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American Morning
Stranded by Holiday Blizzard; Spider-Man Actor Walking; Hugh Hefner Engagement; White House Claims President Obama Has Kicked Smoking Habit
Aired December 27, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back to the most snow in the morning. It's Monday, December 27th.
I'm Jim Acosta.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. When all is said and done, we could get 30 inches in places. And that's 30 inches on the ground. And then on top of that, all of the blowing and drifting snow. Plus, if you get plowed in, it is a mess right now.
A monster blizzard wreaking havoc in the northeast this morning. Thirty inches already on the ground in some areas. And thousands of holiday travelers are stuck. Airlines have had to cancel flights throughout the northeast and airports may not reopen for hours. We have updated opening times for the New York area airports and we'll have those for you in a moment, as well.
ACOSTA: Yes. A lot of information coming in on the trains, the subways here in New York, which are also affected. Many people are camping out simply at the airport this morning. They really have no alternative. There are no guarantees they will be taking off today or tomorrow. We will hear from one man who spent the entire night after Christmas on the tarmac.
CHETRY: And we continue to follow developing news from Europe this morning. Rome's police chief says an attempted bombing at the Greek embassy is related to other similar bombings in the city last week. Italian bomb experts defused an explosives package found at the Greek embassy this morning. They also found suspicious packages at other embassies. It turns out those were false alarms.
Last week, bombs exploded at the Chilean and Swiss embassies in Rome. An anarchist group claimed responsibility for last week's attacks.
ACOSTA: But up first, it is an absolute holiday travel nightmare. Thousands of flyers are stranded this morning as this monster blizzard continues to pound the Northeast. Snow emergencies have been declared in at least four states and several major cities, including Philadelphia and Boston. Some places are expecting almost 2 1/2 feet of snow by the time it's all over.
CHETRY: And right now, things were at a standstill at all of New York's major airports. Newark, New Jersey, LaGuardia and JFK -- all of them are closed right now. The updated times from the FAA, they pushed back, it was noon and 2:00 p.m. for Newark and LaGuardia. Now, all three of the New York metros are not opening until 4:00 p.m.
ACOSTA: We're keeping our fingers crossed on those.
CHETRY: Right. They may not be able to get up and running by 4:00. But even if they are up and running, if you had a canceled flight, can you still get out?
Allan Chernoff is live for us this morning at LaGuardia.
I mean, just an estimation -- is it tens of thousands of people that are -- that are stranded right now because of the cancellations?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, tens of thousands around the Northeast, no doubt about that, because it's not just here at LaGuardia Airport, but airports all the way from Boston down to Washington, D.C.
Here at LaGuardia, we basically got a game of: can you top this? And I'm talking about nightmare scenarios. I mean, just one story seems to be worse than the next. Have a listen to what Julie Stratton is going to tell us.
Julie has been here at LaGuardia airport now for 24 hours. Julie has just woken up -- spent the night on a cot?
JULIE STRATTON, STRANDED PASSENGER: Yes.
CHERNOFF: How are the accommodations upstairs in the hallway, between the terminal and the garage?
STRATTON: A little rough, but at least it was better than the floor.
CHERNOFF: OK. So, at least you got what, couple hours sleep?
STRATTON: Couple hours sleep, yes.
CHERNOFF: Coupe of hours of sleep. OK. That's not the worst of it for Julie.
Now, she was supposed to fly out yesterday, right, trying to get to Indianapolis on AirTran.
STRATTON: Yes.
CHERNOFF: When do they say you can get out now?
STRATTON: Thursday at 6:00.
CHERNOFF: It's Monday morning now, 8:00. You were supposed to get out yesterday. You're being told that you won't be able to leave here until Thursday. And when would you actually get into Indianapolis?
STRATTON: Friday morning.
CHERNOFF: Overnight, through a connection, and then finally drive home to Columbus? STRATTON: Correct.
CHERNOFF: I would imagine you're not too happy at the moment.
STRATTON: It's not -- it's not the best of scenarios, no.
CHERNOFF: I'm hoping that something is going to come through that you'll be able to get some other sort of flight. Are you hopeful?
STRATTON: Yes, we are. Yes, we are.
CHERNOFF: OK. Julie, you seem in extremely good humor considering the situation.
STRATTON: You just have to make the best of it. There's nothing else we can do. So, we just make the best of it.
CHERNOFF: Well spoken. Thank you, Julie.
And that is the attitude that we've heard from so many of the people stranded here, 250 according to the LaGuardia general manager. Two hundred fifty people slept overnight here at the airport -- Jim, Kiran.
ACOSTA: Allan, it seems like everybody's, you know, taking it in stride so far. I mean, that's a good thing, right?
CHERNOFF: What can you do? I mean, Mother Nature is all powerful in these situations. You know, often, people love to blame the airlines. The airlines in this case generally did their absolute best. They told people well in advance. And the vast, vast majority of people never came to the airport and are glad that they didn't.
CHETRY: Yes, that was the right decision. You got to feel for people, though, who just got stuck between connections, you know, and can't get back to their destination and don't have anywhere to go. What a mess.
Allan Chernoff for us this morning at LaGuardia, thanks so much.
And when we talk about how bad it is to be stuck in a terminal --
ACOSTA: Yes?
