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CNN Sunday Morning
Blizzard Pounds Midwest; Showboat Stranded in Lake; Two Bombs Explode in Stockholm
Aired December 12, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning, everybody. We are watching a developing story going on right now.
There are about 600 people trapped aboard that showboat on a lake in Missouri. They don't have beds. They were supposed to be on a two-hour cruise. Now, it's gone into about 12 to 14 hours. Why is it taking so long to get to them? We'll explain why those folks are stuck right now.
Also, some folks are digging out from a monster storm that dumped near record amounts of snow in some places. Cars wrecking all over the place. It's messed up travel plans for those trying to get around in the air, including for one NFL football team in particular. We'll tell you exactly where this extreme weather is headed today. We are not done with this storm I assure you.
Hey there, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is your CNN SUNDAY MORNING for December the 12th. I'm T.J. Holmes. No matter where you may be this morning, we are glad you are right here -- and right here and right now is where we need to start with the weather, a severe weather alert taking place right now.
We've got watches and warnings that are posted in a bunch of states, up to eight states right now. The Upper Midwest really getting hit and getting hit hard throughout the day yesterday. Take a look here. These are some near-record numbers. Some are record numbers.
Not just snow that's falling, but we also have subfreezing temperatures. We had strong winds we're dealing with right now as well. Some towns essentially shut down. You just can't get around right now. A lot of interstates are closed.
Of course, the travel plans are being complicated for a lot of people out there trying to get around on the roads and also in the skies, and would you believe, folks, we're not even to winter just yet -- still got about nine days before we get there.
Don't tell that to the folks in Minnesota's Twin Cities, they are finding themselves in the biggest snowstorm they've seen some 20 years.
Take a look now at what we're talking about, a good look why. Snow plows finding vehicles stranded in huge drifts of snow. We have snow reports in Minnesota going as high as 21 1/2 inches. Police telling people to just stay home, stay off the roads, unless it is absolutely necessary.
Let's switch over to Wisconsin right now, kind of the same story they're seeing there. Big snow totals on highways -- highway closures there as well. This is in Eau Claire this morning, compliments of one of our iReporters sending this in. This iReporter says she's never shoveled this much snow before. Parts of western Wisconsin seeing anywhere from 12 to 20 inches of snow.
Turn to Iowa now -- they are seeing some really low temperatures right now. Sioux Falls, the wind and snow making more treacherous conditions on the roadways. Interstate 29 from Sioux Falls, Iowa, to north of Omaha, Nebraska, closed this morning. I-80 near Des Moines as well. Conditions so bad even the snowplows can't get out and do the work.
And on hold right now, today's scheduled NFL game between the New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings, end of the road here so to speak last night in Kansas City, Missouri. Eli Manning, the rest of the Giants, you see him sitting there, they were stuck in the airport in Kansas City. They can't get up to Minneapolis, where they're supposed to have a game with the Vikings.
The game now is being postponed. They're going to have it Monday night now. So, we'll have two Monday night games if they can get there, if they can actually play it tomorrow.
Bonnie, give me some relief here, please. I'm talking about all the weather, I should hand it over to you.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's true, T.J. You know, we are looking at this weather, though persisting straight to the start of this week, and I think we're going to see some really cold, cold air that hasn't even arrived yet in many locations.
Take a look at the map. We've got advisories from blizzard warnings to Iowa all the way to a winter weather warning for Chicago. And Chicago, you are facing a mess today with blowing snow.
We can take you live to Chicago at this hour -- the temperature is very cold in the teens. We're expecting the wind chill factor to dip down to zero tonight. It's early out there and there's plenty of snow on the ground. We're going to see more of that with winds that are just going to be fierce, and whipping along as we go through the afternoon.
I believe we have a live picture of Nashville, Tennessee. That's another place that we're tracking wintry weather for later on tonight. We're looking at temperatures that are going to be so cold that we could see snow in Nashville tonight, possibly up to an inch under winter weather advisory. And check out the map.
You'll see here that that winter weather advisory extends into northern Alabama and north Georgia. So, snow, too.
And then down in Florida, not only will it be cold, freeze watches as far south as inland Miami-Dade County, the temperatures would hover near the freezing mark, but there's also a strong wind. So, we have wind advisories posted as well and yes, that will make it feel even colder and those advisories are actually not just tonight but also Monday night into Tuesday. So, a big wintry mess.
New York City getting some wet weather right now, snow up into northern New England. For those of you that are traveling, this is bound to have a big impact as we go through the afternoon for today.
And, you know, as we zoom into the area, we are also tracking a wintry mix, if you're driving, for example, on I-40, you'll encounter rain, ice and snow, depending on where you are, in the mountains of North Carolina, it is snowing right now. And then very powerful thunderstorms rolling along I-10, heading across Gainesville. We're going to see some heavy rain as well as into Jacksonville, Florida. And that's one of the places that we're watching for freezing weather tonight.
