, tourism was wiped out in the city. the city counts some 9 million tourists that are coming here every year. another sign that the city is on its way back. del. >> jonathan martin, good to see that second line coming back as well. jonathan will be with us in just a second as we take a deeper look at katrina. when the storm struck, all eyes on new orleans. days later, we learned it was just the tip of the iceberg, the entire gulf coast was

devastated, 238 people losing their lives there. alan schaufler is in bill objectionic where they are looking back at a long 10 years. good evening, allen. >> reporter: yeah. it's interesting, del. any anniversary of katrina is a, of course, going to be a bittersweet day for people along the gulf coast of mississippi. they are one year farther away from the event that so drastically changed their lives but it is also just another day when just about wherever they look, they can see evidence of what's missing and who is missing and proof that there is still a very long road ahead. ♪the day starts in biloxi with song and prayer. among the crowd, people who came here to help 10 years ago having a reunion around the biggest natural disaster the country ever faced. >> it makes me realize my petty

problems don't matter that. >> it was transformational for all of us. it really was. it changed us as people. just being able to know that we could be helpful. >> transformational for ritza jones. the floridian was 12 years old when the hurricane hit. >> i cried immediately. >> changed my life that i should get into emergency management and help out and make sure the people around me are prepared because it hurt my heart. >> there is progress all along the gulf coast. casinos decimated by katrina are back, bringing thousands of jobs, millions in tax revenue. you don't have to look far beyond casino row to see how much work remains. across the street from the beach, a 12-story derelict retirement home stands vacant and fenced off. drive what used to be busy neighborhoods and in many places, vacant lots far outnumber houses. carol burnett runs a nonprofit for low-income women and children in east biloxi.

she said not enough money was spent here to help people washed out by the storm. >> job opportunities, we could have built apply of affordable housing. we could have built public transportation systems. >> i think they did a wonderful job, but they could have did a little more. >> larry willborne grew up here and lives in an area of neat, now, federally funded housing. what he misses most is the human element. >> the people from around -- from this community. that's what's missing. we want everybody to come back home. >> right now, this home, this gulf coast is a mix of highs and lows, of lingering post katrina blight balanced by progress. >> it's being visited by a lot of those vowel en tears who came to help out after the storm. it's estimated a million different people came to this part of the country to do what they could after katrina. there are a lot of them back here this will we could. they are honored and revered here del. >> allen schauffler.

much more to come from the gulf coast. a 30-year-old man has been charged with capital murder. shannon miles, police say killed a houston sheriff's deputy deputy in what appears to be an assassination. i witnesses say the deputy was shot in the back of the head and then three times in the back. he was just pumping gas at a houston gas station. >> we have identified the suspect responsible for the senseless and cowardly act. today, the district attorney's office has accepted capital murder charges on januaryon j miles, a black male 9-15 of '44. >> a 10 year veteran of the police force leaves behind a wife and two children. coming up on al jazeera america, the scenes were shocking and heartedbreaking. katrina 10 years later, a lot of change has happened. many say it's not enough. we are going to take a deeper look next.

>> president obama heads to alaska to press northern nations to cur curb carbon emissions. it may be a tough sell. >> antonio morro 9:00 p.m. eastern.

>> this was the worst civil engineering disaster in the history of the united states. >> 10 years after hurricane katrina. >> it was like a nuclear bomb had gone off - everything smelt like dead bodies. >> one constant. >> music has been the essence of this city. >> inspires a community to rebuild its city. >> we gonna bring this city back one note at a time. >> and overcome hard times in the big easy. >> we are bigger, we're better, we're stronger. it's saturday night, time to take a deeper look at the impact of hurricane katrina. the storm shedding new light on the shortcomings of the fred recall and local government especially when learned.

