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Obama Tours Damage; Thousands Trapped In Hoboken; Bellevue Hospital Being Evacuated; Flooded Tunnels Keep NYC Subway Closed; Search and Recovery in New Jersey; Election After Disaster; Sandy Sparks Global Warming Discussion; Sandy Sparks Rising Sea Level Discussion; Thousands Trapped In Hoboken, New Jersey; Fire Guts More Than 80 Homes In Queens; Mayor: "It's Actually Catastrophic"; Mayor Bloomber Holds Storm Briefing

Aired October 31, 2012 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: This crane still dangling over 57th Street. The entire area still blocked off. The storm has now claimed least 50 lives in the U.S. and one in Canada. A woman who was hit by storm-tossed debris. Damage is expected to run into the tens of billions of dollars. And today, a new challenge, looters breaking into businesses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were coming out with all kinds of stuff. Everything. Whatever you could think of. From juice to sodas, waters, cigarettes, TVs. Anything you could think of, they were getting it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, 9,000 people spent the night in Red Cross shelters spread across 13 states. National Guard troops arrived overnight and are rescuing families trapped by floodwaters in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Well, we learned today the Navy is sending three amphibious landing ships to the coast of New York and New Jersey in case they are needed. President Obama stopped by FEMA headquarters in Washington before heading to New Jersey to join Governor Chris Christie to tour the damage caused by Sandy. We're going to get to that in a moment.

Buses and ferries are running and bridges into Manhattan are now open, but the nation's largest subway system is still water-logged. Limited subway and rail service begins tomorrow. One sign of normalcy today, the New York Stock Exchange is open. The opening bell rung by Mayor Bloomberg.

Well, President Obama arrived, as I said, in New Jersey in the last hour to get a personal look at the devastation that Sandy left behind. He's touring the damage zone with one of Republican Mitt Romney's most vocal supporters, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who says this is no time for politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) GOVERNOR, NEW JERSEY: This is so much bigger than an election. This is the livelihood of the people of my state. What they expect me to do to get the job done. And when someone asks me an honest question, I give an honest answer. How's the president been to deal with? He's been outstanding to deal with on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, I'm joined by chief political correspondent Candy Crowley and chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin.

And what's been going on right now?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson.

Well, the president has just boarded a helicopter with Governor Chris Christie there in New Jersey and they are, as we speak, in flight, viewing some of the most just damaged areas. We won't actually get video of that until slightly later in the afternoon because of the situation there. We can't actually get live pictures. But as you said, the president not only held a meeting this morning with FEMA and some of the other emergency leaders, he also placed a call on his way up to New Jersey and spoke to some of the doctors at NYU Medical Center. You'll recall that's where they lost generator and power. And he thanked some of the doctors there who moved 200 people out, 200 patients out of the hospital, under very difficult circumstances. And said this is, you know, the kind of example of Americans working together during a time of crisis. Obviously emphasizing the positive without making it an explicitly political moment, Anderson.

COOPER: And, Candy, what have you been --what have you been reporting on?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, just sort of looking at the politics. Sort of the optics, as we like to say. Governor Christie, a Republican and a strong supporter, in fact, a keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention for Mitt Romney, versus President Obama, less than a week from what looks like a very tough re-election bid. So the politics of this obviously something they're talking a lot about here in Washington. I think it's probably useful to note that Chris Christie is in a basically Democratic state of New Jersey and is up for re-election next year. Both of them saying, look, this is about the people who were devastated and there's no doubt that's exactly how both of them feel. But when you take it the next step and look at the politics of it, this is the kind of picture that sets Washington politicos talking.

COOPER: And, Candy, Democrats have been sort of reminding everybody, as much as they can, about Governor Romney's answer to a question about eliminating FEMA at a CNN debate earlier this year.

CROWLEY: Yes. And, you know, he -- and it should not be a surprise that a Republican would want to give money to the states and say, hey, the states know best how to organize a disaster relief because they know the state. I don't think he talked about eliminating FEMA so much as putting the bulk of that there. FEMA, as we know, is one of those agencies, it's kind of an organizing agency. It gets things to the states. So you clearly do need some sort of federal help here. But that's -- there's been a lot of hay made of that because obviously when a disaster comes, even the people that say, you know, the government needs to get out of my business, this is the time when you really do need help from someone bigger than your neighbor. So it set off that argument as well.