CHERNOFF: -- way worse to be stuck on the tarmac in a plane. And that happened to more than one plane, actually.
ACOSTA: Absolutely. And we got a dramatic telling of this earlier this morning. Our sister network, CNN International, got in touch with a passenger on an El Al flight at JFK that was sitting on the tarmac for -- get this -- eight hours. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, it must be miserable on boards. What are you people doing? ERIC SCHORR, STRANDED ON PLANE FOR EIGHT HOURS (via telephone): People right now are actually sleeping. But for the first few hours, people were going in and out of sort of, you know, they are on their laptops, they were reading, listening to music. And then people got up and started talking, you know, conversations.
I got to tell you, the El Al crew has been fantastic. The captain has kept us appraised up until now about updates. There hasn't been one in the last few hours because of the conditions. But the El Al crew -- they served us dinner and people have been in good spirits.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: He also said the flight was just seconds from taking off. Wouldn't you know it? From the airport.
So -- but, apparently, we do know that the plane did get pulled back to the terminal. So, those folks were able to get of the plane, good news.
CHETRY: Right.
ACOSTA: At least on that accord.
CHETRY: And Allan was telling us he had sent an e-mail -- he was speaking to somebody who is desperately trying to talk to a relative who was aboard a Delta flight that was supposed to go to Tel Aviv as well, stuck on the tarmac.
ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: So, it hasn't been an easy situation. On the roads, no better either. Snow emergencies are in place across the Northeast this morning. And they're really asking everybody to stay off the roads if you don't have to report to work and you don't really have to be anywhere.
They also talk about taking mass transit. But that's actually turning troublesome in cases as well.
ACOSTA: Yes. Mass transit not necessarily working as our Rob Marciano can tell us live in Stamford, Connecticut, where he had a bus stuck behind him at one point and a bus stuck in front of him which made it hard to see Rob.
How's it going there now, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Good morning guys. The snow continues to blow.
And guess what? On cue, baby, here comes mass transit. So, you're going to see me disappear here in just a little second.
We've got snow drifts that are three, four feet in spots. A bus 24-B going to Fairfield Avenue is running. I can tell you that. Behind this bus stop, though, is town hall which the stairs to the town hall have not been -- have not been shoveled, clearly. So, I'm not sure if the government offices are open for business, but there are some businesses that are open. Folks are milling about trying to get around as best they could.
This yard stick, obviously, almost completely buried. This is a snow bank, but there are strips of snow that go up and over 2 1/2 and three feet. This is a bus stop that where we had not one but two buses that were stranded earlier today, had to get the snow truck out or the tow truck out to get those out of there. So, they are trying to do the best they can as far as mass transit goes, but the buses are up and running albeit some of them get stuck from time to time.
The trains, the commuter trains, I-95 corridor here to Metro North, the blizzard has caused switch failures, some equipment failures. So, Metro North, New Haven line is shut at least for now. The same deal with Long Island railroad. So, this has crippled a number of what are usually reliable sources of transportation during blizzards.
We do have about 15,000 people without power. A lot of the people are actually walking down the street because the sidewalks are dangerous and completely snow-covered, where the streets are a little bit more plowed.
Up in Massachusetts, we have not only issues with winds gusting to 80 miles an hour last night, so we had about 26,000 people that were without power.
But coastal flooding is an issue just south of Boston. A few communities are being evacuated, at least early this morning because of those situations.
You know, this yard stick, by the way, guys, this is from mom's place. Mom made several -- gone through several sewing ventures with this. Christmas night, having dinner with the folks, reverse 911 call to announce the incoming blizzard.
I never experienced that as a child or an adult. Give you an idea of the severity of this situation. And, obviously, if you don't have to go out today, don't do it. But some spots are open.
I spoke to a woman today, just a few minutes ago, taking the bus, bus 44, to get to her job at Fairway Market. It's a grocery store. You got to feed people, right?
CHETRY: Sure do.
MARCIANO: We try to dig down and get through this, guys. We're going to dig out of this eventually, but it's going to be a slow go.
CHETRY: Rob, I think earlier today, we talked to the emergency management chief in Connecticut. I think there's a state furlough today, is what he said. So, that's probably why old city hall is closed and everything else.
So, it's you, the Dunkin' Donuts guys.
ACOSTA: And people are walking through his live shot probably because the middle of the road is the only place that is safe to walk right now in some of these areas. I mean, I remember that walking in this morning, right, Rob? I mean, the sidewalks aren't going to be cleared in a lot of these cities.
MARCIANO: No. Everybody's -- the foot traffic and bus traffic is all going through the road as well as plows. So, it's a bit of a dangerous go in that regard. You got to watch not only where you're going to, but what's coming at you from behind, because it's going to be a bus or snow plow -- neither of which could lead to a good result.
But, yes, I guess government offices are furloughed and kids obviously have the day off because it's Christmas week. So, enjoy it if you got it. If you got to get to out and get to it, just be careful and allow yourself some extra time.
ACOSTA: All right. Rob Marciano with another bus behind him in the background -- so, this would be a good time to leave Rob at this point. Thanks, Rob.
Our Reynolds Wolf is in the extreme weather center and he's been tracking this all morning as well.