the big test when super storm sandy hit the northeast. >> it's a beautiful day at the new jersey shore, hard to imagine the fury nearly three years ago when hurricane sandy came ashore. joe mangino remembers. >> when i opened it for the first time, there was sea grass coming out. >> his garage was filled, four feet of water destroying his livelihood, equipment for his power washing business. as for his houses: >> i remember what it spellmell like, that smell of the bay is something i won't forget. >> the first blood floor flooded. he knew they would have to move out. the first thing i was worried about was where am i going to put the family? and -- >> i know. it's still really tough. hum? >> yeah. >> unlike katrina, fema was ready for sandy. the agency put people and supplies in place early. fema's new fill offense fee: go

big. go fast. >> we are moving. we don't wait. sometimes, you know, again, hurricanes, you can see coming. so we already have our teams agreed. into the states. re already are moving resources based upon the likely area of impact. >> craig fugate has headed female for six years, previously running florida's emergency services, a very different resume than the man in charge during katrina. michael brown, an attorney who had been with an arabian horse association, after katrina, push president bush praised him but within 10 days, brown resigned faced with scathing criticism over fema's inept response. >> a little's eric holderman who has spent decades in emergency management said the man at the top of fema makes a huge difference. >> you can't overestimate having someone who is not a political hack, nost just an appointee who

doesn't know anything about disasters but someone who comes within -- with a vision for how the federal government can best support state and local jurisdictions before, during, and after disasters. >> reporter: there is widespread agreement that fema is on the ball these days when it comes to preparing for and responding to a disaster. but the agency's role doesn't end with the waters recede. critics say that's where fema still needs to improve operations. >> they made it extremely hard. >> joe mangino said fema helped with rental assistance but he pleaded for an add varnings on his federal flood insurance money so he could start rebuilding. >> they started with, we didn't know you wanted an add vance. i told the guy i was here. i signed the paper work asking for an add vance. then they lost the advance. then we faxed it again and they never got the fapings. >> you wouldn't matly, fema paid out $69,000 for hi damaged house, far less than his 250,000 dollar policy maximum.

fema has now re-opened the claims process for those who feel shortchanged. as many as 144,000 homeowners. >> well, because fema admitted they screwed people. plain and simple. >> it's not just fema. on the day we were there, building inspectors tagged systems not up to code. >> that happened within the last hour. imagine that, over 1,000 days. >> that's tough. >> yeah. >> so they knocked that house down. >> mangino surrounded by homes being rebuilt said fema needs to streamline processes so those due insurance money and other help can get it simply and quickly. >> lisa stark, al jazeera, stafford township, in general. >> minor sinclair is oxfam's regional directo and of the gulf coast emergency program and jonathan betz is live for us. he was working there as a reporter 10 years ago when

katrina struck. so jonathan, i will start with you 10 years later. better or worse or work in progress? >> reporter: i would say better and also work in progress, del. new orleans has come a very long way, especially when you look at where the city stood 10 years ago tonight 80% of the city was under water, hundreds dead, thousands of homes lost. to see how it stands now is really stunning. it's a beautiful city. it's a city that's come a long way but it is a city that has a long way to go without question. >> mr. sinclair, one of the questions that i hear asked over and over again specifically with the response to katrina is: could it happen again? >> well, it definitely could happen again. we have come a long way in terms of the technical and engineering side of preventing these kind of disasters. but on the social side, i mean, so much of what helps people in disasters is resilience,

communities coming together, the levels of poverty, the levels of social capital in the communities. no regards, new orleans is not much better. it's still a city that is terribly unequal. the second most unequal city of the 300 metropolitan areas in the u.s. >> jonathan, you worked there 10 years ago. i remember mayor ray nagan saying new orleans wol remain quote a chocolate city. is it? >> reporter: did is still a chocolate city, to use his word. i was living here at the time. i was there. mayor nagan said the famous words. it has been a defendant question as to whether the soul of new orleans local remain, as it grows, as new people come in with new ideas and new businesses. will the city be welcome to all? new orleans is still a majority african-american city but the percentage has dropped. it used to be about 67% african-american. now, it's about 58%

african-american whereas the white population has grown slightly. there is that concern of whether new orleans will still be open to all and as it grows and as it changes and as it evolves, whether it maintains its soul and its character. >> mr. sinclair, is that unusual, what we are seeing in new orleans, or is it just a sign of the times? after all, when katrina hits, the property valves go down and people come in because, let's face it, houses are cheap. >> well, in our experience around the world, disasters discriminal nature. they affect the poor people the worst. in guatemala, if the poor people that live on the hillsides and the mudslides take them down. i think very similarly, that is what happened in new orleans. it was a perfect storm. it happened at the end of the month, pour people who didn't have money left county evacuate. it was their homes in the lowest lying areas. so they are the ones that pay the biggest cost the response

discriminated. it didn't address the needs of the poor people who needed it the most. that's true not only in new orleans but also across the southern parishes and bayou communities of louisiana and the southern counties of mississippi, coastal counties there, too. >> also, mr. sinclair, when katrina happened, i heard people saying over and over again that this isn't a third-world country. this is the united states of america. so, how much of a role did the shame factor play in the changes that we have seen come about? >> well, it's certainly played a role for us. was watching news clips and feeds like everyone else. someone should do something. wh when i got to the region, new orleans three days later, i said oxfam should do something. we are a large, international humanitarian response agency. this is the first time we responded to any emergency here in the united states.

it overwhelmed the capacity to respond, but the capacity was so lackadaisical that the government responded so femly it justified oxfam stepping in. >> on that note, as we look back 10 years later, are we sugar coating the fact with these celebrations it did take days for the government to mount any meaningful response and that many of those people appearing in the packages and newscasts today were being called refugees just 10 years ago? >> ? >> there is a lot there us to ask about that. there was a real concern in new orleans about trust, about whether people here can trust the government because frankly action a lot of people feel like that that was stacked against them. you go for some neighborhoods. we talked about the recovery, lower 9th ward is barely what it was from before katrina. only four out of 10 homes have been rebuilt there a major reason why a lot of people feel was that the recovery program, the road home to help people get

back on their feet, they feel is biased against them because dollars were handed out based upon a home's property value, not necessarily on the damage. so you could have the exact same home but because it was in two different neighborhoods, one homeowner got more than the other. so people there feel very bitter about that. lawsuits have been filed. a judge eventually said this was a mistake. by then, years had passed. i think there is still a lot of anger and a lot of distrust about whether the government is really has people's best interest at heart here. >> people as we well know weren't the only ones affected. tens of thousands of animals dying during katrina as well. many forced to leave countries behind to fend for themselves. when katrina made landfall, more than 100,000 animals had to be left behind. earlier tonight, we talked to francis batista, the co-founder of the best friends animal society. he told us a lot of people who

refused to aban band on pets died and that ladder led to other changes. >> congress in response to this passed the pet act, stands for the petty evacuation, transportation and standards act. it says a local municipality at the county level or parish level in louisiana wants to receive fema funding, they need to have a plan in place to evacuate pets with their families. and then, on the downstream side of that, the sheltering component of that has to have some capacity to acomdate pets. >> mr. sinclair, i want you to respond to the charges in the and the criticisms of that time which was that there were still many humans that needed assistance and all the sudden the focus changed to the animals. was that a fair critique? >> i think when you tug on the heart strings of american

people, that's a good thing because it brings people closer to the reality there. and obviously, humans and the life of humans is so much more valuable than life of animal but the truth is americans responded with a lot of generousty. we had over a million volunteers who came down to the region to rebuild homes. new orleans nearly didn't make it. there was a lot of debate whether this city should be built back at all and that we were willing to let it go. i think the generosity of people and the volunteers and aids and i think the government finally, coming around with enough core financing to make a difference but particularly, it was the people, themselves that fought the fight to get back to their homes to rebuild their communities and stand up for what they deserved and what was right. >> jonathan, you know there is always the old saying, how does it play in peoria? but on this case, you were on

the ground. how did the issue of rescuing the pets play in new orleans when there were so many people that needed to be rescued as well? >> i know. it was a big factor without question. because frankly a lot of people here did not have cars. they did not want to leave pets so they stayed at home. there is a big concern about whether the evacuation plan should have made room for the pets. i remember very clearly being in the city 10 years ago even after the storm hit and after the flood waters filled the city and different groups were trying to bus out people and even then, the pets would not -- were not allowed to come on the buses which was anning a onizing decision. people were faced with do i leave my pet who has been with me through the storm and who you love dealer and get on this bus to safety, or do i stay? it's a horrible decision. a lot of people felt the like that was a decision that did not need to be forced upon people here so now in the future, since katrina, the city here has made plans to try to accommodate pets include that issue because that

