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East Coast Braces for Hurricane; New York Shuts Down Metro, Rails; Sandy's Effect on the Presidential Campaign
Aired October 28, 2012 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: -- track of this storm. Look at it. Sometime tomorrow Hurricane Sandy will probably hit the East Coast between Washington, D.C., and New York City. That means people in the D.C. area, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, they are all in full speed emergency mode right now.
Live pictures -- there it is. New York City, the skyline. That's where the city subways were shut down hours ago, city buses, too. Port Authority operations including Greyhound, Trailway (sic) buses, shut down as well. They're all shut down tonight. Fifty million people in 14 states, they're in the danger zone right now, and conditions are getting worse by the minute.
You know, Sandy's full force hasn't even gotten close, but you wouldn't know that in Ocean City, Maryland, because the wind is whipping, the rain is slamming down right now; massive power outages and flooding are expected there. We are going to get you back to someone, an intrepid reporter, who has been braving this terrific weather for -- in Ocean City, Maryland -- there she is, Sandra Endo.
Sandy, we thought you were done for the evening, but now we have another hour to go live here. What do you know? How is that wind doing?
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's certainly interesting, Don. Every hour, it has been changing here, but the one thing that is steady is the constant rain, constant wind. It is only getting stronger by the hour.
Chad was right with giving me that warning and I appreciate the heads- up, because it is interesting that this hurricane is being felt right now even though the heart of it isn't really going to approach this area for another 24 hours or so.
But you can see how strong the winds have been blowing, the rain pelting down. The real threat to this area is, if you could see the beaches behind me, you could see those waves. They are massive, they're fierce, they're lapping up to the sand dunes that are protecting the property lines.
That's about 100 yards from those dunes. So certainly that's something officials here, residents are very concerned about as this storm approaches, Don. LEMON: Hey, Sandy, be safe out there, but you know, as I've been saying here in the broadcast, that these are the best pictures, and this is just the initial, the initial impact of the storm off the coast.
And again, Sandy, as we talk here, I want to welcome, because I think they may have joined us late, our viewers from CNN International from around the world and more than 200 countries around the world, they are watching us.
Sandy, Chad Myers is here as well, and he may have some questions for you, but he may want to move on about the information that we just got at the top of the hour here. Go ahead, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: While, we have Sandy and she's safe; looks like she's OK, did you feel that squall that we talked about, just about 30 minutes ago, did it ever materialize?
ENDO: Oh, yes, Chad. Your words are ringing in my ears, when you told me that the squalls are coming, we definitely feel them, we definitely see them. When we get to go inside, we look outside the window, and we see that rain blowing in the wind. And clearly, that is something everyone is looking out for here.
They have had a mandatory evacuation order in effect for downtown Ocean City, and some people in this hotel have been hunkering down, other residents who have been going -- who are going to ride this out have been warned to really stay inside.
So, clearly we have seen a light blow out here, and the wind gusts picking up a little bit. But again, like other hurricanes, usually, those squalls come and go, the rain stops a little, the wind dies down. Not in this case; it has just been nonstop, just gathering this area.
MYERS: And are you still very cold?
ENDO: It is cold. You know, it is unusual, yes, Don and Chad. It is unusually cold for covering a hurricane, I must say.
And I guess that is the mixture of all of the different weather systems or just the late nature of when this hurricane is hitting this area, but that is the one silver lining for Ocean City, because usually this place is packed with tourists during the warm summer months and, luckily, this is hitting a little later when there's less (sic) tourists here that are trying to enjoy the beach.
MYERS: All right. Sandra, stay safe out there.
LEMON: Yes, Sandra, stay safe. We're going to be using your picture and coming back to you throughout the hour. We're on until at least midnight, at least midnight. We may be on until longer. If you need information on this hurricane, no matter where you are, CNN is the place. We've got it live.
And also, Chad, we have been talking, there is a presidential election happening as well. We're going to talk a little bit of politics and how this storm is going to affect that.
But my question to you is can we overstate the impact of the storm on the most populated part of the United States right now?
MYERS: You know, I don't think so because it is a category 1; that's what people expect. But the wind field is bigger than a category 1. The surge will be bigger than a category 1. We're going to have water into New York Harbor. We have water into Long Island Sound.
We talked to Professor Coch just last hour, saying how that water will try to come down the East River and the water will try to go up the East River and somewhere at that confluence will be a significant flood somewhere probably close to Roosevelt. And that water's going to go back in, either into Brooklyn, Queens or into Manhattan, and there are subway systems and intakes in that area.
And if it gets too high, all of a sudden, he is expecting -- Professor Coch -- where was it, from Columbia?
LEMON: From Queens College.
MYERS: Queens College -- he was expecting saltwater to be in the subway system. That was his expenditure.