But I think the larger thing, and one of the things that's taken up sort of the breadth of the political discussion now is, is this going to affect the election in any way? Will people be more likely now to vote for President Obama because he's looking presidential? Are they less likely to vote for Mitt Romney because he, you know, said, you know, the FEMA money probably ought to go to the states and let them figure out how they want to spend money. So I think, in the end, when you're looking at the states that have been affected here, particularly New Jersey and New York, although obviously Virginia also got hard hit, as did Maryland, the four of those states, they're all pretty solidly Democratic. So I think in terms of what it might do to the states hard hit, I think you still are looking at three solidly Democratic states and one tossup state, Virginia.

COOPER: Candy Crowley, Jessica Yellin, thank you. We'll continue to check in with you as we get more images from President Obama and Governor Chris Christie together in New Jersey.

Floods trapped, as you know, thousands of people in their homes in Hoboken, New Jersey. Right now, National Guard members are rescuing people, delivering meals. They're also working to pump out millions of gallons of water mixed with sewage, which is obviously always a growing health concern. Hoboken's mayor is urging people not to go outside. She says there are live electrical wires in some waters. Debris is piled up all over the place. Hoboken is a city of about 50,000 people. It's located directly across from Manhattan to the west of where I'm standing. Brian Todd is in Hoboken right now.

Brian, bring us up to speed. What's the latest?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, National Guard trucks still rolling through here, trying to pick people up who are stranded. They've been doing that at least since midnight last night.

And you can see here what the situation is. This water's coming up to people's knees. Some of these gentlemen here are trying to clear storm drains. But you can see down the street, several cars stranded. Many, many residents here have been stranded in their homes. National Guard high clearance vehicles moving through here, trying to pick some people up, taking them to higher ground and taking them to places where they can at least take some shelter for now.

But, Anderson, it's kind of slow going and this surge that we are seeing here, the surge of water is really a result of storm drains backing up. When the storm came through, the rain just filled up the water from the Hudson River, backed them up. They had nowhere to go. But on this low lying street in New York, this is the corner of Newark and Garden Street. Newark Street and Garden Street in the heart of this city. So it's a pretty dire situation here. The water has receded, but still it's a slow and grinding process to try to get back to normal here.

COOPER: Yes. Well, just last night I know talking to Mayor Dawn Zimmer in Hoboken, she was desperate for the National Guard to get there. And she got that word late last night and they arrived very quickly.

Brian, officials estimate 500 million gallons of water needs to be pumped out of Hoboken alone. How long is that going to take?

TODD: It's going to take at least several days, Anderson. I mean look at what's going on here. I can go over to my right, your left. This gentleman is a city resident. He and a couple of other guys here have just taken it upon themselves to try to clear some storm drains. You can see that little whirlpool right there? That's how slow going it is. Every few minutes this gentleman will come over here, shovel something out of the storm drain, and you'll see this little whirlpool going down. You'll see another one over here to my left. And there's a gentleman across the street doing the same thing. These are just volunteers doing this. City workers, of course, doing some as well. But it's just -- it takes a long time.

And this water is, frankly, very nasty. Our photojournalist, Chris Turner (ph), can kind of pan down here. I'm standing in the middle of an oil slick essentially. There's a lot of debris in here, garbage, a lot of stuff you don't even want to think of. And officials are warning people not to walk too much in it, as we're doing, of course. But not supposed to be too heavy into this stuff because you don't know what's back here.

COOPER: Yes. Well, it's nice to see people lending a hand when they can. Brian Todd, appreciate the reporting.

We got some breaking news now on CNN. We're getting word right now of evacuations at another hospital here in New York. Let's bring in Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, what have you learned?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, we just -- we obtained an e-mail from a hospital group that was sent to New York area hospitals and it basically said that it has been decided it's necessary to now evacuate Bellevue Hospital. This is a pretty important development here. They -- the -- we are here now outside Bellevue. We got a hold of that memo. We're here just outside the hospital. They say that they did evacuate many of their critically ill patients in the days prior. But there's about 500 patients they still have to move.