Speaking of freezing, here is your week ahead, tomorrow morning, waking up to temperatures in the teens across much of Cleveland, it will be snowing there. Temperature into the teens but the wind chill factor is really the big story, down into the negative numbers as far south as Tennessee, and then it gets dangerous.
Right through this part of the country, where the temperature will be right at zero, the wind chill factor tonight could drop down to extremely dangerous levels, negative 30, negative 20, parts of Minnesota, certainly the Dakotas and possibly northern Wisconsin. So, it's very dangerous out there.
If you don't have to travel or be outside, in this type of weather, I advice just staying in and hopefully wait until temperatures at least get back to normal, which probably won't happen for the next couple of days, into evening hours at least. Daytime is a little more bearable -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Bonnie Schneider for us -- Bonnie, we appreciate you this morning. Thanks so much.
I want to turn back to that story I was telling you about at the top of the hour here.
About 567 paying passengers are stuck on that boat. They were only supposed to be on it for two hours. Now, they're going on about 13 hours they've been on it.
Let me explain to you why. That's the Branson Belle. It ran aground on the cruise yesterday. People are supposed to get a show and also we're expecting to get dinner.
Well, they were supposed to be back after two hours, they ran aground because of some high winds, so they just had to hunker down. They couldn't send another boat to tow them in because of the high wind and waves so they just had to hunker down last night.
Mind you, this is a riverboat here. This is not some big cruise ship. They do not have sleeping accommodations on there. We're getting reports of a lot of people who have just had to bundle up quite frankly with whatever they could find, including tablecloths and whatnot on there.
So, you got about 600 people on there, that just had to hunker down for the night. We talked to one of them a little earlier, gentleman by the name of Jim Wellborn. This is what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM WELLBORN, SHOWBOAT PASSENGER (via telephone): There's people all over the place as far as on the carpet and on chairs, and a few smaller couches, and the personnel on the boat, Branson Belle, were very helpful to bring -- they're not really blankets, I guess they're tablecloths and -- but a lot of people are wrapped in those.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes. That gentleman in particular -- apparently, we're just getting some of the first pictures we're seeing from aboard that boat, but people just had to hunker down wherever they could. And temperatures got down into the 20s last night.
We're told the boat still has power. It still has heat. They had food. They had water, everything they need on board but just an uncomfortable position.
We were told that maybe around 6:00 local time, they might be able to get the winds or the winds might go down enough for them to try to tow that boat in. But the word we're getting so far is that that has yet to happen. So, o they remain stuck on what was supposed to be a two-hour cruise.
And we turn now to the former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin. She's spending the weekend touring Haiti, as part of a humanitarian delegation. She joined a trip headed by evangelist Franklin Graham. He has a relief organization called Samaritan's Purse. And Graham said she'll be a great encouragement to the people of Haiti, still suffering after January's earthquake. And, now, a cholera outbreak.
Palin visited a treatment center for cholera patients and said Americans are responsible for helping those less fortunate.
Turn overseas now. The Swedish government is calling two explosions an act of terrorism. One detonated in a car, the other killed a man, probably the bomber. Two other people were injured.
Police got an e-mail warning minutes before the explosions, a sound file attached to the e-mail -- excuse me -- criticized the government for send 500 Swedish troops to Afghanistan and a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Muhammad as having the body of a dog.
Swedish TV reporter described what police found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ED LUNDREN, REPORTER, TV4 (via telephone): In the car, they found the gas tubes which exploded and beside the killed man, they found a bag containing what we know at this moment a lot of metal scraps and nails and some kind of explosives. This didn't go off and obviously just one out of six bombs on the man himself exploded. So, if all these six bombs had exploded, it would have been catastrophic consequences because there were a lot of people shopping in the streets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, we are expecting to see more free speech protests around the globe today in support -- excuse me, folks -- all in support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. This one took place yesterday in his native Australia. Assange is under arrest in London on suspicion of sex crimes in Sweden, that are unrelated to his controversial Web site.
Others demonstrations in Spain, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, the Netherlands, on Colombia, all demand Assange be released.
We'll take look here what we saw in Moscow. This was after a mass memorial turned into a riot. Moscow police arrested and released at least 60 soccer fans after yesterday's disturbance. Twenty-nine people were also injured, including some police officers.
Members of the Moscow soccer club gather to remember one of their own killed by some men from Russia's Caucasus region. The riot started when club members recognized fans from the Caucasus region and a fight broke out.
Well, a lot of people think you might have seen Michael Jackson in just about every way you can see him in pictures and videos. But, no, we've got some pictures actually you nor I, nor the rest of the world have ever seen before. And they are going on the auction block. We will show those to you.