LEMON: Not good news. He said, no, he said, Don, saltwater and electricity don't really mix.
MYERS: That's right.
LEMON: You said something to me that I thought was very important. You said this is pretty much unprecedented. We don't know -- you were talking about people riding out -- who would have to ride out the storm in big cities?
MYERS: Well, you have 60 million people, and you have no place to tell them to go. I know there are some shelters, but in other hurricanes if you see it coming to a town or a city, you would just go left or right.
This thing is 1,000 miles north-south, a 1,000 miles east-west. You can't drive 1,000 miles out of the way of this storm. People are just going to have to hunker down, and as Governor Christie said earlier, you're going to have to ride this thing out in your house. If you don't feel your house is strong enough, find a house that is strong enough, some place that you feel safe. It is a big one.
LEMON: Can we get -- I don't know how quick we can -- can we get to the pictures of the subway? Is that tough to bring up right now, the people being evacuated? Because I was saying earlier, you rarely see this, even in New York City, you know, I mean, it's always going -- there they are.
They are telling people to get out of the subway. And this is an empty subway station, and there is a notice there: 7:00 pm tonight, no more subway service, It's suspended in New York. MYERS: I'm going to see if I can work on a street view from one of our affiliates, WABC, (INAUDIBLE), and see if we can get what the traffic looks like, because I assume that the cabs are just going crazy out there. People still have to go places. They have to go home.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: It is hard to get a taxi in New York City anyways, and if there is a sprinkle, so imagine this.
Hey, Chad, listen, how apropos. As we show those pictures of the subway, Kevin Ortiz from the MTA on the phone right now.
Kevin, how you doing?
KEVIN ORTIZ, SPOKESPERSON, NEW YORK MTA: How are you guys?
LEMON: Yes. So the subway, 7 o'clock, shut down. How did -- how are people reacting to it?
ORTIZ: Well, you know, first of all, we ran normal service up until 7 o'clock with sufficient capacity to allow people to leave multiple areas and reach safe destinations. And we also ran additional service along areas in zone A to essentially get people out of the most flood- prone areas.
Now, at 7 o'clock we did begin an orderly shutdown of the subway system; at 9:00, an orderly shutdown of buses; by 9:24 pm, all revenue service, in essence, all trains carrying passengers. Customers reached their terminals and service was suspended as of 9:24.
And so far, everything has been orderly; everything has worked out fine. And we are moving forward with a complete shutdown of the system in terms of work trains going through the system, making sure everything is clear.
LEMON: Let me jump in here, Mr. Ortiz, I just want to ask you, how many people on a daily basis go -- use mass transportation in the New York City area?
ORTIZ: In New York City, we have 5.5 million riders on the subway with another 2.5 million that utilize our buses and about 500,000 people who use commuter rail. So in essence, we're talking about 8.5 million people every day that ride our subways.
LEMON: Enough said there, right?
MYERS: Mr. Ortiz, I know this is out of your -- a little out of your realm, but are the pass trains running? Is the Acela still running? Can people still get anywhere on a train?
ORTIZ: I'd have to defer to my colleagues at the Port Authority.
MYERS: I know. I know. I knew that was going to get out there, but I just didn't know whether you had been in touch with them or not. That's fine.
ORTIZ: Right, but my understanding is that Amtrak has cancelled service along its northeast corridor as well.
LEMON: Are you in the office right now? Are you -- ?
ORTIZ: I'm here for the duration, gentlemen.
LEMON: What is it like there on a Sunday night in New York City with this going on? Take our viewers there.
ORTIZ: Well, I am actually looking outside of my window, and not really seeing a single person on the street right now. So I think folks have really taken heed to what the governor and mayor said and basically, you know, are -- you know, found proper shelter, and you know, are hopefully safe at home or inside a shelter somewhere.
LEMON: So you think the evacuation orders are -- people are following them.
We had a professor on from Queens College earlier, Professor Coch, who said he was concerned about the storm surge and about saltwater getting into the New York City subway system. That is a nightmare scenario for you, I am sure.
ORTIZ: Well, critical --
(CROSSTALK)
ORTIZ: -- components. We have actually removed critical track level components from under river tubes so that if flooding does occur, they won't suffer from any corrosive effects of saltwater. So, again, prior to high wind conditions, you know, we also have workers that -- I don't know (INAUDIBLE) make certain that everything is secure and not subject to wind damage. So we've really taken all of the necessary precautions that we can.
LEMON: I have one question more. One more question. The last time you did this, was that Irene?
ORTIZ: It was. It was Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011, where we essentially successfully helped get people to safety before the storm, and then shut down the transportation network in an orderly manner to protect the employees and equipment.
LEMON: This is rare. And before that, do you remember a time that you did this?
