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Travel Ban Lifted in Connecticut; Parts of Massachusetts Seawall Collapses; Air Traffic Resumes at LaGuardia Airport

Aired January 27, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Of money, you could pay me to do that. But I'll take his word for it. And you can share some of those pictures if he does brave it.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's what I'm saying.

BALDWIN: But Ana Cabrera --

CABRERA: Yes.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

So from Ana in Montauk to Rosa Flores in New London, Connecticut.

Rosa, how much snow are you seeing where you are?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Brooke, Connecticut has a lot of work ahead of it. Take a look around. You'll see that there's a lot of snow. Some communities here, officials telling me that they received up to 24 inches plus of snow. So you can see that the roads are being plowed.

Now this is a main artery in this town in New London, Connecticut. Some of the smaller streets. They haven't gotten to those because they need to make sure that they get these main arteries first. As a matter of fact, you see some plows working right now. These are two of them working in this particular street because of that.

Now the mayor tells us that two things worked in their favor. First of all the winds were low enough to allow these plows to work overnight, which was key, because he told me, look, Rosa, if these roads are not passable, then we're in big trouble because of emergencies, Brooke. Because people wouldn't be able to get to the hospital, for example.

And then the other thing that worked in their favor was that, yes, the snow kept coming down, but they were able to continue to plow all afternoon.

I'm going to get out of the way here because we've got some vehicles coming through. But Brooke, the other thing I wanted to mention was I just got off the phone with state police, Lieutenant Vance, telling me that the other good news was that people actually heeded the warning. They stayed home. And they had about 15 accidents that they responded throughout the state. But he told me, you know what, Rosa, these were actually doctors, EMS

-- EMS personnel that were actually supposed to be out on the roads, even with a travel ban because they get an excuse. They're actually going to a hospital so that they can make sure that those emergency rooms are staffed. And so that's the good news.

The other good news, Brooke, is I want you to take a look at this. This is powder. Powder snow. That is the other good news because people here were expecting that thick snow that's heavy, that pulls power lines, that pulls and breaks branches. That didn't happen. That's the good news. We count our blessings in situations like this -- Brooke.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Yes, we have the exact same kind of snow here in Boston. And that is a wonderful thing when it comes to potential power outages and all those lines and the tree limbs.

Rosa, thank you so much. Bundle up, bundle up in New London, Connecticut.

FLORES: You're welcome. Thank you.

BALDWIN: When we come back, one of the huge, huge stories we've been watching -- of course thank you -- is the coastal flooding along coastal Massachusetts, the south shore.

And in Scituate, we have had a crew en route for the last couple of hours.

And coming up, we should be able to see live for the very first time the seawall has collapsed. We are just a couple hours away from high tide, which will only make the flooding worse.

We will take you there live.

Also, watching for Mayor Marty Walsh here to speak any minute now in Boston. It is coming down. Twenty inches here and counting.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. Let's take a listen to the mayor of Boston, Mayor Marty Walsh, talking about the snowfall until at least 1:00 a.m., he's saying.

MAYOR MARTY WALSH (D), BOSTON: Tomorrow, City Hall will be closed for anyone except for emergency personnel. And part of that reason is to keep the roads clear as we go out and continue to battle the storm.

In other words, we're still very much in the middle of this storm here in the city of Boston. And safety concerns remain a very serious concern of all of ours. It's not easy ahead -- to stay ahead of a storm this size, but we've been able to use all the city resources and the workers to try and do the best we can.

Our emergency operations center remains open and will continue to do so as the storm and through the recovery. We still have out in the street right now 700 plows and pieces of equipment out there actively clearing major arteries and secondary roads. We're using snow farms in the Seaport area, and Dorchester and in Hyde Park. And I ask all the residents of Boston to be patient with us as we get out there.

As we went through this morning we were ahead of the storm pretty well. And then around 11:00 when the storm picked up, our roads got hammered again particularly the side roads. So we're asking you to be patient with us. And we will get to your roads.

The next stage that we're working on is snow removal. Then we're working in our priority areas and around schools and we're holding open the possibility of closing our schools on Thursday, depending on how our progress goes through the night tonight and into tomorrow.

As of 3:00 today, the mayor's hot line has received 1328 phone calls. We've got 100 percent answering of those phone calls with -- at 30- second average, making sure that people get a chance to call in.

If you have any questions regarding snow or any questions regarding what's going on in your neighborhoods, please call 617-635 -- I'm sorry, 617-635-4500.

We're also -- I'm joined today by the fire commissioner and police commissioner. And we've continued to keep additional personnel and police, fire, and EMS to make sure that we can handle any calls that come into the city of Boston and so that we can make sure that anybody that needs help will be able to get the help.

The Boston Public Health Commission has reported our shelter facilities were able to remain at an adequate capacity for demands. And our outreach teams continue to identify individuals in needed shelter. And I know that police, fire, and EMS have also picked up homeless folks and make sure they brought them into shelter to make sure that they're safe.