Plus this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The winner is Cam Newton of Auburn University.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: He is no doubt the best college football player in all the land. He's also probably the most controversial.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twelve minutes past the hour.
I want to get back to the story I told you about in the last block, about this showboat. This is the Branson Belle, that was supposed to go out for a two-hour cruise last night. It had about 567 paying passengers on board, another 70 members of the crew. Two-hour cruise, they got a show, they got dinner, but they got more than they bargained for actually.
They've been on this thing for about 13 hours now. They had high winds yesterday. The boat ran aground and they haven't been able to get it back to where it needs to be. The high winds and waves haven't quite died down enough for a rescue mission, if you will.
I want to bring in Lisa Rau. She's with Branson Belle. She's the spokesperson there.
Ma'am, thank you for being here. Are you any closer to starting the process of getting either the boat back to where it needs to be or getting the people off?
LISA RAU, BRANSON BELLE (via telephone): Yes, everything is starting to shape up. We are having a 30-foot ramp we've put on a road we created. We're actually moving heaven and earth to get to the boat. It is on a shore point that is very rocky. So, we were able to bring in a bulldozer, create approximately a 50-yard road and now we are bringing in the 30-foot ramp for the people. We are doing everything we can to have this mission accomplished within the next few hours.
HOLMES: And you said you brought in a bulldozer. When did this process -- it sounds like a heck of a construction project you had going on. When did that start?
RAU: Yes, we did. As you said, about 13 hours ago is when the winds just, it's been amazingly gusty winds, came up over Tamarac Lake, waves on the lake you seldom see white caps. It became very, very gusty.
It was at that point that the showboat, which is about the size of a football field, and it's three stories. It's a show and dinner and cruise. They started having some issues with combating the winds, and the showboat then went ashore on what is called Poverty Point -- a very long, narrow, rocky point, wooded point.
So, in the middle of the night, we brought in a bulldozer and we have now been bulldozing down the trees, and into a narrow pathway, about 50 yards long. We are now feeding the people breakfast. There's always been heat and power and food and beverages on the showboat.
We determined last night, because the winds were just not stopped, that the safest most important thing for us to do was to leave the boat where it had come ashore, because it was safe there.
So, we're feeling very good about the coordinated efforts of all the law authorities, and the area folks who have helped us. We have conveyances to bring the people up out of the wooded area. We have buses waiting for the people as well, where we'll take them back to their cars. HOLMES: And, ma'am --
RAU: So, it's been an uncomfortable night but certainly made the best of a bad situation.
HOLMES: And we're looking at here, ma'am, I'm not sure if you see a television as well. But to our viewers at least, I can tell them -- you're seeing video that was sent to us by one of the passengers that we actually talked to and, ma'am, what we're seeing here is apparently a couple people did have medical issues or immediate medical needs and they had to be taken care of and it looks like firefighters were there. And we were told that other smaller boats came around firefighters to take some of the people off.
I guess why was that not an option to get smaller boats? And I know you got 567 people there.
RAU: Right.
HOLMES: But start the process of just a few at a time trying to get them off?
RAU: Yes, well, we really couldn't do that with the great number of people. However, what you are referring to, those were U.S. Coast Guard boats that helped people with pre-existing conditions, people who have conditions that needed medication or needed to be dealt with. So, those unique situations which included a total, including their family members, six people, they were able to board a U.S. Coast Guard small vessel and they were brought to the shore.
But to have moved that many people in the conditions -- I mean, you know I have to say, Mother Nature has really been something the last 13 hours, amazingly windy and gusty. And we really have to say, well, knowing that we had power and heat and food and beverage, the best thing to do -- the safest thing was to keep the majority of the people aboard the ship.
HOLMES: All right. Ms. Rau, I'm going to let you go. But it sounds like you -- what, within the hour, do you think, you'll get the first coming down that 30-foot ramp you talked about?
RAU: Yes, sir, we are literally moving heaven and earth to make this happen.
HOLMES: All right. Ms. Rau, thank you so much for taking the time out. Good luck to you and those passengers trying to get off, been a heck of a night for those folks. Thank you so much, ma'am.
RAU: Thank you.
HOLMES: All right. Have you seen the new photos? They are out. The photos we're talking about are the engagement photos. Look at that. Prince William and his new bride to be, they had official photos out and sharing them with all of us.
Stick around. It's 17 minutes past the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Good morning. Welcome back to this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
Nice live picture of Memphis, Tennessee, the king of rock n' roll, that's his home and you're listening to the king of pop right now, Michael Jackson. And Michael Jackson fans got something to show you now as you probably have never seen before.
None of us have seen this before, pictures, new pictures of the king of pop, about 90 of them, that are going to be auctioned off tomorrow in Paris. Special preview for you, French photographer took these pictures back in 1999. They were supposed to be on the cover of Michael Jackson's final studio album, which was "Invincible" back in 2001. But they were never used, so they were shelved and they've been sitting on the shelves for about 10 years now.