ORTIZ: Weather-related, that is probably the last time in memory that we can recall shutting down the system.
LEMON: Yes, go ahead, Chad.
MYERS: Kevin, hey, you know what, I know from riding the subway that the whole system is a sieve; water can come in anywhere.
Did you do anything? Did you sandbag low-lying subway entrances to try to stop any of this water from coming in?
ORTIZ: Absolutely. We have done sandbagging at various locations and we've taken steps to really protect our infrastructure. Now, anyone who travels New York on occasion sees some raised subway grates where we have taken great effort to raise these grates above street level that, in essence, would prevent floodwater from entering the system.
LEMON: All right. Kevin Ortiz, MTA, thank you. Great information. Best of luck to you; we may be getting back to you as well. But we appreciate it. OK?
Chad Myers is good.
MYERS: You know, people -- when they say when you go to New York, what kind of limo do you take? And I say, I take the subway.
LEMON: Yes, the big silver bullet --
MYERS: I say I take the subway (INAUDIBLE), look, because you can get so many places so much faster than being at the surface. And it's -- I cannot imagine life there -- and as some of their precautions they took, I guess boarding up (INAUDIBLE) to stop the water, I can't imagine what life would be like to not be able to move underground.
LEMON: Yes, I can imagine. I was just telling you earlier that a family has a condo, an apartment in New York City, in Harlem, right, a new resident of Harlem. And they called about the windows, really, we need get into your apartment, but to get from 125th Street to 59th Street to Columbus Circle -- sometimes four minutes, sometimes six minutes, depending. That's not a bad commute on a subway.
Imagine being in traffic, right, going that many blocks -- to do -- I can't even do the math because, you know, that's why I'm a journalist, but anyway, imagine doing that. That's what -- that is the significance of the subway system and the success of the subway system in New York City, and also don't -- let's not forget Washington, D.C. --
MYERS: Right, I mean, the metro is not going to run, either.
LEMON: -- Chicago, yes. Yes.
All right. We are going to talk to an iReporter next. Lots more ahead. We don't know where -- we're going to go to wherever the storm takes us. So stay tuned. Back in a moment.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Back now to our continuing coverage of Hurricane Sandy. As I mentioned just a short time ago, that Chad and I had a talk with a New York City professor, an earth scientist and an expert on coastal hurricanes.
He has been studying the storm track, he knows the geology of the New York area, and he says the heavy rainfall alone is not what he is most concerned about. It is a fascinating conversation. Here is part of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROF. NICHOLAS COCH, QUEENS COLLEGE, SCHOOL OF EARTH AND ENVL. SCIENCE: A lot of the talk so far has been about the water rising in New York Harbor, but when you look at the wind field and the direction, Long Island Sound is going to be a worse problem than New York Harbor, because those winds are going to push the water of Long Island Sound into that western part of New York, flood Astoria and City Island.
At the same time, you are going to see the -- a surge coming in from the ocean, and that is going to be a terrible combination.
MYERS: Professor, when that water goes up --
(CROSSTALK)
COCH: (Inaudible) wide.
MYERS: When that water goes up the East River and tries to come down the East River from the sound, what's going to happen?
COCH: Right. So we're going to see some massive flooding.
MYERS: You're talking about Roosevelt Island?
COCH: In Irene, it came to close to about a foot of getting into the subway at South Ferry, but I think we have a good chance that we're going to get saltwater into the subway for the first time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. Interesting, interesting from Professor Coch, thank you, sir.
Pelting rain, relentless wind, mass evacuations -- no doubt the hurricane has already made a huge impact on the East Coast. So breaking it all down for us, to tell us about how much it's going to cost, what's going to be affected, actually what's closing, Nick Valencia is here with the latest.
What do you have for us now, Nick?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this thing hasn't even made landfall yet, Don, already causing mammoth problems. We're talking flight cancellations, evacuations, first aid responders getting into position. So we are breaking this thing down by the numbers.
Right now, as it stands, 61,000 National Guard personnel stationed up and down the Eastern Seaboard, in position, ready to go at a moment's notice in case that they need to contribute to these rescue evacuations if there is any. You've seen states like Connecticut get a couple hundred National Guard troops, other places that are feeling the anxiety as well, New York.
Earlier today we had Mayor Bloomberg order mandatory evacuations for 375,000 people. That's in those low-lying areas, Don, in New York that could really see the impact from these storm surges. It is a big storm system here. So there are a lot of people very concerned right now. That's no question.
LEMON: Yes, they should be very concerned, because as we have heard from the President of the United States, we heard from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, we heard from General Honore, we heard from a -- an admiral earlier. This storm -- and from the guy who is flying in the middle of the hurricane right now, this is a massive storm.
It's about 520 miles in diameter. That's the size of California, just about. Huge storm system.