Anderson, you're familiar with this area of town. You know this is close to NYU Langone Hospital, where we were yesterday. There is a long sort of driveway to the ER at Bellevue. Again, people who know this area know it well. That area is now completely filled with ambulances. There's probably 50, 75, perhaps, ambulances I'm looking at. They're all sort of (INAUDIBLE) and getting ready to station themselves. They have stretchers that are pulled out alongside many of these ambulances. And my guess is that there is likely within the next several minutes an evacuation to begin. It looks like it's pretty well organized and coordinated here and not in the middle of the storm, obviously, but just everyone sort of standing by that to begin this process. But it's a large process, as you might imagine, Anderson.

COOPER: And is it because generators have failed there? Is there power in that area?

GUPTA: I've talked to some of my sources and best I can tell you is this. That there is a generator, according to my sources, that it's functioning. Just one. But it's more a question from how they plan to -- what is not been able to happen yet as opposed to what has. Meaning that if the power -- if you have the primary power source back by now, this complete evacuation would not be necessary. That has not happened. One generator is not going to be enough to basically take care of the needs of this very large hospital.

COOPER: Yes.

GUPTA: So this has been a decision -- I think it's -- there's a lot of people involved in this decision. A lot of people who have been notified of this and I'm looking firsthand now at the process that's unfolding, Anderson.

COOPER: Sanjay, I appreciate the reporting. Keep us updated on that situation.

Again, just to remind you, here on the island of Manhattan, on the west side, basically sort of below around 30 or 31st Street, there is not power on the east side. Below around 39th Street or so, there is not power. And cell phone communication is very difficult in a lot of spaces. There is no cell phone -- I'm not sure why that is -- but cell phones aren't working. People aren't getting e-mails and there's just no power. And obviously, of course, all over the city, subways aren't running.

I want you to get a good look at the damage in New Jersey, though, because it is -- it is really severe. This is the Jersey shore. A resort area, obviously. This entertained vacationing Americans for generations. Governor Christie says the damage to his state's beaches is overwhelming. That's the word he used.

I want to take you to Toms River, New Jersey, now and show you -- and show you the devastation there. And also listen to this woman recount her story, how she survived. She talked to our Michael Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hit Cody (ph) marina where all the boats are floating in the water and we got submerged in that as well. So we were had -- we were sitting in the car, up to our necks in water. And we had to climb out of the windows and swim out to higher ground. Never did we think that this was going to happen. You know, we had lost cable. We were just sitting around talking, fireplace was going. I looked out the window. I said, oh, my God, we got to get out of here, the water is up to the garage door.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What has the last 24 hours been like for you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unbelievable. You can't even imagine that this is really happening. This is something you see in other states. This just doesn't happen here in New Jersey. You know you're just -- you're in shock. Everybody's in shock. We never thought it was going to be this bad, ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, a lot of people never thought it would be this bad and did not evacuate, even though they were in mandatory evacuation zones. That's from our Michael Holmes. I'll talk to him later on.

When we come back -- we're going to take a short break. But when we come back, I want to take you into the New York subway system, show you the -- some of the images now we are getting of what the subway station looks like and some of the -- just the destruction we have seen down there. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Hey, welcome back to our live coverage from New York on the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

If you have not seen the pictures of the New York subway system, well, be warned. Instead of the sounds of busy people heading places, all you hear is the sound of water splashing. We see and it is hard to believe the subways can be up and running any time soon. Take a look at these images. Really never seen anything like this in New York. Soon is what New York's governor promises, though. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: Limited New York City subway service, supplemented by a bus bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan, will begin tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That's just one small part of the subway. Let's bring in Chad Myers.

Chad, looking at those images, it's hard to imagine this system getting up and running in a major way any time soon.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, certainly not south of maybe 34th Street. Something like that. That's where the major damage occurred. That's where the surge got into South Ferry and we've heard water all the way up to the top. That means all of the machines are flooded with saltwater. The machines to buy the tickets, the machines to get through the turnstiles. Obviously the third rail. All that still wet. And the pumps are working, getting out. But I'm telling you what, Anderson, if you're talking about that south end of Manhattan, talking about lower Manhattan, I don't believe we're going to be up tomorrow or, for that matter, any time even this week.

COOPER: Yes. And I can tell you -- that's where I live -- electricity is still obviously out. And just getting around, it's really interesting, Chad, because, you know, above where there is electricity, in upper Manhattan, it's much easier. Restaurants are open and people can get food. Downtown where I live, I mean everything is shut down. You have to walk everywhere. The buses are jammed. They just started running today. You can share taxi rides, but taxis are few and far between.

I actually got a lift -- two guys in a car just stopped, picked me up, and drove me, you know, close to where I work. But it's a -- it is a real mess down there and doesn't seem to be getting any better quickly.

MYERS: Yes, the shared cabs came out last night. Livery cabs can actually pick people up at the curb. Typically that a car service, they call it, to get from the outer burrows. And 1.9 million New Yorkers still without power. That was directly from Governor Cuomo about three minutes ago on his Twitter feed. If you want to follow Governor Cuomo, he is actually -- he has a fantastic quick Twitter feed there going. MTA Insider is another one to get through. You can get Port Authority information. Obviously moving around lower Manhattan anywhere literally south of Penn Station for the next days -- days upon days. It is going to take a very long time to get this fixed.

COOPER: Yes. Hey, Chad, do you know why cell service in downtown Manhattan isn't working either? I mean we're --

MYERS: I don't know that, but all I can tell you is that there's -- most of the cell towers down there work on backup generators, do have backup generators, and they don't even seem to be working at all. So because there's no power down there at all, the cell towers are really just --

COOPER: Got it.

MYERS: They're not working.

COOPER: All right, Chad, appreciate that.

Let's go to CNN's Michael Holmes just for a quick update from the Jersey shore.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, we're here on the west side of the Mathes (ph) Bridge, Route 37 as the locals call it. And that is the bridge to the barrier islands. You've seen the pictures. That whole area devastated by Hurricane Sandy. In fact, you can still see a boat sitting out there in the middle of the median there leading up to the bridge. Now, a couple of hours ago, we had a huge convoy of emergency vehicles go by. The Office of Emergency Management for New Jersey leading the way. There were tractor trailers, there were fire trucks, gas trucks, there were emergency workers and also crucially, you know, the National Guard was going over there as well. What they're going over to do is set up a command post and then fan out across that area. Some of those houses have yet to be searched. There are, according to the local police commander, still people who need to be brought from their homes.

Yesterday we watched as some of them were evacuated late in the day. Several hundred, apparently, were brought over. This was an area that had a mandatory evacuation order. So many people decided to stay and ride it out. We were over there the day that Sandy came in. Got out before it arrived. I spoke to several people who said, we're local, how bad can it be, we're going ride it out. They certainly must have regretted that decision when you look at the pictures of that iconic landscape over there that is now just so devastated. It is going to take months and millions and millions of dollars to clean that up. Not to mention the rest of this area around here, which was also hard hit.

Back to you, Anderson.

COOPER: Michael Holmes reporting. We'll continue to check in. So much -- so many places in New Jersey we want to tell you about. Also that community in Queens where 80 houses -- at least 80 houses burned down to the ground.

We're also, coming up, going to take a look at what kind of an impact this storm has had on early voting in the presidential election. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: As we reported on earlier, President Obama is with Governor Chris Christie in New Jersey, touring areas that have been really badly impacted by this storm. We're awaiting also the introduction of Mitt Romney right now. He's about to speak to supporters in Coral Gables, Florida. We hope you'll stand by for that. We'll bring you some of what he has to say.

Here's Mitt Romney this morning. His first official campaign event since the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. A reflect of Romney addressing supporters in Tampa just six days before the election, now in the shadow of this natural disaster. Here he is paying tribute to the idea of personal sacrifice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think of the moms and dads who have two jobs right now, or one has a day job and one has a night job, they hardly see each other. And why? So they can buy the clothes for their kids that won't make their kid stand out at school. I think of all the parents at Christmas time last year and probably this year who are saying to each other, let's not exchange gifts so we have plenty to give to our kids. This is the American character, to live for things greater than ourselves. And this is a time when the people of America are going to have to do that. I'm convinced that you here in Florida have very clear eyes when it comes to an understanding of what America faces right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: As we said, we're awaiting Romney's appearance in Coral Gables, Florida. We'll have another event -- he'll have another event in Jacksonville later tonight. Then three scheduled stops tomorrow in, obviously, another swing state, Virginia. President Obama resumes campaigning tomorrow, just five days before the election, with appearances in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Boulder, Colorado, and Las Vegas.

Unchartered waters for the two campaigns. There's no doubt about it. And the same for election officials in some of the areas that are hit by Sandy. Joe Johns is with us right now from Washington.

Do we have, Joe, any idea, six days out, of the potential disruptions we could see on Election Day?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, we're at least beginning to get an outline of it, but we just won't be sure until we get to Election Day. We've been paying a lot of attention to the battleground states, including Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, all in the path, if you will, of this storm. The issues are about whether early voting is affected and then what's going to happen on Election Day.

OK, starting with Pennsylvania. There's no early in person voting in Pennsylvania. But the question is whether in person voting on Election Day might be affected in and around Philadelphia. Now, this was a state that was just slightly beginning to tick over to the Obama side and the presidential race, the question is whether problems with voting machines running on batteries, voting machines supplemented with paper ballots if necessary might cause some tightening in the Pennsylvania race.

Virginia, this is a state that does early in person absentee voting. They had a few problems at their centers Monday and Tuesday, especially in northern Virginia, but appear to be back on track, to our knowledge, though they haven't been returning our calls.

In North Carolina, election officials told me that in early voting they were running ahead of 2008 totals in terms of number of voters. Slowed dramatically as the storm came. A lot of snow in the mountains. Some other problems on the outer banks along the coast. All back up to speed now, we're told. But that snow could cause some continuing concerns, Anderson.

COOPER: Well, it's also just -- I mean logistically, so complicated. Because for folks who evacuated from the areas where they lived. And the question is, where would they go and vote because the area they would normally go vote in probably is unavailable to them. So there's that to factor into all of this. Is anyone talking about changing or extending voting hours or even delaying the voting process in any of these affected states? JOHNS: These can be possibilities, but it all depends on the rules of the state, Anderson. If a state has some rules in place to deal with exigencies they call them, then they'll go forward and do that. If they don't have the rules in place, it's hard to say what they're going to do.

New York, for example, has some rules in place that saying they could delay day by day up to perhaps 20 days. That depends on how you read that law. But some other states are even talking about the possibility of paper ballots. Some states already use paper ballots, like Massachusetts and Connecticut. So it's a real mixed bag. It depends on the state. And sometimes even the counties within a separate state.

Anderson.

COOPER: Wow, it's -- it's going to be a mess. Joe Johns, appreciate that. One thing we want to look at when we come back -- we're going to take a short break -- is, is this storm, this kind of storm which people say is once in a century, is this a sign of things to come? A sign of the kind of storms we're going to be seeing more of? We're going to talk about that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Welcome back to our continuing coverage of superstorm Sandy. In White Plains, New York, I-Reporter, Aaron Herman walked around his neighborhood, capturing some of the destruction he saw following the superstorm. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Devastation in White Plains, where literally trees are ripped from its roots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Amazing stuff, first, Irene, now Sandy. For two consecutive years, costly deadly hurricanes have hit the northeast. We're hearing a lot of people say if Irene was a wake-up call then Sandy is a bucket of water that should snap us all to attention. Let's listen to Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR ANDREW COUMO (D), NEW YORK: There has been a series of extreme weather incidents. Anyone that is not a political statement that is not a factual statement, anyone who says there is not a dramatic change in weather patterns, I think is denying reality. And I would like to say that this is probably the last occurrence we will have. I don't believe that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Cuomo went on to say that New York seems now to get a 100- year flood every two years. Joining me now is Ben Strauss. He is the chief operating officer and director of the program on sea level rise at Climate Central.

Is this a sign of things to come? I mean, Governor Cuomo is saying we seem to be getting 100-year storm every two years.

BEN STRAUSS, CEO, CLIMATE CENTRAL: This was actually -- since 1900, three of the top ten highest flood levels have occurred in the last three years.

COOPER: That's not a coincidence.

STRAUSS: I don't believe it is. It makes me very suspicious that something else is at play here.

COOPER: And should officials have been better prepared for this?

STRAUSS: Well, there have been warnings for 10 years or more, reports that the scientific community has been issuing. New York is extremely vulnerable to storm surge, just from its geography.

A big part of what happened with Sandy is we got very unlucky. The wrong storm hit at the wrong angle and squeezed water up Long Island Sound and the New York Harbor. But climate change made it worse and it is continuing to make storms like this worse.

COOPER: If the water was cooler, the storm would not be as big.

STRAUSS: Well, that's one of the factors. So this summer we had record high temperatures, the sea surface temperature off the east coast of the United States, warm water feeds the energy of storms like Sandy.

And in fact research that came out just last month showed an association between warmer sea surface temperatures and higher storm surges, higher floods from hurricanes.

COOPER: We're also seeing larger and larger populations building along the coast. What kind of impact does that have?

STRAUSS: That has a huge impact. At this stage, it is a much bigger factor. If Manhattan was not populated, and the coasts of the Jersey Shore and Long Island weren't such very dense areas, we would have seen a lot human suffering, a lot less economic damage.

COOPER: So what should be the lesson of this? What should we take away from it?

STRAUSS: Well, you know, the seas have risen more than a foot in New York City over the last century. So that's another contributor and we're projecting several more feet over the next century.

COOPER: Wow.

STRAUSS: The lesson is that we have to prepare for what is becoming increasingly likely. The higher the sea level is as we melt the ice on this planet, from warmer temperatures, the more what used to be a normal storm becomes a really damaging flood. New York is a place with very complex infrastructure and lots of different players involved. So I think if we want to protect ourselves in these dense areas, we have to do some very deep thinking about how we plan for coasts that are going to be moving and changing. There is no doubt they are.

COOPER: There is no doubt about that.

STRAUSS: There is no doubt. We can slow it down. If we reduce pollution of the atmosphere with heat trapping gases, we can slow down the amount of sea level rise that we're going to see.

COOPER: You're saying no doubt a couple of feet in the next 100 years.

STRAUSS: Yes, I think that would be toward the low end.

COOPER: Wow. Ben Strauss, I appreciate you being with us. Thank you very much.

STRAUSS: Thank you. Bye-bye.

COOPER: Up next, we're getting an emotional video of rescues in Hoboken, where folks are still stranded. The National Guard is now there. We'll take you there when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: The National Guard is rescuing trapped families in Hoboken, New Jersey, right now. Hoboken Mayor Don Zimmer is asking people to bring boats to city hall to try to help free people who are trapped in their homes.

National Guard is also working to pump out millions of gallons of water mixed with sewage, which is always a growing health concern in these kinds of situations.

Hoboken, you should know, there is about 50,000 people who live there. It's right across from Manhattan to the west of where I'm standing. The narrow streets are making rescues a lot more complex, though.

The mayor is urging people not to go outside, saying there are live electrical wires in the water. Meteorologist Bob Van Dillen with our sister network HLN is in Hoboken. Bob, what have you been seeing today? What is the latest?

BOB VAN DILLEN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Anderson, good afternoon to you. We got here early this morning at about 5:00. It was still pitch black. The guard itself was lined up the street from where I am, about four blocks up.

There about a half a dozen trucks ready to go. Too dangerous to go when it was dark so they waited until first light and then they just started rolling out. You could see the path that they took, right down Newark Street, right down here, passed into that floodwater. The floodwater goes all the way out about four blocks. Took a couple of turns, one to the left, one to the right and then about an hour and a half later, they came back, big loop, and dumped off all the people they had up there and went back out and did it again.

So the National Guard has been basically going out nonstop. As a matter of fact, 2 minutes ago, had another huge truck going by, and it looks like there is another one ready to go here as well.