Now, bidding for some of the main portraits expected to start around $1,400 and you bet somebody is going to pay it. A lot of people have been paying a lot of big money for a lot of Michael Jackson memorabilia lately.
Some of the best photos of the year from "TIME" magazine's perspective at least, coming out with their new favorite shots of 2010, Josh Levs here with a preview of that for us -- Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi again, T.J.
You know, these photos tell the stories of the year, and they remind us about what a lot of the stories have been throughout the year that dominated the headlines. They dominated our conversations. That's what we've been thinking about.
Well, take a look right here. This is the spread. And I'm going to talk you through now some of the key photos.
First one of this shot of the president --and they have a quote that goes along with it from January. He says, "I think we've done a pretty good job of working in this town without being completely consumed by it." The president there talking about Washington.
All right. Let's jump over to the next picture right here, which is from Haiti. These are homeless refugees from the earthquake in Haiti -- one of the stunning images that sticks with us throughout the year from our partner at TIME.com.
This now is the volcanic eruption in Iceland, lighting up the Icelandic sky, causing a global mess.
Over here now to the World Cup -- look at all those vuvuzelas. This one was taken at the first ever soccer match in Soccer City Stadium in Soweto.
And we've got time for a couple more here. This is the oil spill crisis from the summer. It was taken near Venice, Louisiana, more than two months after the explosion on that oil rig, spewed millions of tons of oil into the Gulf.
And let's look at this one here, this is interesting. This is about the drug wars in Mexico, a burned house riddled with bullet holes remains untouched almost two years after a deadly firefight between soldiers and members of the La Familia cartel.
And, finally, take a look at this. This is kind of a nice one, the Iraq troop drawdown. Soldiers of the Virginia National Guard await take off to the plane that would take them home.
I got all those linked for you in my Facebook and Twitter pages, @JoshLevsCNN.
Tell us what you think some of the hot shots of the year are and we'll bring some of those to you here next week -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Josh for us this morning -- thank you so much.
LEVS: You got it.
HOLMES: Well, are you tired of folks looking like a fool with pants on the ground? You know it, don't you? The baggy pants, sick of seeing them? People think it's an epidemic out there. And you're just going to love one school principal's solution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it was a joke, but until I got Urkeled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes, ain't no joke. Your pants are dragging. You'll get Urkeled in front of everyone. We're going to explain.
It's 22 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're taking a look at some of the stories making headlines this morning.
South Korea has scheduled a new round of naval firing drills starting tomorrow. But they say they'll keep artillery fire away from North Korea. Tensions mounted on the Korean Peninsula in late November when North Korea shelled a nearby island. Four people died, including two marines.
Also, we're closely monitoring the recovery of diplomat Richard Holbrooke. He is in critical condition at a Washington hospital after having surgery for a torn aorta. The 69-year-old envoy is Obama's -- the Obama administration's special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Also, the press office for Prince William has released the official engagement photos of him and his fiancee Kate Middleton. The royal couple will be married April 29th at Westminster Abbey.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, at 27 minutes past the hour. We have been keeping a close eye on the weather situation today as we've been telling you, places from Iowa to Wisconsin to Missouri, to Minnesota, especially getting a lot of snow.
Now, we're getting word now that the Metrodome in Minneapolis has endured some kind of structural damage. There has been a lot of snow that has been falling and that was a concern of some people there -- in fact, they even were having questions about whether or not they were going to have the scheduled game between the Vikings and the Giants there this evening because of safety issues.
It turns out that the Giants ended up getting stuck because of the snow in Kansas City anyway. So, they couldn't make it to Minnesota.
Anyway, the game was supposed to be scheduled for tomorrow night but that is not the case now, it appears, because of some kind of structural damage at the Metrodome, again, the home of the Vikings there.
I do have a gentleman on the line with me. Forgive me, sir, I don't have the name, Eric Roeske is the name -- Lieutenant Eric Roeske.
Sir, I appreciate you hopping on the line. What can you tell us about the damage to the Metrodome?
ERIC ROESKE, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, MINN. STATE PATROL (via telephone): Well, obviously, we had a tremendous amount of snow in the Twin Cities last night, that up to 20 inches of snow over that large area of the roof, certainly, would be incredibly heavy. And it appears that the roof has deflated or partially deflated, at some point, overnight or this morning.
HOLMES: When you give us a better idea, sir. A lot of people are not familiar. We'll try to get a picture for people to see -- you say partially deflated. You're not characterizing this necessarily as a collapse. I guess, explain a little farther what do you mean by partially deflated?
