Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Snow Storms Hit U.S. East Coast; New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Asks Residents to Stay off Roads; Transportation Affected by Snow Storms; Interview with Duquesne Men's Basketball Head Coach Jim Ferry. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired January 23, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Serious flooding here. This is Margate city just south of Atlantic City. We're on Vintner Avenue, and very rapidly this entire area has come under water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy is backing up. We have to be very careful here. This is the cavalry line. Look at these snow plows. This is the capital beltway. They're trying to clear as much of a swath as possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So far so good. The eye of the storm is supposed to hit New York at about 11:00. And we're afraid the continuation starts to deteriorate from there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More snow is coming later today with the winds picking up, so, you know, our focus is really trying to get plows to -- on the roadways throughout the extent of today. The cleanup will certainly occur well into tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got to walk five miles in this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: There is, indeed, breaking news. I'm Christi Paul. So glad to have you with us. It's 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 on the west. CNN Newsroom is with you now. And we've been following this massive winter storm all morning long. We want to share with you some dramatic new images here showing you the incredible impact. New Jersey you see here hit especially hard from the blizzard. In Sea Isle the storm and high tides have pushed ocean waters are pushed up through town. And you can see chunks of ice floating up to those buildings as well.

A similar scene playing out in Margate. CNN, in fact, was live as the ocean waters overwhelmed that seawall and then spilled into the town.

We want to take you now to Pennsylvania. Trucks and buses have been stranded for more than 14 hours along five miles of turnpike there and the National Guard has now been called in to head. And then in Maryland, the snowplows are out in force clearing paths. Let's go to New York where we're hearing from Governor Andrew Cuomo. GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, (D) NEW YORK: Given the conditions that have been

presented, the state of emergency is for New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, West Chester, Putnam counties, Rockland and Orange counties. What a state of emergency does is it gives the governor power to do certain contracting abilities, close roads, close systems, et cetera, if the conditions dictate.

Anyone who has looked out the window understands the conditions. The snowfall is forecasted up to 24 inches. The snow is combined with very high gusts of wind which makes traveling and the road situation dangerous and difficult.

We are keeping an eye on what I consider the worst of Mother Nature's wrath, which are flooding conditions, New York City and along Long Island. The flooding is probably the most problematic situation. It poses a real safety consideration. It does tremendous damage in its aftermath, so we're keeping an eye on that.

In terms of what we have done in response, we are fully deployed the National Guard. We have hundreds of pieces of equipment that have been moved down from the Department of Transportation. The state police have been dispatched all through the metropolitan area. So everything that can be done has been done in terms of deployment of resources from Homeland Security and every state agency that is responsive.

The roads are open, but that is a deceptive statement. We have not closed the roads. However, as I've said before, and I can't say it forcefully enough, unless there is an emergency situation or a critical need, you should not be on the roads. I have been on the roads all through the metropolitan area this morning. They are incredibly dangerous. I don't care how superb a driver, how big a four-wheel drive vehicle you have, the roads are barely passable.

And what always happens in these situations is, it's one thing to deal with mother nature. Our own citizens can create the greatest issues. You go out on the road. All it takes is one car to get stuck and now that road is not passable and the plows can't plow that road, and the situation quickly descends into chaos. We have seen this time and time again where we have said, don't be on the road unless you need to be on the road. People go out on the roads, and the situation gets dangerous.

[10:05:10] I've seen situations where people get stranded in cars overnight, and the situation gets frightening very quickly. So the roads are technically open, but if you really do not need to leave your house, I can't stress enough, you should not leave your house.

The MTA is operating. We'll hear from the president of New York City Transit Authority Ronnie Hakim about some particulars. We have issues on train routes, what's called exterior train routes, train routes that are exposed to the weather as opposed to the underground train routes. We have some equipment issues, signals, et cetera, and we have issues that are developing for the buses on the roads because the buses are having difficulty and the buses are getting stuck, and President Hakim will speak to that. Pat Florey will speak to the airports, but the airlines actually, I

think, acted responsibly by canceling the flights ahead of schedule which kept people off the roads and kept people from getting stranded in the airports. In terms of power outages, we have several thousand power outages, primarily on Long Island. That sounds like a lot in a situation like this. Actually, that's -- that's not overly problematic. And the utility companies have been good about getting to the power outages and correcting them, so that's good news.