There is another truck coming down the street, going out to get more people. Basically, there are people that are trying to be evacuated because they can't get out. This water is just absolutely putrid. We're talking about fuel, sewage, water inside there, just not good at all.

So they're running out of supplies. There goes one right now. You can see it. They're running out of supplies so these trucks are going to pick them up and basically just making big, big loops and grabbing a lot of people.

There it goes. You can see just how high the water is too, Anderson. It's going down a little bit, but it's still not passable.

COOPER: And all that water has to be pumped out, right, Bob?

DILLEN: Yes. It is a real issue. See this guy here, he has a ski pole in his hand, he's trying to clear the drains. He's doing a good job, too.

The last couple of minutes you see both swirlings going on. The water is draining. As a matter of fact, when we're here this morning where I'm standing right now, would have been about two feet under water.

So it is gradually going down in Hoboken, but not fast enough. These people are getting frustrated and so that's all there is to it.

COOPER: Is he a citizen doing that or does he work for the city?

DILLEN: That's a good question. I don't see any city markings on him. Nothing says Hoboken on him or anything. I think he's a guy doing it because he's fed up. With that kind of equipment, a ski pole and some waders, I'm thinking he's a guy who is taking it too much.

COOPER: It's great to see. I mean, we're seeing more and more. People trying to do what they can in their local communities. Bob Van Dillen, we'll check back in with you.

With folks returning to Queens and in some areas, their homes burned to the ground, dozens of homes in one particular area. We'll take you there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: One of the places we have been showing you that was really just so brutally hit by the storm is Breezy Point in Queens. And now neighbors are returning to their homes today, collecting any items and valuables left from the storm damage.

The neighborhood sits on the very tip of the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. Deb Feyerick is there. She has been there for the last two days.

Deb, what are you seeing? I can't imagine what these folks are seeing when they are coming back, I mean, so many homes destroyed there.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it really is astonishing. Just to give you perspective of how deep it is, if you can pan all the way to the other end, I mean, you were looking at a swath of homes that is just incredibly immense.

That fire described as something of such intensity that in fact firefighters say they never saw anything like it. What we'll witness over the next couple of hours, Anderson, this is really rather remarkable.

And that is a lot of people who live here in Breezy Point, they have been coming back. They've been searching through the debris, for most of them, they have lost virtually everything. A few people, though, have found one or two things, souvenirs, mementos.

One person, for example, taking the house number from where they live, another woman actually finding little rosary from her communion some 70 years ago, small things that they're devastated and yet at the very same time, they also realize that what they lost can be replaced.

But also what we witnessed today, Anderson, people who are going through all of these homes, USAR teams is what they are called, Urban Search and Rescue Teams, everybody for now has been accounted for, but those teams don't want to take any chances.

They want to make sure that in fact everybody who was here did manage to get out. You know, the count is a little murky because nobody is quite clear as to who may have stayed in their homes.

So they're just sort of crossing it off their list, searching through all the different homes, Anderson. But it is really rather remarkable because the people here at Breezy, as they call it, they lost the most people per capita on 9/11 than anyone.

They came together then. They're coming together now. And they are convinced, they say they will indeed rebuild. So rather a remarkable scene, Anderson, that we have been watching and monitoring all day.

COOPER: Yes, it is just so sad, so many of those folks are first responders, firefighters, police officers, retired police officers, members of the Coast Guard, and they probably have to work and at the same time dealing with this -- all this stuff and their personal lives. Deb, thanks. We're going to continue to check in with you.

Up next, Sandy causing huge headaches across the nation when it comes to travel.

Plus, we are waiting on a news conference from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he'll give us the latest information on the subway system, electricity being restored and the like. We'll be right back.

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COOPER: As you've seen, Sandy brought really extensive damage to Seaside Heights, New Jersey. Mayor Bill Akers spoke to CNN about the devastation that he witnessed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL AKERS, SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NEW JERSEY (via telephone): Right now it is just trying to, you know, just trying to get some kind of semblance of what it was. When you're looking at this picture, what they thought is Seaside Heights before. It is not going to ever be the same.

It will never be that old Seaside Heights. It is going to be different. We lost two piers. They're in the ocean. You're seeing visual pictures from above. The structure underneath the pilings, people's foundations, things that you can't really see right now, it is actually catastrophic.