CHETRY: Yes. When the heck is this getting out of here?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Boy, that's a great question. Really depends on where you happen to be. If you are in places like Washington, D.C. or Philadelphia, you're going to recover a little bit faster than people that are closer to the coast. For Rob, it's going to be a little bit of time and for all of his friends in that part of the world, it's going to be tough going.
Right now, we got the blizzard warning that's going to be in effect through noon.
A little bit of an interesting factoid for you. Do you know that you can have a blizzard without any precipitation? You get snow on the ground but without any snow falling from the sky.
A blizzard is primarily a wind event. And in terms of wind, we've had plenty of it.
Check out some of these gusts that we've got for you. You guys were talking about some that were hurricane force gust. Yes, we got those for you. Wellfleet, Massachusetts, 80 miles per hour gust; Orleans, Massachusetts, you have 79 miles per hour gust.
There are tropical storm force in New Haven, Boston and Newport, and we may still get some strong gusts throughout a good part of the day, into the afternoon, should be subsiding as we fast forward into the evening.
And those winds are the key reason why we have so many of these airport delays and closures. In New York, we got JFK, LaGuardia. Over in Jersey and Newark, you got some closures there. Atlantic City and even some of the regional airports, say, in New Haven, Newburgh and even Windsor Locks, all closed for the time being. Hopefully, these will be opened by later this afternoon -- certainly by tomorrow.
Again, we've got a bit of recovery in places like Philadelphia. But up the pike we go further to the north, we've got the scattered snow showers still coming down across Long Island. Newark, you're catching a little bit of break. White Plains, you look up, you might see a little glim of sunshine. But more snow is on the way.
Farther up towards -- we go towards, say, Boston, and what's interesting is on the cape, it's all rain. You cross over to New Bedford and then back in Boston itself, it's complete snow with the Berkshires. Our friends tuning in there this morning know that it's been snowing just nonstop for the last 24 to 36 hours.
Now, across the nation, the big pocket of rough weather we have is in the Northeast. But when you go to the northwest, basically the same deal -- the Cascades extreme Northern Rockies, snow in the valleys and along the I-5 corridor, it's going to be rain.
A beautiful day, as we wrap it up, in Salt Lake City, it will be 35 the high; and it will be 40 in Kansas City; 63 in San Antonio and Atlanta, lo and behold, 38 degrees. How about that?
Let's send it back to you guys.
CHETRY: Sounds good.
ACOSTA: Getting warmer already.
CHETRY: Yes. I mean, 38 sounds downright toasty if you're sitting here.
WOLF: Yes, comparatively speaking, you bet.
CHETRY: Thanks.
ACOSTA: Thanks, Reynolds.
Well, he is walking again -- the "Spider-Man" actor who fell more than 20 feet during a stunt gone wrong. But will he make it back to the Broadway show? The answer is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: This rare snowstorm is leading to some dangerous conditions down in North Carolina this morning. Everything is a mess.
CHETRY: How affected everything is by this storm. It's really unbelievable. Yes. And we're not the only ones, by the way --
ACOSTA: No.
CHETRY: Dealing with this. In Raleigh, North Carolina they were dealing with some very bad weather including black ice on the roadways. We're going to check in right now with our affiliate reporter Jessica Cervantez. She is in Raleigh right now. So, you're not really used to this weather, are you Jessica?
JESSICA CERVANTEZ, AFFILIATE REPORTER: No. You're exactly right. The Tar Heel State is not used of seeing this kind of weather, especially not too early in December. Usually, we see some of this the end of January, but, you know, these DOT crews are at it again. They worked 24 hours straight. Got a little bit rest last night, but back on the roads again because this is the mess they're having to deal with. See all of this frozen mess, all the ice and causing black ice and that is dangerous for cars.
Now, DOT officials say the road looks deceiving out there because the interstates and the highways are clear, but you have patches of that black ice out there. So, they definitely want you to be careful. Today, they're really going to focus on secondary roads. They weren't able to get to them much yesterday just because they really had to focus on the interstates. As soon as they were clearing them like the snow was coming down so quickly, it didn't look like they had plowed at all.
Now, across the state, the icy roads were to blame for three fatalities. They want to make sure that drivers are just really safe out there. They're going to do what they can. They said 50 crews are going to be out on the roads here in the triangle area. They even brought in some contractors to help out, about a dozen snow graders along with a dozen they already have. So, they're going to be out there as long as they can.
Reporting from Raleigh, I'm Jessica Cervantez.
CHETRY: Jessica, thanks so much. So, yes --
ACOSTA: Down south too.
CHETRY: Yes, the black ice is just, I mean, it makes it impossible to drive on. And they're just trying to keep up.
Also new this morning, Spider-man is on the road to recovery. A welcome relief after this fall, Christopher Tierney, he's the actor who fell 30 feet while playing "Spider-man" on Broadway. Problem with the rope and the harness left him just literally tumbling head first into that pit. He's walking again after back surgery. Still in intensive care.
Doctors reportedly told his family he's lucky to be alive, but his dad says he can't wait to get back to playing the role. "Spider-man" is the most expensive Broadway production ever. It has dealt with a series of injuries and temporary delays down for a two-day delay after the accident.
ACOSTA: And a tell-all about telling all, also this morning. The man behind WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, he has signed a $1.3 million book deal. He says he doesn't want to write it, but he needs the money to keep his website afloat and to pay legal fees to cover lawsuits relating to the site, defending himself against sex charges in Sweden and so on. Bank of America, Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal have already cut off donations to WikiLeaks.