As I mentioned before, we are fully deployed in terms of assets and resources. We moved assets from upstate to the metropolitan area, and that has basically been completed, and they are in place. Silver lining is, unfortunately, this is probably the fifth, sixth, or seventh type of situation that we've dealt with, so we have experience in going through this.

Also, especially in the metropolitan area, this is a different metropolitan area than we had when super storm Sandy hit. We've made a lot of improvements. The physical infrastructure has been changed. The shoreline has been changed. There are more berms. There are more barriers to high floods.

Also, we have additional equipment. The airports are in a different position than they were. There's more pumps, more machinery to move water more quickly. We actually have more emergency response equipment than we've had in the past. So once the storm finishes we'll be in a better position to clean up after the storm.

This is not a short storm. They're talking about two full days of weather, but once that clears, we'll be in a better position to clean up as quickly as possible.

We're in full coordination with all our governmental partners. I spoke to Governor Christie last night. We're in communication this morning. Obviously whatever decision we make in New York State affects the other states. If we decide to close roads, for example, in New York State, if the roads are open in New Jersey, that creates problems or vice versa. We've been speaking to our local government partners, Mayor de Blasio, Nassau County executive for Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, to get their best input.

I'll be going to Long Island this afternoon. We are concerned about Long Island. The Long Island Expressway is a critical road that we've had issues before. Long Island Railroad has specific issues that Mr. Giulietti will speak to, and of course flooding is a primary concern on Long Island.

And we've experienced that before, and as I mentioned, that is probably the worst curveball that Mother Nature can throw is the flooding conditions, especially on Long Island.

But with that, let me turn it over first to Ronnie Hakim, president of the MTA New York City transit, to give us the update on what we're dealing with the subways and buses. Ronnie?

[10:10:06] RONNIE HAKIM, PRESIDENT, MTA NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT: Thank you, governor. As you've noted, there are deteriorating weather conditions. Safety, of course, for our customers and our employees is our top priority. There is very poor visibility outside. There is very poor roadway conditions outside. Therefore we think it is prudent to suspend all MTA and MTA New York City transit bus service, the bus service, at noon this morning. We will be suspending all bus service at noon until further notice. We encourage all our customers, all MTA service customers to go to MTA.info for real time travel information and updates on the services that we're providing.

Let me note on the subway side, weather continues to be a concern around the maintenance of our above-ground, our exterior subway service, so we are watching that very carefully and, of course, will provide any updates. Again, MTA.info is the best place for real time travel information. Thank you.

CUOMO: Thanks very much.

PAUL: All right, so you're hearing from Governor Cuomo there. They are fully deployed with all of their resources in New York City to -- and the state to continue to deal with what they're seeing there. And this is a live picture for you. We know that New York has been hit. We also know that D.C. has been hit as well. They had 200 plows out and 25 Humvees deployed there because D.C. is expecting anywhere from two to three inches of snow per hour.

I want to get to Mayor Muriel Bowser of D.C. She just was speaking about the conditions there and what they're doing. Let's listen there.

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER, WASHINGTON D.C.: Good morning. I am Muriel Bowser. I'm the mayor of Washington, D.C., and I'm here to provide a briefing to the media and residents of the District of Columbia on district operations for this blizzard of 2016.

Let me say that the storm has descended on the district as we thought it would. It started snowing about 1:00 p.m. on Friday. It snowed all the afternoon, evening, all night, and it continues to snow this morning.

We have reports of up to 13 inches of snowfall in Washington, D.C., and we expect the second half of this storm through today to drop another up to 10 inches of snow. We also expect the winds to be the most significant today.

Our message, and we need the public to listen, is to stay home and to stay off of the streets. That includes people who are attempting to drive, but it also includes people who are walking. Our plows and emergency vehicles cannot do their jobs with you on the streets.

I will say from my own observation driving through the streets, people walking down the street in the middle of the street in these conditions is very dangerous for our vehicle operators and very dangerous for you. The visibility is poor and you cannot be seen. There are too many people on the streets both driving and walking. We need you to stay home.

This is an emergency event, and we are very much still in our emergency response phase. