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Snow And Ice Hitting Mid-Atlantic; Heavy Rains, High Winds For Southeast; Drivers Facing Hazardous Road Conditions; AAA: 38.9 Million To Drive For Thanksgiving; Possible Sinkhole Forces Family To Leave; Obama Heckler Explains His Outburst
Aired November 26, 2013 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Snow also coming down hard in Columbus, Ohio. The high in Columbus today will be just above the freezing mark. Here in Atlanta, it's 36 degrees. Plenty of rain expected and now a live look from New York, not too bad right now, but the heavy rain is on its way. Tomorrow the winds will be gusting and that's going to cause big problems.
CNN is covering the storm and how it will affect your holiday travel plans like no one else with crews spread throughout the country. Let's start with Chad Myers. Hi, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Carol. It's going to be a wet drive on I-95, not white. It's all about the higher elevations across the turnpike. Get over toward Rochester and upstate, over here into Pittsburgh, snowing. There's a lot of traffic in Pittsburgh. Not much mere in Atlanta, because people I think took the day off.
But it is slippery there in Pittsburgh. Here is the deal, I-95, all rain. It's far enough east. You get over towards Winston Salem and Roanoke, that's where it's 32 or 31 and raining. And behind that, that's where the snow is and stay cold enough for the snow to pile up. Pittsburgh will have at least a half foot and in some spots ice underneath the snow.
COSTELLO: Chad, thanks so much.
CNN's weather coverage continues throughout the hour. You can find current conditions right there on the bottom of your screen.
AAA says more than 3 million will take to the skies to get to their holiday destination. Here is a snap shot of all the planes in the air right now. No reports of cancellations right now. CNN's Martin Savidge is at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport. I'm hoping the good news stays the same this hour.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still good news, nice to see you. Let me show you the good news. It is the blue board that really is most people want to see. It's the flight schedule board. As you can see, predominantly, the on time sign is the one that's most prolific, which is what the passengers want to see. We only saw one cancellation and it was going to Des Moines. That was at 9:47. But it is the only cancellation we have heard of. And we do not even know if that one was weather related. Let me bring in Lewis Miller. He's the general manager of the airport. You've come from a meeting talking about conditions. What is the word?
LEWIS MILLER, GM, ATLANTA HARTSFILELD-JACKSON AIRPORT: Things are looking very good for us. We're seeing that the traffic is -- we did our weekly analysis and we -- we expect to come this week and go through next Monday, 1.8 million with an increase of about 3 percent of what we had last year.
SAVIDGE: How are you dealing with the rain and weather that's coming down right now?
MILLER: The rain right now has not hurt us as of yet. We have not seen a major impact on our operations here, very few delays going out. We had no freezing rain. That's what we were really worried about the most.
SAVIDGE: And the next 24 hours, say tomorrow? What does that look like?
MILLER: Tomorrow morning looks like more rain, but temperatures are supposed to be staying higher. So it could drop early in the evening, but in the morning it's higher. We have our team on standby. We call it our snow desk, people that are ready to deal with whatever happens.
SAVIDGE: We love to hear that. Thanks you, Mr. Miller. Of course, it should be pointed out we are talking about the Atlanta airport. However, this is such a major hub and impacts so many flights along the eastern corridor, if things are good here, it may bode well for wherever you are flying to or out of.
COSTELLO: Mr. Miller just made me very happy. I think the real problems might be at the airports along the northeast coast like New York and Reagan International. Because there are high winds. That is certainly affect flights out of those two cities.
SAVIDGE: Yes. Give yourself plenty of time as always.
COSTELLO: All right, Martin Savidge, Thanks so much. This Sunday marks the busiest travel day of the year for fliers. I know I've said that before, but if they are saying again some $2.5 million people expected to pass through airports in those 24 hours alone.
Ahead of the chaos, CNN spent the day at the world's busiest airport at Hartsfield-Jackson International from special bomb suits and we're giving you a rare glimpse into the roar, everyone is going somewhere. Check us out at cnn.com/atl24/7 and check out more online.
Treacherous road conditions await due to the winter storm Chad was talking about. Yolanda Cade, Managing director, AAA spokeswoman joins us now from Orlando. I know you study this stuff every year. What do you expect for today?
YOLANDA CADE, MANAGING EDITOR, AAA PUBLIC RELATIONS: Well, I have to tell you, as it is every single year, it will be the busiest travel holiday. We are expecting 43 million people. That is a lot of people, Carol, to travel over this holiday weekend. We did find that in a number represents about 600,000 fewer people than we saw traveling last year.
But if you are traveling by car, which 90 percent of Americans are going to choose to do, you're going to have plenty of company on the road, packing the three Ps this year, preplanning, packing properly, and a lot of patience.
COSTELLO: Why do people seem to leave at the same time to travel?
CADE: You know, what happens during Thanksgiving, you have that unique holiday period where it occurs on a Thursday every single year. A lot of Americans have the Friday off and chose to take that extra day off. Tomorrow, Wednesday, 16 million people once again this year are going to choose that day to leave to get there in time for Thanksgiving.
When you look at the return, how many people are coming back? About one in three of them coming back on Sunday and one in four coming back on Monday. And there's a little bit of a heartfelt reason behind that. This is the time of year where 67 percent of people say this is the time of year I want to spend time with my family and friends. Spending that extra time eating turkey and around the family table really is the drive where people want to leave early and stay a little bit later.
COSTELLO: I can understand that. So share some secrets with us. Is there -- let's say you're going to leave tomorrow. Is there a best time to hit the road?
CADE: Yes. Well, Carol, you really want to start out early. And really get ahead he have the traffic. I mean, early morning is always good. One of the things we're cautioning people to do is with a lot of ice and snow, looking at some of the road conditions, you really want to plan ahead. Getting out early is best, early mornings. And then if you can avoid the peak periods. We know that Monday and Sunday are going to be two of our busiest days.
Gosh, if you can stay in extra day on Tuesday and come back when everybody is already back at work, that will provide a little bit of relief on the road and you won't have quite as much company. But to be certain, it's going to be absolutely busy if you're going to be out there.
COSTELLO: And just be nice. I think when people are driving they forget there are other human beings in the cars beside them.
CADE: They do. And I have to tell you, I'll take the opportunity to remind people, with so many people on the road, make sure you have a designated navigator, someone to do your texting and navigating for you. So we remember the other human beings that are out there and all arrive safely.
COSTELLO: Thanks so much for being with me.
CADE: Thank you so much and happy Thanksgiving.
COSTELLO: You too.
Still to come in the "NEWSROOM" a number of toys are still not meeting mandated safety standards for children. A look at what type of items you should avoid this holiday season.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 12 minutes past the hour. A deadly winter storm moving up the east coast bringing along with it snow and heavy rain. Snow coming down hard it parts of Ohio like Columbus. And in the Pittsburgh area it's snowing. The same storm system is soaking the south just as 43 million of us get ready to hit the road to fly for Thanksgiving.
The damage inside a home in Florida after a sinkhole opened up. The family of seven evacuated after the floor started buckling. Here is what the neighbors are saying about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It felt -- like I said, I feel calmer now and we have a prayer chain going on at church. Red Cross now ranging for food vouchers and clothing for the family affected.
The man who loudly interrupted President Obama's speech on immigration reform is explaining why he did it. He was speaking in San Francisco when one of the invited guests spoke out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JU HONG, HECKLER: President, please -- petition, you have a power to stop the petition to all.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Actually I don't and that's why we're here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Ju Hong, a 24-year-old student, he later spoke to CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HONG: The truth is, 1.8 million undocumented family members are deported and 100,000 are facing deportation every single day, and this is urgent. That's why it was the only venue that I could speak out and I'm representing the voices are other undocumented students would cannot be here. This is very urgent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: He says he's afraid that if he visits his family in South Korea, he will not be let back into the United States.
Would-be robbers got more than think bargained for. A clerk scared them off by threatening that he had a bigger gun. And when he reached for the weapon, the two robbers took off running. Police have not been able to find them however.
Nearly a year after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, a report has been released with new details on the case. A report provides an even more disturbing picture of Adam Lanza.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Among the evidence released publicly for the first time, dozens of photos of Sandy Hook Elementary School and a look at the gunman's near bye home. He blasted through a window to bypass the lock door and begin his shooting spree. We see the rifle used to kill 20 children and six adults in less than 11 minutes. Found in the same classroom as the shooter's body and the handgun he uses to kill himself. All bought legally by his mother.
DR. JEFF GARDERE, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, TOURO COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: She may have thought this was a way to control him or get through to him because she seemed to have a fascination with guns and shooting herself so a way for them to connect, but absolutely the wrong way to do it.
CANDIOTTI: One question that remains unanswered, why? The 44-page report concludes the evidence clearly showed that the shooter planned his actions, but there is no clear indication why he did so or why Adam targeted Sandy Hook, a school are he used to go. What emerges is a picture of a deeply troubled 20-year-old, a loner obsessed with mass murder.
He spent hours a day playing video and computer games, many violent including "Call of Duty," another called 'School Shooting'. The report also references a video not shown to the public, a 5-second dramatization of children being shot. And surprisingly, he seemed fixated on the game, "Dance, Dance Revolution." With a dance pad at home and spending up to ten hours a day playing it at a theater down the street.