LEMON: So, listen, it's going to be -- it's going to impact the northeast part of the United States somewhere. It's going to make landfall and impact a huge section of the Eastern Seaboard (INAUDIBLE).
There is it. That's the projected path right there. And remember, you know, don't forget, there is a presidential election coming up very shortly, and not even that, on next Tuesday, the early voting that was supposed to go on in some of these places, that's not going to be able to happen, because they are going to be shut down, lots of governments shutting down.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: (Inaudible) called.
VALENCIA: Yes, there's lots of factors here that are in play.
LEMON: So there's lots to cover here on CNN, and we're going to show you a video taken today. This is by one of our iReporters.
Nick, I want you to look at these waves. They're crashing in. This is Cape Cod, Massachusetts. So it looks like Hurricane Sandy can already be having an effect there.
We want to go to onto the phone to the woman who took this video, name is Joni Corcoran. She is in Cape Cod.
So Joni, talk with Joni, thank you for joining us. How are you doing?
JONI CORCORAN, IREPORTER: I'm doing well so far.
LEMON: Yes. How are you preparing for the storm? You were out on the beach here when you -- earlier; how are you guys preparing?
CORCORAN: Yes. Well, we spent yesterday and today preparing, getting to the store, getting in water, batteries, all the things that were recommended and getting enough groceries in.
And yes, I was on the beach today. I was on the beach a couple of times. And you know, I'm looking at your maps on CNN, I have been watching you tonight, and I see that the storm isn't even close to us yet, and the impact, the wind that's outside of my windows right now is unbelievable.
LEMON: What are you --?
CORCORAN: I can't imagine what it is going to be like when it gets here.
LEMON: What are you -- what do you think about that? I mean, I -- you know, that would frighten me if it's not even close, and you can feel the impact already.
CORCORAN: Yes, it is scary. When standing on the beach, the sand was just blowing in my face. And I can hear the roar of the ocean. We are less than a block -- we're about a block away from the ocean here.
So -- and as you know Cape Cod really sticks right out there in the ocean. So the sound is unbelievable, and when I see it is not even close yet, I am like, wow. We have gotten some warnings from our town that we might have 80-miles-an-hour-plus winds and schools are closed here, but, yes, I'm a little frightened.
LEMON: Are you going to stay, Joni? Are you going to ride it out?
CORCORAN: Well, I think we probably are. It depends -- I have -- I don't know if we can go anywhere. My son lives in northern Massachusetts, we could go there but I'm not sure if they're going to get it worse than us. So -- and if the bridge closes, there is only the two bridges off the cape. So if they close, then we're here.
LEMON: Yes.
Joni is one of our iReporters, and we see there's your pooch there. What's the pooch's name? And the pooch is looking out of the window.
CORCORAN: Yes, that is Chance. He is my labradoodle, and he has been on high alert watching out the window. And when you see him turn, he's turning towards the ocean, that window really looks out towards the ocean. He can hear the sound. So, you know, when your animals are starting to respond, you know that the weather is not too good outside.
LEMON: Well, maybe that should be a cue for you to, you know what I mean? Maybe you should get out of there.
CORCORAN: Well, yes. Well, we are going to look at it again tomorrow morning and make our decision. But again, once the bridges are closed, then we will be here.
LEMON: You are there.
CORCORAN: That's right.
LEMON: We saw a building -- it looks like a home that was boarded up. Is that your home? Did you put boards on the windows? CORCORAN: No, that -- actually I was out in town today getting things prepared, and that was my bank. I went past the bank right in town here, and it was all boarded up, so -- which a little -- which frightened me since they are in town they're a little further away from the water than I am, so I was like, well, I don't know, we are not prepared to board up; maybe we should have been.
Yes. Well, Joni Corcoran, thank you. And we want you to be safe, so if you -- you should get out of there before the bridges -- they close the bridges, OK, because better safe than sorry.
CORCORAN: Yes, we're going to get up early in the morning and we will be -- we'll be watching your reports.
LEMON: Good. Thank you.
CORCORAN: Yes, it has been a great report, and we are watching that map very carefully here.
LEMON: Thank you. Stay safe. And give Chance a big hug for us. All right?
CORCORAN: Oh, OK. I will.
LEMON: All right. Thank you very much.
CORCORAN: All right.
LEMON: So that's one of our iReporters. A lot of people are dealing with the same thing that Joni Corcoran is dealing with. We have got some new information coming in.
We're going to go to the CNN hurricane desk after a break and get -- and an old pro at this, who's covered many a hurricane, just sent me an e-mail about her journey in New York tonight. And you are going to want to hear it; we'll speak with her moments away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back to our continuing coverage for Hurricane Sandy. We have some breaking news to tell you about. We want to get to the CNN newsroom now and the hurricane desk with Josh Levs.