does weigh on people. >> does matter to a lot of people. frankly, it affects how the cities are evacuated >>. >> in boston, mr. sinclair, thank you. jonathan betz in new orleans there 10 years ago, 10 years later. we will be right back with the details on a tire recall. stay with us. home owners had a very large gap. >> the residents forced to flee. >> escorted onto a plane by gun point without someone telling me where i'm going. >> and the city's future. >> why should a business come here when this neglect has been allowed to go on? >> an america tonight special, katrina: after the storm. is it snvmentdments nvmentdments

>> mitch lin issuing a recall for tire and rv cars saying they could rupture, about. f tires. mitch lin america saying severe conditions can cause the side walls to burst. tires include several types made in 2014 and 2015. they were sold here in the u.s. so far, no injuries or deaths have been linked to the problem. tropical storm erica which killed more than 20 people in the caribbean has now been downgraded. over eastern cuba before the gulf of mexico. florida and the southeastern u.s. could still fill the system system's effect did. the reaming on could see heavy rain for several days. the man who has been tracking that storm sxwroinz me now. it is early. all weekend. >> quite the storm. 50-mile-per-hour winds at the max. we have seen quite a bit of activity all the way from the eastern part of the caribbean

towards parts of cuba. the satellite image, looking at a lot of clouds associated with the system. but we are still talking about a tropical wave. >> tropical wave has a lot of moisture with it. i want to show you what's going to happen with this over the next couple of days. the moisture pushing up through with erica out towards the gulf of mexico, you see a trough moving toward the east of the what's going to happen is these two things are going to come together and then push up to the north. that's going to bring a lot of rain to parts of florida. so we are not going to see the winds, any storm surge but we are going to be seeing flooding and the flood watches and warnings are in effect all the way from southern parts of florida all the way through central florida. right now, as we go through the next couple of days, we expect those watches and warnings to make their way towards the north. tomorrow, it's going to be a rainy day. we think here across the western part of florida, they are going to see probably the most part of the rain on sunday. then we think that's going to

start to shift up toward the north on monday. five to eight inches of rain could be seen across this region. of course, it's a flat state. >> means the flooding is going to really leave a lot of standing water across many parts of that area. take a look at orlando's forecast if you are going to go down to orlando. it is going to be a rainy week. tomorrow is probably the only good day. then it's going to be rain showers and thunderstorms all the way through the probably middle part of the week. then, ignacio, category 4 hurricane heading towards maybe, not hawaii but we don't think so. >> yellow panchos over disney land. >> thank you very much. on this week's third rail, ali velshi, if students accused of campus sexual assaults are treated fairly. a preview. >> male and female students get trained every sing semi about what does consents mean on our campus? what is sexual misconduct?

this is part of growing up, learning what those policies say and how to abide by them. i hear students over and over s saying i wasn't listening at the training. i don't know what that means. >> that sound wonderve on a macro level. young people who have not been away from home in a dorm room who may or may not both have had alcohol all bets are off on what someone lkd listened to or didn't lap to at a meeting months before. i am seeing cases that are all in a gray area. i have to tell you, after looking at dozens and dozens and dozens of these, there is not one that comes to me that i look at and say clearly, i understand what happened. it is a he said/she said. there are a lot of moving parts. >> you can watch the entire

episode of third rail that airs tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. eastern time pacific. thanks for watching us. i am del walat a timeers in new york. another hour of news at 11:00 p.m. eastern. 8:00 p.m. pacific. "america tonight" is next.

>> these bricks did not the collapse in the storm. these bricks did not collapses in the flood? >> no. no. the narrative that these were katrinaed is false. >> i said click, click. i said, okay. i am getting in the truck. >> what was going through your mind when they said, hey, everybody: we are going to utah?