His computer hard drive was smashed make it nearly impossible to retrieve information. But investigators found a spreadsheet detailing mass murders. Including this "The New York Times," Lanza not only suffered from Asperger's syndrome. He was undoubtedly afflicted with mental health problems.
Changing his clothes several times a day, obsessed about how his food was ranged on his plate. He wouldn't allow his mother into his room even to clean it.
GARDERE: It seemed like as time was going on, he was starting to decompensate more towards a psychotic behavior as well you see obsessive-compulsive disorder traits. Paranoia going on and paints a picture of someone who was extremely difficult to manage.
CANDIOTTI: His bedroom windows covered with black garage bagged. He hates birthdays, Christmas and holidays and even after Superstorm Sandy refused to stay at a hotel. He also didn't like being touched.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Still to come in the "NEWSROOM" dangerous and toxic toys still on store shelves. What to look out for to keep the kids safe this holiday season. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: While millions of you will be hitting the malls this black Friday, there's a new study out this morning that lists the most dangerous toys that can still be found on store shelves. Zain Asher is covering in this morning and there were surprises on list, right?
ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. This report came out just a few minutes ago, basically highlighting the fact that safety hazarded in children's toys is certainly still a problem especially as we enter into the holiday season, one major problem that still persist is choking hazards. Think about the clothes that have jewel strings. Think about children's toys that contain sort of tiny marbles or balloons, that can lead to choking.
In fact, 90 children died of choking between 2001 and 2012. Also think about loud and noisy toys. Any toy that is supposed to be held close to a child's ear should not exceed 65 decibels. And one in five children suffers from hearing loss because of noisy toys and problems with toxic substances. The Ninja Turtle pencil case was found to have excessive levels of cadmium.
COSTELLO: And any other specific items you have for us?
ASHER: Yes. The Ninja Turtles pencil case was listed specifically. But I do want to mention that things so far have been showing to improve. So in 2007, there were 231 toys that were recalled. This year, so far it is only 31. But the bottom line is the report is pushing people to sort of watch out for unsafe toys and report them. And be aware of the fact that there is no database where you can go to look for a list of unsafe children's toys. So the important thing is parents really do need to be vigilant.
COSTELLO: All right, Zain Asher reporting live for us this morning.
Still to come in the "NEWSROOM", whether you're hitting the road for Thanksgiving or taking to the skies, we're keeping you on the storm system moving up the east coast and how that could affect your plan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the "NEWSROOM": snow, freezing rain, high winds, all the ingredients coming together for a tricky commute for millions heading out for Thanksgiving.
Plus, few people are fighting harder against Obamacare more than John Boehner. Now he is a card carrying member. He said it wasn't easy and not cheap either.
Now watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO: Probably in one of my drunken stupors --
He's keeping comedy writers in business. Now his story could be coming to the big screen right here in the United States of America.
Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks for joining me. Right now a deadly mix of rain, wind and snow making its way up the east coast, these are live pictures out the Cincinnati. They're expected to get light snow in the northeast with larger amounts tomorrow for parts of pep pen, New York, and Ohio.
Another part of Ohio, the center portion, is feeling an early blast of the winter as they call for 1 to 3 inches by Wednesday. In Arkansas and other states officials are preparing for wet and snowy roads as temperatures hover near freezing. It's been blamed for more than 100 accidents so far. CNN's Alina Machado is on the road on I-75 fleer in Atlanta. Good morning.
ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. This is the story in the south, lots of rain here in Atlanta and also throughout the south. The roads are still pretty clear. But they are wet and slick. And that could cause problems as more people hit the roads.
AAA are expecting more than 43 million people to travel this Thanksgiving holiday about 90 percent of those will be getting in their cars and driving somewhere for the long weekend. There are a lot of areas that you should be careful if you're going to be driving through the parts of east.
Also, 95 south of Washington, D.C. could cause some problems. So the bottom line, Carol, if you're going to be heading out, use common sense. Give yourself time and just be aware of what you're going to be going into.
COSTELLO: Always good advice. I feel sorry for you. I hope you get to a dry place soon. But I don't think that's going to happen. Thanks so much.
CNN's weather coverage continues throughout the hour. You can find the three-forecast and current conditions right at the bottom of your screen.
Air travelers could face delays or canceled flights from this nasty storm starting tomorrow. CNN's Rene Marsh is at Washington Dulles International Airport. Good morning.
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. When you look at those flight tracking websites, it looks like there are a hundreds of delays nationwide, but for some perspective where you're talking about nationwide, and we're in the hundreds, it just goes to show that the effect of this storm, really, we're not feeling it as bad as it will be just as yet.