ROESKE: Well, the Metrodome roof is held up by air pressure and so, obviously, the weight of the snow would affect how much air pressure is necessary to keep that roof up, and from what I understand and what I've seen here this morning, either that weight or something caused that air pressure not to be strong enough or high enough to keep that roof up in its normal position.
And so, it has deflated I guess would be the term or sunk down from its normal height.
HOLMES: And sir is it possible as well as you're explaining this roof, and I -- I think when people see the picture they'll recognize that it's not a regular structure on top. It does look like a bit of a -- a puffy but several puffy balloons almost to try to describe it to people for lack of a better phrase right now.
We'll get that picture for people to see, they'll recognize. But sir so it's certainly is possible that part of the roof or -- or part of the -- the top of it could deflate. But not -- it doesn't mean necessarily that a hole or anything has punched through to the interior of the dome?
ROESKE: Yes, you know, as I recall -- I've always lived here in the Twin Cities area -- this has happened a couple times, we've had large amounts of snow. So you know, from what I understand, and as I recall historically, they can get that -- that weight off of that roof, they can blow it back up and get it back to normal.
HOLMES: And sir, you all had some or officials did have some concerns, there was supposed to be a game there tonight between the Vikings and the Giants. That game has been moved to tomorrow night partly because the Giants couldn't make it to town because of all the weather. But were there concerns going into the game for tonight anyway, because of all the snow that was on the roof?
ROESKE: Well, there -- there were concerns for a number of reasons, you know, the amount of snow we had just people getting around safely that was one of the concerns we had as a state police agency, obviously. That -- from what I heard officials say they did have some concerns and that's why it was postponed to tomorrow night.
However, I -- I don't imagine anybody anticipated this.
HOLMES: All right, Lieutenant Roeske, we appreciate you, sir, hopping on the line with us to explain exactly what's happening there.
Again, to our viewers who are just joining us, we are keeping an eye on what's happening in a -- in Minnesota right now. We know there's been a lot of weather there, a lot of snow that has fallen.
And actually, I see Bonnie Schneider over there, and Bonnie don't go too far. I have someone on the line I'm going to talk to.
But can you yell out to me right quick just how much snow fell in Minneapolis over the last day or so?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we've been tracking the snowfall totals tonight. I've just updated it and we can show you the totals in Minneapolis and in St. Paul, and well over a foot, almost two feet. If we can take that graphic now I'll show you the snowfall totals across much of the region, some incredible numbers actually not necessarily record-breaking but some up to almost two feet of snow.
Minneapolis itself, 17.5 inches, St. Paul just a little bit less than that. Most of the snowfall amounts were over a foot across Minnesota and Wisconsin. And remember, it has been a very heavy, wet snow and a steady snow with also strong winds so sometimes what happens in these situations, that the concentration of snow can get heavier and higher in certain areas due to blowing and drifting snow.
We've seen wind gusts in the Minneapolis area up to 45 miles per hour so it's possible that that snow can blow about and concentrate, get even heavier in certain spots making roofs more vulnerable. And unfortunately, as we are watching the track of the storm all this heavy snow is pushing eastward and we may see more roof collapses as a result of all the snow -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, we appreciate that. Again, off to two feet possibly of snow in the area. And I have Roy Terwilliger, who is chair of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission which oversees the dome. Sir, I don't know if you can see the picture we have on TV right now of your dome. But that is not what your dome normally looks like.
What can you tell us about the condition of your stadium right now?
ROY TERWILLIGER, CHAIRMAN, MINNESOTA METROPOLITAN SPORTS COMMISSION (via telephone): Well, I'm actually at the stadium but I'm down in the lower levels of the stadium so I'm not accessible to watching --
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Yes.
TERWILLIGER: -- what your picture might show.
What we had overnight was due to the heavy snow, cold, high winds, was too much pressure on the dome, and several panels of the Teflon roof were caused to rip, and that's causing the deflation in the dome. And at this time, we are having people who understand this assess it and look at it.
There's a safety concern, of course, with people in the facilities, so we're being very careful and cautious there. But at this time, we're waiting for them to see if within the hour, assess how extensive the damage is, and then make a determination from there as to what, how we proceed.
HOLMES: And Mr. Terwilliger, -- Terwilliger is it -- is it possible as well the -- the dome or the roof there can deflate but there hasn't necessarily or can you tell me, has there been necessarily a puncture, a hole through to the actual floor of the dome? So is there necessarily a hole in the roof, I should say, just yet?
TERWILLIGER: Yes, the tear -- the tear in the roof, you can -- you can look through the tear in the roof and see the skies, so it has gone all the way through -- through to the roof.
HOLMES: How big of a puncture are we talking about, how big of a hole?
TERWILLIGER: You know, there are several panels, that -- that -- if you've see in a picture of the dome, you'll see it gets kind of puffy and you'll see these -- these panels --
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Yes.
TERWILLIGER: -- and there are -- there are several of them that have been punctured.