CHETRY: All right. Let's take another live picture right now of the weather situation. This is the Ben Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia this morning. A little bit windy, as you can see, from the Towercam. Doesn't look like much traffic this morning.
ACOSTA: No. A little chilly in the city of brotherly love. Could use a little of that love this morning to keep warm.
And Eagles fans are going to have to wait until tomorrow night to get their football game going because of all of the snow. So, stick around. We'll have all of that coming up.
Plus, a lot more on the travel situation out there which is still just a nightmare, folks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Can we say that?
CHETRY: Yes, it is. IT'S a little gross. We'll admit it.
ACOSTA: The world's number one play boy is tying the knot again. OK? Hugh Hefner says he proposed to his fiancee on Christmas Eve. The bride to be near 24 years old, her name is Crystal Harris. You may know her as miss December 2009. I think I heard one of our crew members saying nice.
CHETRY: Really?
ACOSTA: Yes. Bu, anyway, it'll be happier --
CHETRY: 60-year age difference. You want your dad's new wife to be 35 years younger than you? I don't know.
ACOSTA: Also, it's going to be Hefner's third marriage. His first was back in 1959. Hef is now 84 years old.
CHETRY: Age is just a number.
ACOSTA: Yes, I guess so.
CHETRY: Well, they survived 69 days trapped in a mine. Now, the Chilean miners, all 33 of them, and their families are getting a great trip. They're heading to Orlando to Disney world at the end of January. Disney is going to be hosting them and their families for a six-night stay. They're going to also serve as the honorary grand marshals at a parade at the resort.
That's pictures of them. They were at our CNN Heroes event as well. So, they all look wonderful. They just look in such great shape despite the ordeal.
ACOSTA: Yes. And they've earned a trip to Disney world, I think. Those little Fockers are back on top again. I said Fockers. The third edition to the "Meet the Parents franchise" raked in about $34 million this weekend at the box office. The comedy stars Ben Stiller and Robert de Niro. The remake of the true Wayne (ph) western, "True Grit," by the way, this is number two in the box office and actually beat some expectations some of our movie buffs around here were saying taking $26 million.
CHETRY: Right. I mean, critically acclaimed, but they didn't know it was going to be a commercial success at the box office.
ACOSTA: Absolutely.
CHETRY: And looks like it is so far.
ACOSTA: The dude strikes again.
CHETRY: Yes, he does. Well, Bristol Palin is a homeowner. She is moving to Phoenix, nearby Phoenix.
ACOSTA: I didn't know "Dancing with the Stars" paid that well. I guess --
CHETRY: I guess it does.
ACOSTA: I guess so.
CHETRY: Although, you know, housing right now in Phoenix, I mean, you can get some deals.
ACOSTA: That's true.
CHETRY: The "Arizona Republic" reports that Sarah Palin's daughter bought a house in an Arizona suburb for $172,000. It's not clear why but Bristol bought the house, but TMZ is reporting that she may attend Arizona State University next year.
ACOSTA: How about that?
All right. If you had a get a flight booked, you lose. But some people will come out of the blizzard of 2010 big winners. We've been talking about that all this morning, the economy, lots of people buying snow blowers and so forth, but we want to take a live look also at Boston at this point. We have that shot to throw up. They're getting nailed right now. The burricane has moved up the East Coast to Massachusetts. So batten down the hatches, folks. It is rough out there.
CHETRY: Sure it is.
ACOSTA: Up in Boston. So, we'll check in and how things are going at the Massachusetts as well. So, stick around. Lots to tell you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: OK. Live picture now of Hartford, Connecticut. CHETRY: Yes. They're (Inaudible). We've, earlier, said that the airport was open. It actually isn't. It's supposed to open in about -- within the hour.
ACOSTA: Right. 9:00 a.m.
CHETRY: Yes. So, a lot of this is touch and go, you know? They're trying to figure out, they're trying to assess the conditions, they're trying to figure out if it's going to blow off shore anytime soon.
ACOSTA: Right.
CHETRY: And they're still getting the heavy winds. We're still getting a lot of blizzard-like conditions right now.
ACOSTA: Exactly. Well, and the blizzard was bad news for most businesses up and down the northeast over the last 24 hours.
CHETRY: If you weren't peddling in rock salt and shovels, right? Other stores, of course, love the storm because it's a money maker. So, Christine Romans is here to join us now. I mean, a lot of retailers depend on the day after Christmas where people head to the stores. They return things. They look for deals, and if you know --
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And the day after.
CHETRY: Portion of the country is in the blizzard.
ROMANS: That's right. There are others who are making money from it, peddling, as you said, the snow shovels and the salt. Anybody who's out there with their snow blower, you know, charging 25 bucks to do your neighbor's yard. I mean, all of these people are making money. The losers are pretty obvious. Anyone has had transportation, the airlines. A lot of folks who are doing the trains, the buses, if you're going to lose money right there, that's not going to come back from a trip, say, to Atlantic City, boom, so, you lose the airline industry.
All of the transportation industry is basically quaking right now. But there are some winners to talk about. Retailers seem to be losers on the front end of it, but maybe in a week, they're going to revisit those sales again, and they're going to find you a little more relaxed and with a little more money after your Christmas hangover to go ahead and spend some more money. They can shake this off pretty quickly, a lot of companies. Lowes and home depot and stores like that.
I was in Lowes yesterday. They are winners. I'm telling you, at the Lowes, every single check-out had a pile of salt, and they were selling the salt, they were selling shovels. And on the way out the door, people are picking up Christmas trees, and they were picking up things from the holidays, and they're picking up other things as well. So, impulse buys were helping out there. But look, it's a blizzard in December.
ACOSTA: Yes.
ROMANS: In the northeast. I mean, this happens. So, companies can shake it off pretty easily and make up for lost time later on.
ACOSTA: Because that's the thing I was wondering, because we were all talking about this earlier this morning that this was a really good holiday shopping season for retailers. And so, that's a good sign for the economy but a big part of, you know, this shopping season is that day after Christmas, those days after Christmas. So, is that going to affect the numbers? I mean, I know --
CHETRY: Can they reschedule their --
ROMANS: I think you will see some sales again next week.
ACOSTA: But the door buster sales --
ROMANS: I think you will see some more sales next week. Now, remember, the door buster sales it not really to sell the stuff. The door buster is to get you to buy other stuff, too. You don't have a reason to buy the other stuff now. So, what they're going to try to do is get you to spend your gift cards. A little known fact, you might not know this, but you know that spring, spring merchandise is the stuff that is rarely marked down. Usually, spend full price for spring merchandise.
And they roll it out after Christmas. Why? Because you are all flush with money from your returns and from your gift cards. So, you'll see the retailers trying to get you to spend your money now on the spring merchandise which isn't marked down. This is a little consumer tip for you that do you really need it in February if it's spring merchandise? Think about that.
But they're going to try to make up for some of that lost time. So, I think you could see some interesting and creative sales over the next couple weeks. But remember, they kept inventories lean, so they don't really have a lot of stuff out there to be selling for because we bought a little more this year than we did last year, in the first place.
ACOSTA: Christine, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Thank you, Christine.
ACOSTA: Appreciate it.
CHETRY: More stories coming up. 2,000 canceled flights, LaGuardia, JFK, Newark, the New York City's three major airports, all of them shut down to air traffic as this blizzard buries the northeast. We're still trying to dig out this morning. And they're hoping to reopen today, maybe not until late in the afternoon. Four p.m. is the target time right now, but a lot of holiday travelers spent the night at the airport. They had nowhere else to stay and no other way out by car or by train.
ACOSTA: An Arizona state lawmaker is recovering this morning after police say he was beaten and left unconscious in his own pool store on Christmas Day. Representative Frank Pratt, a 68-year-old Republican found by his wife more than four hours after the attack. A sheriff's spokesman says the attacker took off in Pratt's SUV. He is now in stable condition at a Phoenix area hospital.
And has President Obama finally kicked the habit? On "STATE OF THE UNION" yesterday White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the president quit smoking months ago and he didn't even light up on the awful midterm election night, and this time it may stick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can report that it's been probably about nine months since he last smoked a cigarette. He has done enormously well in quitting. It was a commitment that I think he made to himself at the end of health care and with his two daughters in mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Gibbs said this is the longest period in eight years that he's known the president that he has gone without a cigarette.
CHETRY: Good luck. Keep it up.
Snow emergencies in place across the northeast this morning. Everyone is being encouraged to stay off the roads by taking mass transit if that's even running. Or, if you don't have to go anywhere, just stay at home.
ACOSTA: Yes. And unfortunately our Rob Marciano who is live in Stamford, Connecticut could not stay home. He's where they are -- my goodness. He has a shovel. You're not still digging out that bus, are you, Rob?
MARCIANO: We got the bus out. We got to take care of the sidewalks. People are walking on the streets. It's dangerous. The streets are in safer condition than the sidewalks right now.
Christine mentioned kids going around and shoveling the driveway. I used this very shovel when I was a kid. I think my dad gave me about five bucks and the neighbors maybe less than that. Got a lot of work to do. Here is town hall. These steps are not clear at all. A little snow shovel and some ice melt, you would need a lot more than this to get this sidewalk clear.
But the sidewalk around the corner, Dunkin Donuts, they are open for business. This has been a busy intersection for buses. We've seen a number get stuck here, but they have done a pretty good job of getting them out and about. A couple of cabs coming through, but there has been a lot of foot traffic. And that's the main way to get around in Stamford, Connecticut.
The railways, there's limited service for Amtrak now from Boston to New York. But Metro north, the main line that takes commuters that go into New York City from here, that's shut down in both directions because of failed equipment because of the blizzard.
The same deal Long Island railroad. The winds have been huge. Reynolds mentioned 80 miles along Cape Cod. Power lines are down. Updated numbers now from Massachusetts -- over 40,000 people without power because ever these gusty winds and they are continuing and it's blowing this snow around.
So it's been a struggle this morning, but the good news is the snow has stopped. So even though traffic is pretty limited and there's not many people out and about, I suppose as the day goes along you'll start to see that. Here comes another bus. It is pretty, guys.
You get outside, in New York City the prettiness of it lasts what, maybe a couple hours before it turns to a dirty old mess. But here in Stamford, Connecticut, it looks like with this government building closed this is town hall, this may stay pretty for maybe a half a day before everybody gets back to work tomorrow.
ACOSTA: Rob?
MARCIANO: Back to you guys in New York. Enjoy.
ACOSTA: Rob, do not shovel the rest of the steps of city hall.
CHETRY: They are furloughed. You should be too.
ACOSTA: I fear for your cardiovascular health.
(LAUGHTER)
MARCIANO: That's right.
CHETRY: All right, Norman Rockwell, we'll see you later. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: Thanks.
CHETRY: We're talking a little about the travel nightmare, saying what a mess to be stuck in a terminal, even worse to be stuck on the tarmac. We have heard three different accounts of three different planes where this happened to people stuck for hours.
Right now on the phone we have Jason Cochran scheduled to fly from JFK airport to Heathrow on Virgin Atlantic, ended up several hours stuck along with other passengers. Hey, Jason, good morning.
JASON COCHRAN, TRAVEL WRITER STRANDED AT JFK (via telephone): Good morning.
CHETRY: So how did it end?
COCHRAN: I was stuck on the tarmac and at the airport. I've been at JFK. It won't end when we're scheduled to try again. The first time we tried I don't know why because all of the other airlines canceled, we were stuck on the tarmac about four-and-a-half hours because we got snowed in as we tried to make our way.
ACOSTA: And Jason, you are a travel writer, correct?
COCHRAN: That's right. ACOSTA: We've got material in the making here for your next -- is it online? In print?
ACOSTA: I work for AOL, for walletpop.com and write for AOL Travel and many other things.
ACOSTA: So what's the storyline?
COCHRAN: I don't know if I'd want to revisit this for a book anytime soon. Who would want to read it?
CHETRY: And you did blog about this the whole entire way through this. Starting at 8:00 you're saying they refused to cancel early, booked all 250 people, you sit on the tarmac with no AC, then cancel. How long was it after you guys were on the tarmac before they gave you information or told you when you may be off the plane?
COCHRAN: Precious little. And you know how the airlines do. They promise you it's about to happen, about to happen and it never happens. So we would go hours between hearing anything. It hasn't stopped now on the ground because I don't think that Virgin Atlantic or many of the airlines are well equipped to be able to handle passengers who are stranded in these numbers at the airport. In fact JFK right now is starting to run out of food.
And unfortunately we can't leave. There are no roads or rails open which is also the reason food hasn't been able to come to restock the shelves.
ACOSTA: How are the passengers holding up? Obviously you and I, we've been at the airports in situations not bad but similar. Are people taking this in stride? Are they -- are folks starting to lose their cool a little bit?
COCHRAN: You would expect the "Lord of the Flies" type situation but it's not happening. People, I guess the word is "dejected." There is no control that we have over this. Although we don't blame Virgin Atlantic for deciding to cancel the flight we do blame it for bringing us to the airport and getting us in this mess when all of the other airlines were canceling.
So the pushback hasn't been extreme but you can feel people fraying. I think as the hunger starts to build and now that the news has sunk in we're not getting the hotels we were promised, we can't get to them, I think you'll find people more testy. So far we're hanging in there.
CHETRY: There's public transportation in and out of JFK. Why are they not able to get you guys on even local buses?
COCHRAN: The public lines are all shut down. Only two New York City subway lines are working at full throttle right now and the roads are just barely passable. I tried to get a taxi. He wanted to charge upward of $100 when the fare should be less than half that. And that was the only taxi I've seen. They are not coming. CHETRY: No, not a lot, I didn't either see any either. I didn't know if the MTA has bus service, I don't know if they are going to be hopefully rerouting some of those buses or trying to get more throughout to the airport for you guys. You know how frustrating it is. You live 10 miles from the airport. I bet you would walk it.
COCHRAN: If I could, I would, but I don't know I could get back to try again tonight like we're supposed to. And what I want most of to be able to finish my travel.
ACOSTA: Jason, keep tweeting, blogging about the progress over there at JFK. Keep us apprised of the food situation. That does not sound good. But Jason Cochran, he is an AOL roving reporter, we appreciate you coming on and giving us the latest. Hang in there.
CHETRY: Good luck. Hope you get there soon.
It's 38 minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Busy morning this morning. Hope you're staying safe. Welcome back.
Let's go right now to Reynolds Wolf in the extreme weather center. It doesn't get more extreme than this morning. We're talking about this "brrr-icane" as if it was an actual hurricane because it has many of the same features. The wind speed, the gusts out on Long Island have been incredible.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Even the shape is very similar. You have the big vortex of just amazing weather. And the delays that we have and closures in the airports are mind boggling.
Let's go right to it and show people the bad news we have. Take a look. You see the airports here in front of you, you have New York, JFK, LaGuardia, even Newark, closed this time. Teterboro also closed, joining in Atlantic City, Windsor, hopefully reopening later today.
The reason for most, not just the scope, because of the incredible winds. Some gusts around 70 to 80 miles per hour. Perfect example along the coast and other parts of Massachusetts we had 79 miles per hour gusts in New Haven, 52 in Boston, Newport at 49.
What we're going to see with this is a lot of snow. On the surface kicked up by the wind gusts, a lot of headaches, very poor visibility on the roadways. Something else we're going to deal with out there will be the strong wind gusts and rough conditions along the coast. Certainly some waves very, very large along the Maine coast south to Long Island, even along Atlantic City we see scattered snow showers there, along the same situation.
A break for the time being but up toward White Plains getting a little bit of the showers coming through t snow showers, a little break and then another band that will come through. That's basically the nature through a good part of the day into the afternoon. Boston, all snow but your neighbors on the Cape it is mostly a rain event.
We're going to follow this weather story. It's going to be a big one. A lot of people stuck in place, hate to give you that bad news but sometimes the weather gods put you in Boston or New York, make the most of it. Enjoy the extra day. I have to put a little bit of a silver lining on. Back to you.
CHETRY: I think you can sell that to everybody but those trapped at the airport.
WOLF: I'm trying to be optimistic. There you go.
ACOSTA: We'll get through it together.
CHETRY: We'll show you -- speaking of hope, we hope this bus will finally -- this is about 45 minutes after we showed you this picture. That poor bus is stuck on Fifth Avenue and 59th street in New York City and still can't seem to get moving.
ACOSTA: That's isn't an oil painting. That's a live shot.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Exactly. We did find out, we talked about the stranded A train. They got a diesel locomotive to pull the train out. It was stuck at a subway station.
ACOSTA: You know when a diesel locomotive is needed to move the A train in New York City, we got problems.
CHETRY: Oh, yes. The blizzard continues. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Live picture this morning of Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford, of course, also in the thick of it with the blizzard --
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Oh yes.
CHETRY: -- still see the tower camera sort of jostling around there because of the wind. Not as bad as it has been, though.
ACOSTA: Yes. Things are improving slightly in -- in portions of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Now the storm is moving towards Maine, Massachusetts, you know, the upper --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: And then -- and hopefully offshore. But --
ACOSTA: Yes, we hope. But this is going to take some time. CHETRY: You know there's a picture right now, those blizzard conditions are still in effect in many areas. And so, it's not over yet but hopefully we're seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
There's about 2,000 flights that were canceled because of this that left tens of thousands of air travelers all stranded. All three of New York's major airports: Newark, Liberty, LaGuardia, JFK -- all of them closed. And they are not planning to reopen until this afternoon.
ACOSTA: Yes, the FAA has released some new reopening times. And they are all being pushed back a bit. All three airports now slated to open at 4:00 eastern.
But as our Allan Chernoff will now tell us live at LaGuardia Airport this morning. Some of that may be just a little bit of wishful thinking. He's standing in front of the departure board which doesn't have a lot of good news on it. Good morning, Allan.
CHERNOFF: Jim, looking at that board, all I can see is canceled flights. And we're not going to have any flights taking out of here for many, many hours.
But we do have still some passengers who have been stuck here all night long. All morning we've been telling you about the various nightmare scenarios, about 250 people stuck at the airport overnight, even though there were no flights coming in, going out at all.
Many of them were able to find cots at least, upstairs in this little hallway between the garage and the main terminal.
But I've got yet another nightmare story for you. Let's have a listen to Josh Keller and Sarah Bukowski. They spent the night in baggage claims, sleeping on the carousel or just above the carousel?
SARAH BUKOWSKI, STRANDED PASSENGER: We were actually sleeping on top of the baggage carousel in like a little alcove underneath where the baggage comes down.
CHERNOFF: Were you -- were you really able to sleep there?
BUKOWSKI: Actually, it was probably the most comfortable place for us to sleep, to be honest with you.
CHERNOFF: That sounds like a very positive spin. Josh, you told me it was like a disaster movie.
JOSH KELLER, STRANDED PASSENGER: Oh it's just -- everybody was banding together like the eight or nine people there just kept getting in groups and trying to figure out, so where are you coming from, where are going, trying -- trying to find ways to make it a little more enjoyable after you know, for some of us having been in the airport at that point for 14 hours now.
CHERNOFF: Josh, now you're -- you're going up on 26 hours. You're supposed to leave yesterday at 9:00 a.m. KELLER: That's right.
CHERNOFF: When are you getting out or are you getting out of here?
KELLER: In theory there is a flight that will leave for Savannah at 2:00 tomorrow. That one is you know, up in the air. You never know.
(CROSSTALK)
CHERNOFF: You've -- you've given up on the airlines? Is that what you're telling me?
KELLER: Very little hope in U.S. Airways at this point. Just -- I mean, I've -- I've been on five flights that have been canceled, booked and what not. So when you're on the sixth one, yes.
CHERNOFF: So Sarah, what's -- what's the game plan now? And by the way, they -- they have just -- they just met at baggage claim. Sarah what's your game plan?
BUKOWSKI: I'm hopefully going to get a flight out tomorrow, if not then you know, I don't know what else to do.
CHERNOFF: All right.
Good luck Sarah. Josh told me actually that he's pretty much fed up with airlines. He's going to take the train this afternoon. That's your game plan.
KELLER: Absolutely.
CHERNOFF: Ok, all right.
And Sarah by the way this is your very first flight ever right?
BUKOWSKI: Yes.
CHERNOFF: First, she flew down here, return flight, no go. Not going to fly for a while right?
BUKOWSKI: Yes, probably not.
CHERNOFF: All right, back to you guys in the studio.
CHETRY: Poor. You know, poor thing. I mean your first foray into air travel and it has to be this.