Josh, it involves the stock exchange. Many people will be interested in what you are about to tell you.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. We've got a few pieces of breaking news. I'm going to start off with this.
The New York Stock Exchange has now announced that it will close, it halt all trading, suspend all trading tomorrow and potentially Tuesday as well. It says pending confirmation Tuesday. Let me show you a quote from the statement that the New York Stock Exchange has just sent out. And this really says a lot about what is going on there.
It says that this comes after consultation. "We support the consensus of the markets and the regulatory community that the dangerous conditions developing as a result of Hurricane Sandy will make it extremely difficult to ensure the safety of the people and communities -- "
And they go on to say that safety should be the number one priority.
Now I want you all to know why this is news. Earlier the New York Stock Exchange was saying that it would still be available for electronic trading, however, the building might close. Now that's off the table. No trading at all for the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow, that's at least one day and then we will see what happens for Tuesday. And, Don, that's just one piece of breaking news I have for you.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: And yes, Josh. We were talking about the subway system, but this impacts obviously world markets because of this. And I don't remember the last time it shut down but I remember during -- obviously 9/11, but very few times on a regular trading day has the stock exchange not traded.
LEVS: Absolutely. You're right. And we should point that out. I am glad you said that, especially for our viewers in other countries, this is a very big deal. It is extremely unusual.
The New York Stock Exchange obviously is -- I mean, it plays a major role in the economy and it is very rare that anyone will hear that the stock exchange closes all trading, suspends all trading for the day. But the folks from the stock exchange are saying it is just not safe to have anyone operating.
LEMON: Absolutely, and there is no mass transportation for people to get to work. And they don't want to be responsible for workers.
Hey, Josh, real quickly, because I want to move on and get to another report, someone who has lived through these hurricanes a lot, but she said it is a very eerie evening for her in New York City. She's going to tell me about her journey tonight.
But you have another piece of breaking news concerning a kayaker, I understand?
LEVS: Yes, I got two more things for you. One, President Obama has now approved Connecticut's request for pre-landfall emergency declaration. That frees up a whole lot of money. And so what we are seeing is that federal monies already becoming available for more and more states.
And Connecticut, right now, and the Coast Guard had been searching for a kayaker who was missing off Connecticut, having gone out in the water apparently with no life jacket earlier today. The Coast Guard has said it has now suspended the search for that kayaker and it talks about the dangerous conditions coming from Sandy, Don.
LEMON: Josh Levs at the hurricane desk, down at the CNN World headquarters in Atlanta, in the newsroom, thank you very much.
Back to Josh, if he gets more information.
So let's move on now.
The person who has done this has covered a number of hurricanes before. She's been out there and she sent me an e-mail: Ashleigh Banfield.
Ash, you there?
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Don.
LEMON: Hey. So, Ash, you sent me a note you said, I just drove down West Side Highway. You were telling me what you saw. You said it's very eerie. Tell me about the tankers and the freighters heading up river. What did you see?
BANFIELD: Yes, listen. So from the frying pan to the fire. I just left Connecticut having hurricane-proofed the house, and saw the streets are barren everywhere I was leaving from, Connecticut. I came down I-95, a trip that usually would take me about an hour, maybe an hour 15 and in bad weather two hours -- took me about 35 minutes. There is no one on the road. I saw almost no -truckers which is also very unusual late at night, and certainly on a Sunday night.
And then as you mentioned it as I came down the west side highway, the Hudson River was very busy with what looked like tankers and freighters heading rapidly upriver and I can only imagine that they were perhaps looking for just water that was calmer, certainly riding out the storm in the water, but in better waters than in the Atlantic. It's not something that you normally see that much traffic at night, you know, on the Hudson.
But the streets are barren. They are quiet in New York City right now. We have a live shot up with taxis, and that's just about it. But it is quiet and just starting to get windy, but it feels like that strange eerieness that we have only seen in a few times in New York City before. This is not a city that feels alive right now.
LEMON: Listen, the last time you and I did this together, it was the reverse. I was out in the field and you were at the anchor desk, it was a different network, and it was summer, I don't remember if it was 2001 or 2002, which one of those summers, when you were at MS and I was NBC, and there were a string of hurricanes back-to-back-to-back. And by doing them so much, you sort of get a feeling which one is going to be a bad one. You have a strange feeling about this one?
BANFIELD: Well, I do only because I listening to everything Chad Myers says even when he's not working and I felt as though when I started to hear Chad's reports last week, I've been in contact with him just toward looking towards Halloween with my two little kids, and then started to realize, you know, when you hearing this 500-year storm and we're never see damage like this in 70 years, I felt early on that people didn't feel as though this was going to be anything different than Irene, which was just a over a year ago, but now it seems that people are really catching on.