The extent of the damage is still -- the experts have to look at that and then a little later this morning, as soon as we have that reading there will be a -- conference call with the NFL, the -- the teams, and the dome officials, but to assess exactly how we proceed from here.
HOLMES: Ok, last couple of things I have to get this in before I let you go, sir. One, you said there were some staff possibly still inside. Have those people I guess been told to get to safety and there's no danger of anyone inside right now and two, how long before this dome could possibly be up and running again, and then -- and no doubt there will not be a football game there tomorrow night?
TERWILLIGER: Let answer -- let me try to answer those three questions. First, the safety is paramount. Nobody is in danger.
HOLMES: Ok.
TERWILLIGER: People who are assessing it are safe. There's not a problem there. Secondly, I don't have these necessarily in order, but we will -- we will be having a meeting via conference call within, hopefully within the next hour to two hours, and then from that, reports can be assessed, and then the determination can be made as to if -- if the game can be played and -- and if so, exactly what time.
So that is yet to be determined.
HOLMES: All right, Mr. Terwilliger, sir we appreciate you hopping on the line. Again, he's with the group that oversees the Metrodome there in Minneapolis. Sir we appreciate your time.
But again to our viewers -- again, up to two feet of snow fell in some areas there in Minnesota. You are seeing a live picture of the Metrodome. It does not look familiar to you because it doesn't have that signature roof, that puffy roof on top that we're used to seeing, because it has caved in, deflated as it's been described and there is a hole in the roof, like he just described. You can be down on the floor of the Metrodome and look up into the sky.
So what does this mean for the game that was supposed to be played there tomorrow night? We don't know. Nobody's in danger at this point but it just goes to show just how much snow fell there and how much of an effect it is having on so many people, so many places, so many roads, so many streets and yes including one Metrodome.
Thirty-seven minutes past the hour. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: All right, 38 minutes past the hour.
We've been watching certainly the weather situations have been developing really for the past 24 hours. We were -- as you saw, the pictures just a moment ago talking about what was happening in Minnesota where the roof of the Metrodome, the home of the Vikings there does not look like it's supposed to look.
We should show you a before picture, we tried to get one up for you but you'll recognize a kind of that puffy roof, a kind of an inflated, it looks like a -- a balloon, several panels there that are -- are blown up is what the roof is supposed to look like. But right now, you can see it is sunk in because it has deflated because of up two feet of snow that fell there over the past 24 hours or so.
Too much for that roof, we're told that you can be on the floor of the Metrodome and look up and see the sky so a hole in that roof and it has deflated. We don't know what that will mean for the game that was supposed to take place tomorrow night between the Vikings and the Giants. They are assessing that now.
Our iReporters assessing the weather situation for us as well and giving us an update of the storm. Let's start with our Allen Scott, one of our iReporters out of St. Clair, Minnesota, he's taking notice of what's below the snow, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN SCOTT, CNN IREPORTER: I mean the cars are literally buried. You can see that's just, just nothing but ice underneath the snow, making it really slick, really hazardous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right, let me -- let me just go ahead and hop on the line with another one of our iReporters, Jack Paar in on the phone with us. Jack, tell me where you are, you are there in -- in Minnesota I believe as well. We've been keeping a close eye on what's happening at the Metrodome.
But tell me where you are and what you've been experiencing the past days.
JACK PAAR, CNN IREPORTER (via telephone): I'm in St. Paul, Minnesota. And yes, it's -- it's been one heck of a storm. It's like two feet of snow -- I highly recommend people check their vent pipes for their heating systems on their homes. My -- my vent pipe was actually plugged with snow, and it burned my heater out, so I'm sitting in my house with space heaters, it's about 55 degrees, and no heat, no heat in my house.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Now, I assume nobody can get to you to help correct your heating problem, is that correct? PAAR: That is correct. The roads -- the -- some of the main corridors have been plowed, but the snow banks like you know east and west is ok but the snow banks are like four feet tall to go north and south, I mean, it's -- it's a mess out there still.
HOLMES: How long are you going to be able to hunker down with those space heaters? It sounds like they got 55 degrees, that is still pretty chilly in the house.
PAAR: Yes, yes, it's -- it's zero degrees outside, with the wind chill of like 21 below.
HOLMES: Wow.
PAAR: I am going to try to get a heating guy out here today and I might have to wait until tomorrow, though.
HOLMES: All right, well, you hang in there. Jack Paar we appreciate you hopping on the line experiencing or sharing with us what you are experiencing right now. Again, one of our iReporters as we have checked in with so many of them.
But again, so much of this video, so much snow we are seeing and having such an impact. And again, the news we got just a short time ago is that the dome, the Metrodome, the top of it has deflated, if you will, because of all the weight of the snow and there is a hole in the roof right now.
