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Storms Thrash South; Storm Chaser Catches Tornado; Storms Force Airport Delays; Chicago Protesters Disrupt Shopping. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 24, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: The IEDs were planted everywhere. So I think you're going to see that metamorphosis from a traditional military that's trying to hold territory to a terrorist group.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Unfortunately, we're going to have to leave it there. I can talk to you about this all day.

On a lighter note, Merry Christmas to you and to all of you back home. The news continues right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan, in for Brooke today.

A devastating blow to the southeast on Christmas Eve. Deadly storms have killed at least 10 people in the last 24 hours. Dozens more injured. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERESA MCKAY, HOME DESTROYED: Yes, and we was well blessed. We heard the - like a train. And when we made it to the door, all we could see - it was just black. And behind that, it was just red. And we managed to get out of the house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Just terrifying. One of the states hardest hit is Mississippi. You're going to see in slow motion here how a storm - how the storm even turned over a tractor-trailer. Just amazing. One analysis estimates at least 14 tornadoes hit that state. But most of the damage appears to have come from a single twister, if you can believe it, that may have been on the ground for 150 miles, traveling all the way to Tennessee. Local officials in the hard hit area of Holly Springs, Mississippi, they just gave an update on the damage that they've seen so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF KENNY DICKERSON, MARSHALL COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI: We just did a fly-over, I did, of - with the Sota (ph) County helicopter. It's - it's unreal what you see from the air. We're going to have millions and millions of board feet of (INAUDIBLE) wood and timber that's damaged and down. Many, many homes has got severe damage. It's just unreal. You would have to be in the air and looking down to see it to really realize how bad it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And even then they probably don't even believe it. Later this afternoon, Mississippi's governor is planning to survey the damage himself in Holly Springs.

Meteorologist Allison Chinchar, she's in the Severe Weather Center.

But first, let's get over to CNN's Victor Blackwell. He has the very latest on the devastation that this storm has left behind.

Victor, these images are really hard to believe.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are and especially just hours before Christmas. We know that there are states of emergency in both Tennessee and Mississippi. And we're seeing some of the damage from these flyovers that are happening right now while people on the ground are searching for whatever they can salvage from their homes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL (voice-over): This Christmas Eve, parts of the south and Midwest are destroyed after an overnight outbreak of violent tornadoes. Officials fear the death toll could rise. Dozens are hurt. Mississippi suffered the worst of the assault. The Storm Prediction Center says at least 14 tornadoes touched down across the state Wednesday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It go right over me. (INAUDIBLE) trees. Cut (ph) trees in half. And I don't know why I'm still standing here talking to you.

BLACKWELL: One of those killed in Mississippi, a seven-year-old boy who was in a car with his family in Holly Springs. This video was shot by a driver a few miles away near Como. Watch as a twister shoves a tractor-trailer off the road.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

BLACKWELL: Two people in Mississippi are still unaccounted for.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were in the house. We heard the wind picking up. We just dashed out to the storm shelter and we had 45 seconds and it just hit. We came - we walked out of the storm shelter, everything was gone.

BLACKWELL: In Perry County, Tennessee, the violent storms destroyed at least three homes and snapped power lines as it charged through. State officials say a 70-year-old man and a 69-year-old woman were killed in the county. A 22-year-old man was killed in Ray (ph) county. Strong, straight line winds raced across parts of Arkansas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything was just moving sideways and just the sound of the wind and I just - I jumped and I ran. BLACKWELL: An 18-year-old woman near Atkins (ph) was killed when a

large tree fell through her roof. Near Louisville, Kentucky, pounding rains, flooded streets. And in southern Illinois, this mobile home was shoved off its foundation. As officials search for the missing and families sift through what's left, some are fighting to stay hopeful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And God's going to show us a good in this somehow, some way, only I can't see it right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, the latest numbers here. Ten dead, two unaccounted for in Mississippi and dozens injured, although no specific number there. Now, this did not go through the most populated areas of these states -

BOLDUAN: Right.

BLACKWELL: But, of course, that's no consolation for the people who lost loved ones or are in hospitals right now with some serious injuries.

BOLDUAN: Yes, no kidding. The governor even telling me earlier, Victor, that they're very nervous, they're very concerned about those two people missing. That's obviously where their focus really is right now before they even get to their damage assessments. And you can pretty much guess it's going to be extensive.

[14:05:04] BLACKWELL: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Victor, thanks so much.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

BOLDUAN: Let's get over to Allison Chinchar now who's taking a look at kind of where this storm is headed next. They're still looking at the devastation of this massive storm. What are they also looking at going ahead?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Yes, we take a look - we'll start from yesterday and work our way forward and show you this is where the storms were yesterday. The past radar. Notice as the storms began to progress east, that's when we started getting numerous tornado reports in.

This is the line we're talking about that could have been the exact same tornado on the ground the entire way that affected cities like Holly Springs that you saw on that video. If indeed it did stay on the ground the entire time, likely went up to around 145 miles wide. We don't have the official report in. The National Weather Service is out surveying the damage, but also reports of it being around a half of a mile wide. Again, this is an enormous storm that was out there. In total, we had 28 hail reports, 170 wind reports and a total of 24 tornado reports. But, again, some of those could be from all the exact same storm. Here's an average, though, because a lot of people, we keep hearing

them say, this is so rare for December. We don't get this, this time of year. And, true, this is the month when we actually see the fewest number of tornadoes. Only 24 is what we average in the month of December. But still, we average 24. It's not like we average zero or one. We see these things - these types of events into December.

Now, here's the threat for today. Again, it's a very narrow band basically stretching from around Richmond all the way back towards New Orleans. But I want to emphasize that today's threat is not expected to be anywhere near as severe as what we had yesterday. So that is some good news.

BOLDUAN: Thank goodness about that, absolutely. Allison, thank you. Victor, thank you so much as well.

So, as Allison mentioned, tornadoes, they are - they're unusual in December, though one had - one hit Mississippi almost exactly one year ago. Watch and listen to this as one storm chaser captured a monster twister on camera yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tornado. There it is. Tornado. Large tornado. Large tornado. Holy marcel, large tornado just southwest of Batesville. Large tornado. Large (INAUDIBLE) tornado coming in across the Interstate 55! This is south of Exit 243. Exit 243. It's going to be a large destructive tornado south of Batesville tearing across 55. This is a really big tornado. This is large, large, large tornado. Very large. I'm stopping. This is a tornado emergency south of Batesville. This is going to come in -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: All right, you can hear the adrenaline just pumping in his voice. That's one of the many people following this system when it was on the ground. On the phone with me now is another storm chaser and meteorologist Stas Speransky.

Stas, thank you so much for getting on the phone with us. Describe - I mean you heard how your fellow storm chaser there, the adrenaline in his voice as he was capturing this monstrous storm, this tornado while it was on the ground. What was it like for you?

STAS SPERANSKY, STORM CHASER AND METEOROLOGIST (via telephone): Well, I was driving down I-55 and I - when I saw the storm on radar and I knew it looked pretty serious with the kind of environmental parameters that were out for yesterday that, you know, if you get a tornado it's likely going to stay on the ground for a very long time. So I positioned myself. I saw the tornado, a large funnel, on the horizon. And I pretty much positioned myself to where I can safely intercept this. So safely have the tornado cross kind of close to me so I can, you know, take good video of it and - yes. So and then get up right behind it and hopefully tail it. But, of course, yesterday's storms were moving 50, 60 miles an hour so I can only really tail it for maybe five - five minutes until I ran into some trees that were blocking the road and that was the end of my storm chase.

BOLDUAN: To put that in perspective, because that was one of the things we have been hearing about how fast this storm and how fast these tornadoes were actually moving. That, obviously, adds to part of the problem and why - how dangers - why they were so dangerous. Put that into perspective of how fast this storm was moving when you saw it.

SPERANSKY: Oh, yes. So if you - if you're - if you are a resident taking shelter, you hear the tornado siren, I mean you only really have just a little bit of time because the storm is moving 50, 60 miles an hour. So, in a car, I'm chasing the storm on some of those country roads, I can't even go 50, 60 miles an hour. So that kind of puts it into perspective.

BOLDUAN: And how often are you - how often do you find yourself chasing storms in December?

SPERANSKY: In December, well I - I certainly don't plan to, but I did drive all the way from Oklahoma because it definitely was like an ominous day and to somebody who treats this as a hobby, as something I enjoy doing, of course I had to chase yesterday because it was - it was almost a slam dunk going to be a - a big tornado say. So -

BOLDUAN: So we know that there are ten dead so far over three states. It really struck me earlier today, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers, he told me that he was actually surprised - when you look at how big the storm is - he's actually surprised the death toll isn't higher at this very moment. Do you think that's because folks had a good warning, that they knew that this big storm system was on the way?

[14:10:10] SPERANSKY: There's definitely a lot of warning in advance. The Storm Prediction Center had a particularly - a PDS (ph) tornado watch, a particularly dangerous situation tornado watch. And you also got these tornadoes in fairly I want to say less populated areas. You didn't have big cities getting hit, like Jackson or, you know, other cities in Mississippi, like Nashville or Memphis. You had them going through the countryside. But, of course, you know, you tell those people that and they - they're going to tell you what.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Well, Stas Speransky, thank you so much for jumping on the phone with us. We appreciate it.

And, of course, they still don't really have a clear picture of what kind of damage they're looking at. The governor is trying to get there to the hardest hit areas so he can survey the damage himself in Mississippi. We're going to keep an eye - a very close eye on this, as well as the bad weather that could be heading up the East Coast.

Thank you so much.

So as we're talking about it, the weather, not surprisingly, is causing delays at several airports and key airports at that, including Atlanta, Philadelphia and New York. And it's happening as one - as about 100 million people are expected to be on the move this Christmas Eve. So let's get to CNN's Sara Sidner. She's taking a look at all of that,

keeping an eye on it for us at New York's LaGuardia.

Sara, what are you seeing now?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Want to just give you a quick update. From flightstats.com, basically we were looking at just how many delays there are. And the delays are going up. There's about 3,300 delays in the United States right now, about 400 cancellations. So that's kind of the scene setter for you.

Although, here at LaGuardia, we're not seeing huge, huge crowds backed up. I mean people are moving. They're moving through fairly quickly. And that's partly because the weather here is insanely nice, or some people don't like it so much because it's like 70 degrees and Christmas time. But it is pushing people through. But, of course, their destinations may have some issues with the weather.

I do also want to talk about the sheer numbers of people who are going to be traveling more than 50 miles from their home this year. It's an incredible number. Never been hit before. AAA is expecting 100 million people to do just that, leave their home, go more than 50 miles. Most of them will be on the road, about 91.3 million. So that's a huge chunk of those travelers. But about 5.8 million are expected to fly. And that's a big number that you will see over the Christmas and New Year's holiday. So give yourself some time, as they always say, and do check in because we've also noticed that some of the flights are not delayed but early depending on where you're coming from into New York.

BOLDUAN: What, that's not - that - that's not possible. That's not even - early flights?

SIDNER: I know.

KIB: That's not possible. We can't be talking about that now.

Real quick, Sara, I found this fascinating. You told me this earlier. Give our viewers an update on some new TSA procedures that are being put in place and what people should be looking out for.

SIDNER: So basically the TSA has changed its policy a bit, saying that you can't completely opt out of going through those body scanners. What they have said though is that some people who were deemed kind of a security - there's some security issues, they want to do extra security checks. They will say, no, you have to go through the scanner. You can't get simply body checked by one of the TSA agents.

And so there's a little tiny bit of confusion in people's minds, like who's going to get this and who isn't, but it really is all about security according to the TSA. They are looking at trying to make sure that they're keeping travelers safe if they use the airports around the country, trying to make it fast and quick because you know those scanners are actually faster than getting patted down.

BOLDUAN: Right. SIDNER: But they're also warning people that, look, if you're deemed someone who they need to do some extra checks ono, that they will not let you do the patdown as opposed to going through the scanners.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Another thing to keep an eye on. Sara Sidner looking for that early flight whenever we take off. That's pretty neat. Thanks so much. Great to see you.

Happening right now, you may have been seeing this image pop up on your screen down in the corner. We've been watching it. We're going to continue to watch it. Protesters in Chicago taking aim at the city's boutique shopping district, Michigan Avenue, this Christmas Eve. They're calling for the mayor there, Rahm Emanuel, to resign in the wake of high profile police shootings. This also comes as new police audio is released in the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. We're going to take you live to the scene as the protests really get underway in Chicago, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:55] BOLDUAN: At this hour, Black Lives Matter activists are gathering on the streets of Chicago. The group now doing its best to shut down commerce along the busy, magnificent mile. On Wednesday, demonstrators spread across several U.S. cities, from Minneapolis to San Francisco to D.C., to Los Angeles. Protesters have called for a national day of action to highlight what organizers call a nationwide bias within police departments against the black community. Today's rallies also come as we hear for the first time the dispatch tapes in the deadly police shooting of Laquan McDonald. The recording reveals that police made repeated calls for a Taser before one officer shot and killed McDonald. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DISPATCH: So I got to hold air, so I can help with (INAUDIBLE) asking for a Taser for an offender with a knife. Anybody close? (INAUDIBLE).

RESPONDING OFFICER: (INAUDIBLE) We're about two blocks away.

DISPATCH: Let me know when he's in custody, guys.

RESPONDING OFFICER: Shots fired by the police. Shots fired by the police. Get an ambulance over here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, the officer who shot McDonald is charged now with first- degree murder. Chicago activists have called for the mayor there, Rahm Emanuel, as well as the states attorney, Anita Alvarez, to resign. Protesters today say they are planning peaceful protests. CNN's Ryan Young, he is actually live in Chicago along this protest route.

So, Ryan, what are you hearing, what are you seeing? RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what, so far

this is one of the smallest protests we've seen. This is about 75 to 100 people. They could not occupy the entire Michigan Avenue, so right now they've decided to stop in front of the Apple store. They say we're going to shame people who go in to shop. We're going to walk you all the way around just so we can show you right in the middle of the magnificent mile. You can see all the officers that are lining up to make sure that people are safe as they block traffic. This has been going on for about an hour and a half now.

As we walk back this direction, they tried to walk up Michigan Avenue. They pretty much have stopped the northbound traffic, but they were not able to stop both sides of traffic. You can see the signs that people have brought with different pictures, showing people they believe were killed with interactions with police officers. But as we walk back this direction, you can see the effort now to block the front of the Apple store. Now, they've said, people can come out, but they can't go in, and that's what they've been saying for like the last 20 minutes as they stopped outside this Apple store.

[14:20:10] But, you know, you think about the large crowds that we saw here after Black Friday that shut down this entire street, and it's not that same size. And people were locking arms and making sure people couldn't shop throughout this area. There's more officers here now than protesters. And as we walk toward the front of the store, you can hear some of them with their signs. You can see, "black lives matter." You can see, "there's no justice from the Department of Justice." You can also see "Rahm failed us." They're also asking for people to resign. They want to see Anita Alvarez gone. They want to see the mayor gone. People come out here with their passions to talk about the fact that they want to see a system change here in Chicago.

Do you mind talking to us real quick? I just want to know just the idea of what brought you out here on this day before Christmas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm - for one, I'm a young person and the people who are majority being killed are young people, you know, millennials. And so I stand in a gap right now for people like Laquan McDonald, Sandra Bland and also Rikia Boyd (ph), because we cannot forget our black women that are being killed as well. And so right now I'm willing to sacrifice my Christmas Eve and my Christmas in order to stand in the gap for people who cannot speak for themselves right now.

YOUNG: What has it been like as you're walking along Michigan Avenue? I know this crowd's a little smaller than the last ones that we've seen, but what has it been like to walk with the people as they've been talking? What have they been talking about?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, for me, it's just good to see that people from various different backgrounds, from various different nationalities and races come together and know that we can work - when we work together, some change can definitely be - can definitely take place. So that's my thing is just us all coming together and being able to advocate for change.

YOUNG: Thank you so much. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're welcome.

YOUNG: Merry Christmas to you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Merry Christmas to you as well.

YOUNG: Thank you so much.

So you've seen that. The crowd is very multicultural. We've seen people from different backgrounds obviously here. People getting their voices out. It's all been peaceful so far. But, once again, you see the crowd right now in front of the Apple store. This is the bulk of the protesters. Some folks have left and now they're going to walk down to the water tower where they're making an announcement now. They're saying they're going to take this march through the streets one more time blocking traffic as you can hear them screaming and yelling at this point.

BOLDUAN: Ryan, you said that they - it's kind of a - it's an economic boycott is what they're calling for in Chicago to make their voices heard. Let me know if you can even hear me amongst the crowd. But are they - are they - are they actually preventing people from going in and shopping? Are they preventing people from going in the Apple store?

YOUNG: Only at this Apple store. So, so far they haven't been able to stop anyone from going to the other stores. As we start walking down the street here. But they haven't stopped people like they did on Black Friday. Black Friday was something different. There were thousands of people here.

BOLDUAN: Right.

YOUNG: And they were interlocking their arms and they were stopping people from going to stores. That's not happening this time. The Apple store, for whatever reason, was the target. They were able to block that store. But the other stores, not blocked so much. Yes, they're blocking traffic, but that's not really a big deal since the police have it covered up and they're trying to make people go around the protest.

BOLDUAN: So, Ryan, give us some perspective. And if you see another person to talk to, it's really interesting if we can even hear from others who are in this crowd and let me know if you see anybody you want to speak with, but where are they headed now? Where are they going now?

YOUNG: Well, we are headed toward the magnificent miles. We're headed toward the water tower, which is a multilevel mall here in Chicago. You know, honestly, we didn't think they were going to go this far. We've walked this mile and then we walked back toward the Apple store. And now someone in the group has decided, hey, let's walk this other direction.

As we walk, you see people holding their signs and some folks don't want to be on camera. We understand that. Other people have decided this is a place they want to be because they were saying sixteen shots and a cover-up. So one of the things we also see is some people are here with political fliers who are passing those out, who are talking to the crowd about making sure they register to vote. There's a big vote for Anita Alvarez coming up and there are some folks who say they want to see her gone as well. So maybe that will happen through this process. But, once again, this is a much smaller crowd than we've experienced before in the streets of Chicago and they've all maintained their distance and walked on this path on Michigan Avenue.

BOLDUAN: I can see a sign just over your shoulder and kind of amongst the crowd of "Rahm must go." That's one of the things that they want in these protests is they've been calling for quite some time now is for the mayor of Chicago to resign, Rahm Emanuel. But, interestingly enough, the mayor's not even in Chicago right now.

YOUNG: No, he's on a vacation in Cuba. He took his family there. And, of course, he wasn't happy that got out. That happened during an interview where that information got out. He decided to go away for the holidays. I can tell you the folks here are still saying they want Rahm gone.

Now, as we try to talk to some of the people in the crowd, they've decided they believe that the media is not covering them the way they want to be covered. So you see some people with signs who have decided not to talk to us. That's OK. That's fine. Off camera a lot of people are voicing their opinion saying, hey, we do want Rahm gone, but in a city of about 4 million people, if you only have 75 people protesting on the street, the idea of being able to push the mayor out of office doesn't seem like that's going to be a real feasibility plan here in terms of the numbers of people that you would need to sign a petition to get him out of office.

[14:25:19] BOLDUAN: And, so Ryan, is there - is there an angle, not just of these protests, I'm just saying, of where they're walking right now? Is there a plan? Do you know where they're going to end up? Is this crowd -

YOUNG: Let me check. Let me check. Let me - yes.

BOLDUAN: Go ahead.

YOUNG: Let me turn you this way. So, here we go, let's - the water tower is just up this direction. Jake, point this direction. Show them the water tower. So that's the water tower here. And as of right now, they just decided, let's just go to the water tower. And, you know, right then they all turned and they start going toward the water tower. We'll walk down this way. We'll block traffic all the way down. Now, in previous times, we would stop at each intersection -

BOLDUAN: So you're blocking - they're blocking traffic as they're walking, right, Ryan?

YOUNG: Oh, we're definitely blocking traffic. We're on Michigan Avenue.

BOLDUAN: Right. YOUNG: We're on the magnificent mile walking north. And we are headed toward the water tower, which is that multilevel mall. And like I said, so far, people have been able to continue shopping as we block traffic. Well, you know, you had a group of 75 -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, I've got (INAUDIBLE) new chant.

YOUNG: Oh, here comes a new chant. They're going to -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

YOUNG: So - so this crowd is a little different than what we've noticed. Usually we have an organized group, about five or six folks who are organizing the crowd. This crowd is not as organized as the past protests that we've had. So what you've noticed is, you have different leaders trying to take control of the crowd at different points.

Hold on. If you don't mind, you've obviously been at several of these protests and you're live right now. What do you want people to understand about why you guys are back out here once again?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want people to understand that this whole society - I want people to understand that in society today is full of genocide and oppression and we need to revolution it immediately. Rahm Emanuel is not listening to us. He never did listen to us. Even when we told him that we need to speak to him one-on-one. He does not listen to the community leaders. He only listens to the pastors. So we're going to shut it down all the way to New Year's.

YOUNG: So you believe that - you're hoping this action will help change. You want Rahm out - Rahm Emanuel gone from office?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want Rahm Emanuel and Anita Alvarez gone immediately because, if not, we're going to make a whole actual revolution. And we also have a method and approach for it.

YOUNG: All right. So as you see, people are very passionate about the idea of why they're marching. They've talked about doing this through New Year's. There will be a big New Year's celebration here in Chicago and there have been people talking about making sure that is blocked up as well. So it will be interesting to see the actions if they decide to do on that New Year's Day as well.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And be careful there. You're doing a great job of talking, walking, directing the camera as that protest continues.

YOUNG: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: So, Ryan, stay with it. We're going to come back to you. We'll get back to you in a little while.

And we'll also, obviously, as you were keeping an eye, you could see the police beside them and we're going to be keeping an eye on that -w hat becomes of that protest in Chicago.

Also this, though, ahead for us, a new travel warning for westerners abroad. What the U.S. embassy is saying there about the threat.

Plus, Iraqi security forces locked in a fierce battle with ISIS, now going house to house clearing thousands of IEDs. Video from the ground - fresh video from the ground coming up next.

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