Allan just really quickly, how is the food situation there? Because we talked briefly to a stranded passenger at JFK who said there were concerns that they might run out.
CHERNOFF: No problem over here. We've got several fast food outlets open. Serving up plenty of stuff, plenty of calories, so I don't know about free food but if you've got cash, you've got food over here. It's not a problem here.
CHETRY: Thank you.
ACOSTA: All right, it's good to hear. All right, Allan, thanks so much.
And we're going to turn our sights to Massachusetts in just a few moments. Some big snow totals coming in up there in -- in that state. And we're going to be talking to the governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick. He's going to join us live on the phone in just a few moments.
So stick around we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: All right, more on the blizzard this morning. New England is right in the thick of it right now. Massachusetts has declared a state of emergency and the governor is urging people to stay put this morning.
CHETRY: He joins us on the phone, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.
Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
DEVAL PATRICK (D), GOVERNOR, MASSACHUSETTS (via telephone): Kiran, good morning to you and Jim and all your viewers.
CHETRY: Give us an update this morning on how your state is looking and faring in this blizzard.
PATRICK: Well, we're coping pretty well. The -- the storm is just about as we expected it with blizzard conditions across the whole state, high winds and some coastal flooding.
Thankfully most of -- most people have heeded the warning I put out yesterday to stay off the roads so that we've had very few spin-outs and -- and -- and nothing serious. And we're asking people to continue today to stay indoors as much as possible for their own safety but also to give the plows and other emergency responders a chance to do their job.
ACOSTA: And unlike the airports in the New York metropolitan area right now your airport Logan is open at the moment but that doesn't mean a whole lot of good news for passengers and travelers up there.
PATRICK: That's exactly right. Logan is open, one or two run -- runways are open, but there are very, very few flights coming or going this morning. And we don't expect that to change until sometime this afternoon.
CHETRY: You guys are certainly more equipped to deal with storms and snow. You know, you're used to it. Some of these other states are having a little bit more of a -- of a problem, I would say, especially in the south.
But what are your biggest concerns right now? Because I know there is also a coastal flood advisory in effect for many of these places as well.
PATRICK: Tides have been very high. This morning's high tide (INAUDIBLE) was around three or four this morning, and we've had some coastal flooding.
But you're right, we are -- we are used to severe weather this time -- this time of year and -- and everybody seems to be coping. We have, I think, a special advantage in some respects that it's holiday time and so a lot of people are -- are home and off from work anyway.
And I've certainly asked state employees who are non-essential to stay home, again just to be consistent with the message of staying off the roads as much as possible.
ACOSTA: And your best advice to folks there in Massachusetts at this point, Governor?
PATRICK: Hunker down and be with your family and have a -- and have a warm cocoa and if you -- if have to be out to shovel later on remember this is -- this is wet and heavy snow, so take care there, too. Take it easy.
ACOSTA: All right.
CHETRY: That's right. If you're one of those young kids off from school, shovel -- shovel one your neighbor's driveway.
ACOSTA: That's right.
PATRICK: And check on your neighbors, especially elderly.
CHETRY: Absolutely. Governor Deval Patrick, great to talk to you this morning, thanks so much.
PATRICK: Thank you. Be well.
ACOSTA: Cocoa doesn't sound like a bad idea right now.
CHETRY: Yes that's true.
ACOSTA: All right. Thanks, governor.
Well, we've got a little behind the scenes I guess you could call it look at getting to work here at AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: Yes. We were doing our part. We were filing our eye reports as well. Jim had a walk from the hotel in the midst of the blizzard. And I had a very interesting drive to say the least. We're going to show you some of our iReports when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: All right. Welcome back.
Here is a snowy look at Hartford, the interstates running through that city look pretty well shut down at this point. You can see some movement there but not much.
CHETRY: Good idea, people listening to what the officials say. Stay home.
ACOSTA: That's right. But some of us had to get to work this morning.
CHETRY: We didn't listen.
ACOSTA: We didn't. We had to come. There was no getting around that. And I had to walk in which was not a bad thing. You actually had to make your way on the roads from the suburbs. We have a little look at some of that, so let's take a look. First my little commute this morning, take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: I'm walking up Broadway right now. And the Great White Way, it's all white. I'm almost to the building, so this is good news. But the sidewalks are not cleared. The streets are barely plowed. This is New York like you rarely ever see it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: So you were far more lucid than I was. We started out a little bit before 3:00 in the morning from the burbs from north and east of here. Actually I had to help my driver shovel. We got stuck several times.
ACOSTA: Wow. I wish I had video of that.
CHETRY: Yes. You would have liked that. And here's what happened when we were trying to get on I-95.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: We're waiting for this snow plow to plow the on ramp to 95, so that we can actually get on the highway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Ah, yes. That's how Kiran sounds before her first cup of coffee in the morning.
CHETRY: What are you going to do?
ACOSTA: And with that, we hope you do well in this (INAUDIBLE) today. Stay safe, stay warm and don't go outside unless you have to.
CHETRY: Do as we say, not as we do.
ALINA CHO, CNN GUEST ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Kiran, was that you? Was that your voice?
ACOSTA: Exactly. That's right.
CHETRY: We'll see you back here bright and early tomorrow morning. Hey, we made it in today, so we'll make it in tomorrow. Hey Alina.