We're keeping a close eye on all things weather related. Its 42 minutes past the hour. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: As you know, this time is my favorite time of SUNDAY MORNING because I get to talk to Candy Crowley. She's coming your way in about 17 minutes for "STATE OF THE UNION." Candy, always good to see you. You've got David Axelrod this morning? Do I have that right?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": I do have David Axelrod this morning. Yes, to talk about -- as you know, they're having a little trouble with some Democrats up on Capitol Hill.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: You call it that?
CROWLEY: Yes, they don't like these tax cut deal that the President struck with Republicans, and there's basically a mutiny on the House side saying well, we're not going to bring this compromise up for a vote, because we really don't like it.
So we want to know, so is there any give where the White House is concerned, but you know they've got this balancing act.
If you bring on a liberal House Democrat or two, how many Republicans do you lose? And there's also sort of this whole idea of the President showing leadership and saying look, this is the deal and you need to come along. So it's an interesting time after having spent two years arguing with Republicans, he's now having an inner party argument so that's kind of fun.
And we also have two of the Democrats, Elijah Cummings and Jim McDermott who have been some of the most vocal opponents of this tax cut deal; also Dick Durbin on the Senate side to see if there's any way to bridge this Democratic Party divide right now. So a lot about tax cuts.
HOLMES: Ok. Candy, how much has been the talk of the town that this was frankly a strategic move by this president who has been criticized from governing too far to the left, now he can separate himself from the Democrats a little bit, show a little compromise with Republicans and get back those all-important independents and people right down the center.
CROWLEY: Right, is he tacking? Listen, there are so many sort of theories about what's going on and this is a town that loves sort of Machiavellian spin stories. So, there is that. There is also -- what's interesting is there was a really good column written by Charles Krauthammer here about how this was actually completely brilliant of President Obama, because in effect, had the President had gone up and said hey, I need another $858 billion to stimulate the economy, they would have said, ah, no, been there, done that, not happening and yet that's exactly what he got.
In fact, this is just a giant stimulus package and he's been able to bring Republicans aboard calling it, you know, a tax cut extension. So we do not lack for theories on where politically the President is trying to go on this. Is he tacking center because really his re- election bid is starting in January, or is he in fact still a liberal spending a lot of money and cloaking it in the name of tax cuts? So take your pick.
HOLMES: Take your pick.
Candy, always good to talk to you. Wish we had more time --
CROWLEY: Thanks T.J. Me too.
HOLMES: -- to talk to you about -- always do.
But I had a little breaking news this morning out of Minnesota, a lot going on with the weather, but good to see you as always.
CROWLEY: Thanks. You too.
HOLMES: You can see a whole lot more of Candy Crowley here in just a few minutes, "STATE OF THE UNION" starts in about 14 minutes, 9:00 Eastern time, 6:00 Pacific, right here. Don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Forty-eight minutes past the hour. You remember the song that was popular there for a little while "Pants on the Ground" -- looking like a fool with your pants on the ground? Well, one school in Memphis doing something about those pants.
Carl Azuz from CNN Student News is here with me this morning. You still see, it still happens.
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Oh, yes.
HOLMES: Kids still wearing the sag, their butts out. What are they doing about it in Memphis?
AZUZ: There's a principal who said, he has had enough. He wants to teach young men to be young gentlemen and in his opinion that doesn't include low-riding. It doesn't include sagging and bagging and it certainly doesn't include kids' underwear being seen.
So take a listen to what the principal said and how some students at the school, their response is positive. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can put your pants as high as your chest and they could put as many as three or four on you.
BOBBY WHITE, PRINCIPAL MEMPHIS WESTSIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL: There's something about looking right, acting right, beginning to think right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you keep your pants up, they have you looking like a proper young man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: And so the way they're doing that is they're giving teachers zip ties. And these teachers when they see a student who is low-riding can take these zip ties, use them as belts and they're calling Urkeling (ph) named after the "Family Matters" character.
And so the kids are getting zip ties to hold their pants up at their waist and then they're getting a photograph taken to put on sort of an urkel wall or a wall of shame to show other kids, hey look, this is what you could look like if you're caught.
HOLMES: Is it working?
AZUZ: At this school, yes. There was a teacher who commented, the teacher who has done the most urkeling of students has told us that there has been an over 80 percent drop in the number of kids who are sagging and bagging.
So it has made a difference there and the response of the students at the school, T.J., has been pretty good. I mean a lot of the kids there are like it's teaching us to be young gentlemen, as you heard that young man say, and they seem to roll along with it. But nationally, there are about a third of our student audience who are saying they didn't like it.
HOLMES: Any parents chiming in there in Memphis just yet? They might not appreciate their kid being kind of embarrassed in a way?