If anyone sees anyone out there, please call 911 so we can go out and get them. Because the storm is still going on, and it's not over.

Some of our emergency services are also still remaining very active. But everyone -- with everyone's cooperation to meet this ongoing challenge, it's not the time for anyone to relax or be complacent. We're not doing that here in the city of Boston. People should not drive. And if they -- if they are not emergency personnel or have an emergency circumstance. So I'm asking you to not drive your car. Some of our streets still aren't plowed as people are going down.

I saw myself as I'm going through the city today. Some people being trapped in the middle of the street because their car couldn't pass it. People should be careful and should not be walking on the streets unless for emergency reasons. We've had reports from snowplow drivers that had close calls with pedestrians walking in the streets. People wearing hats and headphones and not paying attention to what the circumstances surround you.

You need to pay attention when you're out in the streets. We've seen a lot of people walking on main arteries and people skiing on main arteries. Be very, very careful. Because the plow can't stop. You're talking about on snow with some of this packed with ice. Be very careful when you're out there.

I'm also asking people not to shovel snow into the street. We've had circumstances where we've had plows go down streets and then we've had people shoveling the snow into the street. I know it's difficult. There's not many places to shovel the snow. And I'm asking you not to put snow back in the street because it's going to cause a problem for us, both a public safety problem, and also an issue with us trying to get plows around the city of Boston and resources in other neighborhoods.

We're also asking you as you're out there shoveling, and people decided to go out shoveling, please do not forget to shovel your hydrants. Hydrants on the street, if you have a hydrant in front of your house and you know where it is, shovel it out, and help us out, though, because if there's a fire in the case of a fire, that could save a couple minutes for the fire department trying to find out where those hydrants are.

And also, if you have an elderly neighbor or somebody that's home -- house bound that lives next door to you, we're asking you also not to forget them and to help them with a pathway in front of their house as well to shovel.

The city of Boston issued 26 violations for private plows pushing snow from the driveway into the streets, and we're going to continue to do that. So we're asking if you have a plow company that comes in, as they're clearing your driveway, that doesn't mean they can take your snow and put it on the streets. That's causing a safety issue as well. So we're asking we're going to be out there watching for that.

People should make sure also to continue to clear the snow from exhaust pipes and heating vents in the case of drier ventilations. Make sure you shovel out of that and also around your cars. Make sure that you clean the exhaust around your cars.

We've had one person that being treated right now for carbon monoxide in the city of Boston. And we've had no fatalities when it comes to this area.

BALDWIN: All right. We're going to pull away from that. You've been listening to the Boston City Mayor Marty Walsh.

And really I think, a couple of the headlines that jumped out at me, they may have schools shut down here in Boston through Tuesday. And he said at the top, we're still in it. The snow is still falling. It is 20 or so inches of snowfall so far. And he said the snow could continue until 1:00 in the morning. So again, just quick perspective. The last and biggest snowstorm in terms of snow totals was 2003. This could eclipse it. When we come back, though, one of the big, big stories we're watching

for you is all the coastal flooding not too terribly far from where I am here in Boston.

We'll take you down to the south shore. We'll talk to a state representative who -- who represents part of the state and their huge, huge fears -- flooding. What about those downed power lines? What about the whipping winds and all the people who could be stuck?

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: This storm very much in effect still for parts of New England, especially Massachusetts. There are rescue teams forced to evacuate people from homes in coastal Massachusetts after a nearby seawall crumbled. And we are still awaiting high tide here in about an hour and change.

Joining me now on the phone, we have Jim Cantwell, he is the Massachusetts state representative, representing that area. He is there. First of all, we're going to bring in Brian Todd. He's on his way to Marshfield.

Tell us about this, Brian. We know that a seawall has crumbled. There have been buildings damaged, and there are certainly others that are being evaluated at this time.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. And Mr. Cantwell is one of the people who's been kind enough to give us the information there. As we try to make our way to Marshfield right now. He says that they did have a seawall breach this morning. Officials there telling us that it was between 40 feet and 100 feet in length, the breach of the seawall. Several homes received structural damage.

Possibly at least nine homes receiving structural damage there and significant flooding in the town of Mansfield because of this breach. Several people had to be evacuated from their homes. The fire department apparently had a hand in that along with the National Guard.

As we make our way there, just so you can see a quick picture of what we're going through, we're not too far from Marshfield. But it's slogging through here on the roads of Massachusetts. We're on an interstate heading toward Marshfield. We'll switch out the front camera of our vehicle. You can see it's almost a white-out situation here for us as we try to make our way along the interstates here in Massachusetts.

So in Marshfield, as the people there try to recover, try to get people safely out of these -- of these homes that are threatened, this is also what they're dealing with, these really tough snow and wind conditions in the town of Marshfield and elsewhere -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, and you can see the blowing snow as you guys are there on the road. Really, with no one in sight other than yourselves. All right, Brian Todd, thanks so much. Stay with us. I want to bring

in now Representative Jim Cantwell, who represents Marshfield.

And Representative, you also represent the area of Scituate as well where we've seen flooding. Is that right?

REP. JIM CANTWELL (D), MARSHFIELD AND SCITUATE, BOSTON: That's correct. I have to two challenge south of Boston, where we typically -- we're kind of the tip of the spear for storms. Almost every time that there's a blizzard or a nor'easter. And as -- you're correct, I've heard Brian reporting, we have a breach of seawall in the Bay Ave area of Marshfield which as I -- often we'll tell folks, these seawalls, it really is a canary in a coal mine for this issue of coastal infrastructure because if these seawalls go, we see some devastating property damage and a concern of any loss of life.

Right now when we make it down with Brian, we can show him already 11 homes that have been damaged. Two of them moved off their foundations. And it was not that long ago, just three years ago, we had a similar breach in Scituate where the water rushed in and it comes so quickly.

You've correctly already reported, Brianna, that between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m., we have high tide again. And what happened three years ago in Scituate is the water came in so rapidly that it was able to come up and hit the electrical panels of two homes that burned to the ground.

And our fire professionals were there, Fire Chief John Murphy, I just speaking to earlier who's doing a great job in Scituate, was saying they want to avoid those types of situations because you could be setting a fire and not knowing if you have live wires right there.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Yes. Well, so let me ask you about that because I understand that they've shut down electricity there on five streets in Scituate and yet we're seeing power lines coming down on a street where -- we know that they have power. So what are the precautions being taken at this point to make sure that just doesn't turn into disaster?

CANTWELL: It's always a difficult thing because you can have people -- if people have generators for their homes and a power line comes down, you have the reverse effect. That power is coming to a line from a generator.

We're always stressing to people, if you see any line down, presume it's live and call it in and we'll give you just put up in CNN or I can read to you the phone numbers. But as throughout the northeast, if a line is down, presume it's live and call, if you don't have the number for your utility call 911.

We have -- the added worries here is we have a lot a great deal of water coming in. So clearly, for folks that are risking electrocution, that we're telling folks just to stay indoors. And Governor Baker has already issued since last night at midnight a travel ban, which is why Brian is making it along his way without much traffic.

We also -- when these things happen, Brianna, we have people that would want to come for sightseeing and they want to come down to see the damage. We need people to stay away.

KEILAR: Yes, that's right.

CANTWELL: And let the professionals do their job.

KEILAR: Yes, don't -- stay away. Very good advice. And we will let you go and link up with Brian Todd. Bring some pictures in there so we can see what's going on there in Marshfield.

Thank you so much, Representative Cantwell, for telling us what's happening there.

And this hour, there is -- you see things in Massachusetts there, especially in the coastal areas, really tough going, especially as we await high tide. But in New York, things are slowly starting to get back to normal. LaGuardia Airport -- at least in New York City, I should say.

You've got LaGuardia airport, that's getting back on track. The first flight left just minutes ago, bound for sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I bet those folks are so happy to be on that flight.

CNN's Rene Marsh joining me now from LaGuardia airport.

What's the latest there, Rene?

RENE MARSH, AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is, look, there's still thousands and thousands of cancellations today, more than yesterday. But as you highlighted, we are starting to see signs that life is coming back to airports like LaGuardia. Even though when you look around, it doesn't look like much is going on, but you just mentioned that first flight, Spirit Flight, heading to Fort Lauderdale, scheduled to take off just a few minutes ago.

We are hearing from many of the major carriers. They are saying that they will slowly be resuming operations at JFK as well as Newark airport. They have limited operations. And we also know by Wednesday they're hoping to really get back up to regular operations. Of course, we'll have to wait and see -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Rene Marsh at LaGuardia. Thanks so much.

We'll have more special coverage after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: President Obama today paid his respects to the family of the late Saudi King Abdullah. Before he arrived in Riyadh, Mr. Obama spoke with CNN's Fareed Zakaria and they talked about Saudi Arabia and why the U.S. maintains close diplomatic ties with the Saudis given their poor human rights record, including the blogger who criticized the Saudi government and was recently sentenced to 1,000 lashes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA, GPS: Will you speak about the blogger, to him well --

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, you know, I think on this visit obviously a lot of this is just paying respects to King Abdullah who, in his own fashion, represented some modest reform efforts within the kingdom. But we have maintained a sustained dialogue with the Saudis and with all the other countries that we work with, you know.

What I've found effective is to apply steady, consistent pressure even as we are getting business done that needs to get done. And oftentimes that makes some of our allies uncomfortable. It makes them frustrated. Sometimes we have to balance our need to speak to them about human rights issues with immediate concerns that we have in terms of countering terrorism or dealing with regional stability.

But the trend line is one that I will sustain throughout the rest of my presidency, and that is to make an argument to those friends and allies of ours that if they want a society that is going to be able to sustain itself in this age, then they're going to have to change how they do business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You can watch Fareed's full interview Sunday morning at 10:00 Eastern.

That does it for me here in New York, and for Brooke Baldwin in Boston.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now. Live from New York.