There was - I'll just tell you my own microcosmic experience today is zero water on the shelves, zero ice in the coolers at the local Stop 'N' Shop. Gas lines were a fairly long. I filled up and like I said hurricane-proofed where I live. But it took a while for people to realize that this really is the big one, and now they certainly know it is the big one, and they do feel as though, especially with that announcement that 7:00 tonight all of Metro North and the commuter traffic was going to shut down. I think that was really the signal that, look, hunker down. You are not going to work. Make alternate arrangements. Just stay safe and keep yourself and your family safe.
Look, I hope things change and I hope it's not going to be as bad, but I don't think it's going to be - I don't think we're going to get the situation that developed with Irene where we expected the worse and we dodged a bullet. I don't feel like that will be the situation this time.
LEMON: Ashleigh, we're going to have to run but, listen, I know you have two kids. I hope your kids are safe, I hope you're safe. You're in tomorrow, right?
BANFIELD: I'm in for the long haul. I have to come into the city to make sure I get to work.
LEMON: Get ready. Thank you for calling in. Be safe, Ashleigh. Ashleigh Banfield, CNN anchor, you'll see her on the air tomorrow covering this story and other stories around the world, telling me about her travels in New York City tonight.
You know there is an election going on, right? Hurricane Sandy is scrambling the usual campaign routines that we see in the last days of a presidential race. You know, they think they have their ground games all put together, but not this one. Rallies are moved or even canceled and even most of the seasoned politicos are struggling to predict how it might affect this particular election, an important one. CNN's chief political correspondent Candy Crowley reports now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLTICIAL CORRESPONDENT: The beauty of being a president and a candidate is that when a monster storm stalks the East Coast, you can run over to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and be seen as a president on the job, which also works if you are reapplying.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's so important to respond big and respond fast.
CROWLEY: The president canceled his campaign trip Tuesday to Colorado, a swing state, but far beyond the reach of Hurricane Sandy. Still, his people say that the president needs to stay home and monitor things, which one Republican found interesting.
NEWT GINGRICH, (R) FMR. HOUSE SPEAKER: You'll notice that he is canceling the trips over the hurricane. He did not cancel his trips over Benghazi.
CROWLEY: Both the president and the Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney canceled appearances in the weather-threatened swing state of Virginia so as not to chew up resources and otherwise get in the way of storm preparations, but suppose they held an election and the electricity was out?
GOV. BOB MCDONNELL, (R) VIRGINIA: Well, the State Board of Elections is already planning for extended hours in advance for absentee voting and it's now priority, moved up to the same level as hospitals and police stations, to have power restored.
CROWLEY: And what about states where the polls are open? The state of Maryland has already canceled early voting Monday. What the storm- driven time-outs will mean for the election even stumps master politicos.
DAVID AXELROD, OBAMA CAMPAIGN SEIOR ADVISER: Obviously, we want unfettered access to the polls, because we believe that the more people who come out, the better we are going to do. And so to the extent that it makes it harder, that's a source of concern. But I don't know how all the politics will sort out.
CROWLEY: Which brings us to the Romney/Ryan ticket. They are not in power, can't really do much, but still have to pay attention.
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINE: I know that right now some people in the country are a little nervous about a storm about to hit the coast, and our thoughts and prayers are for people who will find themselves in harm's way.
CROWLEY: Just a forecast of a potential disaster can make politics look small. So far, the Romney campaign has stopped fundraising e- mails into effected states, made a campaign bus available for relief efforts, started to take up collections in campaign offices and put up a blog with weather-related advice. And the itinerary may change. Optics are tricky, said one top Republican, who adds the Romney schedule may change depending on what the storm does. A disaster somewhere would make campaigning anywhere difficult. Mixing politics and weather is to double-down on the unknown.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LMEON: Candy Crowley, thank you very much. So, our very own Chad Myers now in the CNN Severe Weather Center right now, right here to my right, looking over the very latest models and very latest information on Hurricane Sandy. So from meteorologists to generals to brigadier generals to senators to governors -- even the President of the United States weighing in on the severity of this storm and the importance of being safe when it comes to Sandy. You will hear from them right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: OK. There it is over my shoulder. This shoulder. There it is over my left shoulder, you see the skyline of New York City. New York City stopped the subways hours ago. The buses, too. No trains, no light rail, no buses are running in New York City right now. It's all in anticipation of course of the high water expected when Hurricane Sandy comes to shore.
Here's what is happening in other areas, too: A state of he emergency in Connecticut. We reported that just now, now effect in Connecticut. The governor has notified hundreds of National Guard troops to be ready to help. National Guard on standby there. Sandy also having people to put sandbags and more along New Jersey where they are expecting to get water along the Jersey shore. People who live on the beach, people who work on the beach, they have businesses there, all broke out the plywood before heading to higher ground. And then there's Annapolis, Maryland, as well. The same story. The city passed out sandbags to people who lived there and also to business owners. And then they provided about 20 tons of sand. Coastal Maryland could see a foot of rainfall.
To the weather king, that is what I'm naming you now, Chad Myers, our meteorologist here. You know, over and over as I talked to you, shouldn't underestimate, I've been saying the same thing, the Category 1 -- people will look and think, oh, it's still a Category 1, and that if you are not feeling some of the wind and some of the rain, it does not mean you won't be affected by it.
MYERS: That's right. And something slightly disturbing in the past hour, the storm has been gaining strength.
LEMON: Oh, goodness.
MYERS: The hurricane hunter aircraft flying through it now finding higher gusts aloft, and higher gusts at the surface, and pressure going down. This is exactly what we didn't want to happen. This is what we feared. We knew that the pressure was low enough to be a bigger hurricane than this, but it hadn't organized enough.
In the past couple of hours, it has an eye now. The eye is circular and when that happens, it becomes a generator; it generates its own power. It starts to deepen, which means to get lower pressure and get higher winds. We didn't want it to happen, what we feared would happen, because now it's in the Gulf stream again. There's warm water right under the storm.
So just in the next couple of hours we would like to see that stop or at least that trend stop, because the storm sure has an awful lot more power. It has be been going still for a while to the northeast. We are waiting, Don, for that big turn to the left. And the longer we have to wait, the farther this goes to the north. So we are somewhere up in here. The quicker it turns, the farther it goes to the south, and somewhere the middle of the cone would be maybe Cape May, New Jersey, if you want to put it somewhere or closer to Atlantic City in New Jersey, Wildwood.
I still want you to look at this, though. That's still Long Branch, New York, New Jersey, right there. Almost to Coney Island almost. And then down here to the south, that's about Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, Delaware. So this whole area right through here is still the cone. And that's the possibility. The cone is getting smaller, it's not as wide as days ago, but it's still not a perfect forecast, still not a perfect storm.
Forecast - it is what it is. The models are not perfect and so the forecasters are human, they only use what they get and this is the tools that they get and this is the tools that we have to tell you about it. The storm now, every time you get one of the squalls, right there, that yellow line, when that comes on the shore, the winds will double. And then all of the sudden, behind it, you get the blue, not much rain, the winds die off. But every time this yellow comes on shore, you're going to see the squalls. And there are more out here. You just can't see them, because that is too far for the radar to technically see or to look out into the ocean.
Forecast guidance has New Jersey somewhere in the sights. This right here, we haven't talked about that. Look at all that mess where the things are going squiggly.
LEMON: Not good.
MYERS: Not good, because that means the storm could technically just stop for a while and then finally go up to the north or even do a loop. That would allow much more rain to come down and in spots out to the west, much more snow. There will literally be four to five feet of snow in the mountains of West Virginia. There are blizzard warnings in effect. Blizzard warnings in places that will have well in excess of a couple of feet of snow. In some spots in the highest elevations, probably around some of the ski resorts in West Virginia, we will see double that 24 inches at 40 and 60-inch snowfalls.
The storm surge still very significant for New York Harbor. We talked and I know we played this interview before and again -- the professor, we talked about, and I think that the name was Coch, was worried about water filling up into Long Island Sound and also water coming up into the New York Harbor. There's only one place that that can collide. That collision is going to happen in the East River. He is very afraid that somewhere in here, that water is going to rise to places we haven't seen it maybe ever.
LEMON: Oh, goodness. Chad, I'm going to reel off a couple places, because people are asking. Someone said that Pittsburgh, they are not getting much information there. Should they be worried? What's the situation?
MYERS: You know, they're probably going to get winds to 60, because even though you are far away, this is a big storm and the size of the wind field is enormous. That right there, that orange area is 40 miles per hour or more. North of Massachusetts south to Florida and then is the hurricane area. So you have to think that if this is 40 this is 50 or 60, and this is moving into the U.S. this bowling ball of wind will hit Pittsburgh. It may get cold enough in the mountains around Somerset or some of the ski resorts maybe up into the snow, and that would be a problem, because there are some leaves on some of the trees there. Most of the snow is reserved for West Virginia.
LEMON: I have hard break Chad, if you could just give me real quickly, but Boston and D.C. people are asking,
MYERS: Tough one for Boston, I don't expect to be much except for the wave action. We're going to have waves to 25 feet and surge of eight feet which is going to be lapping at the shores of Massachusetts and especially in cape cod. What was the next one?
LEMON: D.C.
MYERS: If it continues to move this way and then turns late, you are far enough away from it that all you will get is west winds moving off shore, but those west winds could still be 55 or 60 and at that point those big old trees that live in Maryland and Virginia and D.C. will come tumbling down.
LEMON: Thank you, Chad Myers. Appreciate it. You guys, thank you for sending it in on twitter, and he just answered your questions there. We're back in a moment, don't go anywhere.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hello, everyone. Don Lemon here live at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. We are broadcasting around the world on CNN International as well. It is close to midnight here in the U.S., and we are watching an enormous hurricane bearing down on the United States. It is called Hurricane Sandy, and forecasters have dire predictions for the hours and the days to come. This storm will probably make landfall somewhere on the populous northeast corridor and affect the lives for about 50 million people in 14 states. That includes all of metropolitan New York City and as far south as Washington, D.C. and as far north as Boston. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, has declared federal states of emergencies for several states, including New York and Massachusetts.
Millions of people tonight are hopefully following emergency officials' advice preparing their homes and families for the arrival of a very serious storm. People in the evacuation zones all along the east coast are looking for shelter right now. So, on the phone with us is Todd James he's a field representative with the American Red Cross, and he is in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with us, and we have been looking live pictures from a tower cam along the boardwalk and you can see the winds picking up with the camera shaking there.
What are you offering people there, Mr. James?
TODD JAMES, AMERICAN RED CROSS FIELD REPRESENTATIVE (via telephone): Don, the Red Cross has been opening shelters in the wake of the path of Sandy for the last couple of days now, and preparing to open up more as need. We sheltered a couple of hundred folks last night starting down in North Carolina moving up. Of course, as the storm has gotten closer inland and we see more of the effects, we have had dozens more shelters that have opened up in the area, and a half dozen or so in Philadelphia and several here in New Jersey and further inland from where we are here in Atlantic City. As you mentioned earlier, there was an evacuation, a mandated evacuation, of Atlantic City earlier today. Several thousand people left the city and a lot of them went to the Red Cross shelters in places like Pleasantville, and we have emergency response vehicles that are stocked with supplies and thousands of meals ready to roll in as needed. Volunteers are on the ground all along the coast area and inland where we are getting the shelters set up, prepping them. In a situation like this, as you know from tracking hurricanes before, the path can change, so we have to be ready to move it.
We do have a pretty good idea where a lot of the areas that are going to be affected, so we've got shelters if they are not already opened, they will be opened in a moment's notice and a lot of staff with the Red Cross volunteers who have traveled across the country to provide a safe place to stay and make sure that everybody has something to eat. We have disaster and mental health there to help take care of the --
LEMON: Mr. James, if I could jump in --
JAMES: And also we are offering several tools an information to help people prepare for the storm before it gets there.
LEMON: Mr. James, a quick we question, and we have to get to something, because the computer will cut us off in the middle of our conversation. What about people who are having trouble because of limited train and bus services and some people may not be able to get there, how are you helping them? Can you help them?
JAMES: The Red Cross, itself, we are not able to provide transportation. What we would encourage you to do is contact the local authorities, and in a lot of the communities they are making arrangements for that. If you have not heard anything about transportation from maybe a local news source, give the authorities a call. If you are not able to transport, if you can --
JAMES: Todd James, we have to run before we get cut off, the field representative with the American Red Cross in Atlantic City. Sorry we have to go. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Don Lemon here in the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, and so are my co-anchors, Mr. Chad Myers, who's our meteorologist, and also General Russel Honore who saved New Orleans after Katrina helping guide us through the very latest. What should we expect from the storm when people wake up tomorrow?
MYERS: Everything we thought that was going to be true is. All of the forecasts that have been long now, five or six days in the making, are coming true. It is a big storm and on the way and going to make landfall tomorrow. You need to pay attention and you need to take care of yourself.
LEMON: General Russel Honore?
GEN. RUSSEL HONORE: Well, you will see all of the government going from the strategy which has been talked about, going into the tactics, arranging where things are going to be, supply bases closing, and when to close they'll transportation, and when to open up shelters, to get into logistics, because dealing with a disaster is about logistics. Getting the food and water and help the people where they are. That is the big game that is going to happen in the next 24 hours.
LEMON: Thank you, General. Thank you, Chad Myers. Don Lemon here. Listen, in an effort to just help out and to save lives I did not mean the scare anyone, but this is a serious situation and you need to heed the warnings that you're hearing from the officials. That's going to do it for this team. Six hours, straigh coverage, hurricane Sandy. Make sure you heed the warnings, be safe, seek higher ground if you need to. Up next here on CNN the documentary Romney revealed followed by Obama revealed.
CNN will do weather cut ins during the overnight hours and CNN's "EARLY START" begins at 4:30AM Eastern time, but if it warrants it, we will come back live. Thank you everyone for watching, be safe, goodnight.