AZUZ: You know it's interesting you mentioned that because there are some kids who are bringing their parents into it saying it is their parents' responsibility to make sure, in fact, I think we have a comment for you this morning from a student who's saying look this isn't up to the teachers. This is up to the parents.
So that's from Chris who's saying the idea would work for only so long. You take away the kids' way to stand out they'll find a new way to stand out.
But there are some kids telling us, look. This is not up to the teachers; this is up to the parents. One thing I could say they all agree on, by and large, they support the no saggy pants policy. Kids are telling us look, we don't want to see other kids' underwear but do not like the idea of the wall of shame. A lot of students saying they don't want to be seen in front of their friends if they're caught doing this.
HOLMES: It's too bad you have to go that far to embarrass a kid for something to be effective but it's working.
AZUZ: It's working at that school.
HOLMES: I know.
AZUZ: What more can you say?
HOLMES: All right. Great stuff this morning as always.
All right. Thanks so much.
Well, it's getting close to about nine minutes to the top of the hour. Can you imagine living in a house that's smaller than your average parking space? Yes, it's happening. It's all the rage in one particular city. We'll tell you where this is happening.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Fifty-three minutes past the hour. Nadia Bilchik joining me here. When I first heard this story, you're essentially talking about a house --
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Yes.
HOLMES: -- imagine the space the size you could put a Mercedes Benz in and someone living in that space.
BILCHIK: But building up.
HOLMES: Kind of, sort of. But living --
BILCHIK: So we're talking about Tokyo, Japan where land is so expensive. So that's the realities in Tokyo. There are 127 million people around living in Japan. A quarter of those people in live in Tokyo, in and around Tokyo. Land is so expensive. So in this particular home you have a son, Yohito Mario (ph) and his mother Yoko. Look at the tiny space. So it's three floors up from about 30 square meters. But if you look how clever and well designed it is, look at that microwave.
HOLMES: That sink though --
BILCHIK: That sink is a half-size sink and look at the amount of light that comes in the spiral staircase, the shoes that are inside a closet. So no space is spared at all, this brilliant utilization of space.
Now, did you notice the triangular shape of the staircase?
HOLMES: Yes.
BILCHIK: That actually saves an enormous amount of space as opposed to a circular staircase. So you have the top architects in Japan, creating what they call micro-housing or otherwise known as kyusho tako (ph). And again, going from the fact that you have these tiny pieces of land and they build up from there.
HOLMES: Now you say this is kind of becoming the rage, and part of it -- it's certainly a space issue but when I first heard about it, oh, small, little parcel of land surely they're saving money but not necessarily.
BILCHIK: Not necessarily. It's expensive. So that house that we're looking at right now was $500,000. That did include the land, and in fact that particular house on the corner used to be a parking place. And they built up, but the skill, T.J., that it takes -- some of these houses are shaving off the corners and using windows on the side to create light.
HOLMES: And this one we're looking at, how many people actually live here?
BILCHIK: This is a son whose name is Yohito Mario and his mother Yoko. The two of them live in the house. They share a bedroom on the third floor. They only have two mugs. Think about how few things you have to have to live in that amount of space. I mean could you do that?
You have to be frugal not only with your actual space but the amount of things you have in the home.
HOLMES: Yes, that is fascinating but you say --
BILCHIK: In Japan, it's the trend. It's what's happening. This particular architect that designed this it's 70 percent of all his homes are of this size, home sweet small home.
HOLMES: Home sweet -- ok, Nadia, always something interesting from her in the morning. That's why we love her. Thank you so much Nadia. Well coming up, getting close to the top of the hour, that means we're getting close to "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley. But we're going to give you an update on a couple of top stories we're keeping an eye on including what's happening in Minnesota with the Metrodome, it doesn't look like it's supposed to look right now, because the roof has deflated and there is a hole in it right now.
Quick break. We're right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're standing by just a minute or so away from Candy Crowley and "STATE OF THE UNION".
But showing you a picture here, this is the Metrodome in Minnesota. It's not supposed to look like that. The roof has deflated. They have had about two feet of snow in some places in Minnesota. We've been telling you about this huge snow system, the storm system that has been barreling through the upper Midwest, making its way to the east now but the snow apparently got so heavy on the Metrodome.
You see it there on the left, that's the live picture. But on your right you may recognize that, that is what it's supposed to look like. But that roof, it depends on air, to have it up; a puffy little roof. It's not a hard structured roof like so many others. It's a puffy roof, if you will, depends on air but it has deflated.
We are told that there is a hole in it. They don't know when they might be able to get it corrected because there's supposed to be a Minnesota Vikings game there. They'll be playing the Giants tomorrow night on a Monday night game. Don't know if that is going to happen. Nobody injured here, I should say, but still a big problem they have at the Metrodome now.
Thanks for being here with us on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Time for me now to hand it over to Candy Crowley and "STATE OF THE UNION".