I don't know where I'm going to walk through this. I have good people to guide me and help me get through the process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: I talked to him last night. He said they need all the help they can get. There are so many stories of how people got through the storm.

I want to go to CNN's Sandra Endo in Egg Harbor Township. Actually, first, Michael Bloomberg is speaking. So let's listen in.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: -- we may find a few more bodies. Everybody here, our hearts go out to the families of those New Yorkers who were lost in the storm and to those who lost their homes. Our thoughts and prayers and prayers are with everyone and we certainly will give our full support over the next weeks and months to those who were hurt by the storm.

The FDNY search and recovery operations are continuing in some of the areas hit hardest by the storm, particularly in the Rock Ways where they are going house to house to find if there aren't more people in need and hopefully they will not discover any more tragedies.

I think that the best thing we can do for those that we lost is to make sure that we do everything we can to the next time we have a big storm, do an even better job of protecting people, giving them more warning, maybe people will find different ways to communicate with them.

Any loss of life is tragic and sadly nature is dangerous and these things occur, but we're going to do everything we can to prevent tragedies in the future. And I think with the best we can do for those who did die is to make sure the city recovers and comes out of this and builds a better life for those of the deceased left behind. That's the best thing we can do and it is the only thing we can do. Many people's lives were turned upside down by the storm. And everyone in city government at every level is working 24 hours a day to get the city back on track, working with the MTA and Con Ed to meet the biggest challenges we face, mass transit and electric power.

Most of the MTA bus lines I'm happy to say were operating this morning and thanks to the generosity of the MTA, they are free for the day, so thank you, MTA. Next time somebody wants to criticize them, maybe you might have a smile on your face and say, well, I liked it when you gave us a free ride.

Bus service will continue to increase. Limited subway service may actually return tomorrow. There certainly will not be service below 34th Street in Manhattan where there is no power. And the MTA workers were working extremely hard to get --

COOPER: We obviously lost the signal for that. We'll try to get that back to you. We're going to take a short break. Our coverage of superstorm Sandy continues in a moment.

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COOPER: We're getting hundreds of I-Reports, Instagrams from people, as people return home today. I want to bring in Brooke Baldwin from Atlanta who has been monitoring some of this stuff we have been getting. Brooke, stories are just incredible.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're incredible and we have been getting hundreds of I-Reports, specifically, at the height of the storm, we were getting ten Instagram photos per second. I want to show you something.

Because look, we get a lot of photos here at CNN, let's be honest. We get some photos we think there are no ways this could be real. Obviously we go through the vetting process. Folks, this is real. Take a close look at this.

This is from Jordan Shapiro. He is one of our I-Reporters. He is standing on the Williamsburg side here. So this is the Williamsburg Bridge. You see this, perfectly in the middle of the bridge, dark Manhattan, bright power working in Brooklyn, just a perfect example of something you rarely, rarely see here in New York.

So that's one of our I-Reports. These are Instagrams. We're getting all these Instagrams from you. I just want to highlight three of them. We thank you for them, by the way.

This one is from Babylon, New York. This is from Becky Bennett. Look at the water, you know, sort of left with the transportation being a boat. She says she was without power for 12 hours and says she feels like one of the lucky ones.

Let me show you another one, this is Jersey City, a lot of you can relate to this. Look at the wind. This is from Mike Scroix. He could not believe just the wind damage, the brick, the gazebo, totally blown over.

One more for you, this is from a town, settled back in the 17th Century, a beautiful day 24 hours prior in New England. This is from John Barnett. Obviously, this tree gone, toppled over.

Quickly we love to get your pictures, real simple, go to cnn.com/open story. It is an open story. We cover it, you cover it, again, cnn.com/openstory. Anderson, back to you.

COOPER: All right, Brooke, thanks very much. It's great that people send that stuff into us.

It's the top of the hour. This is CNN's special coverage of Superstorm Sandy, the destruction, the rescues, the early efforts to recover and most importantly to rebuild.

And we are going to rebuild on live here in New York City from balcony of the Time Warner Center.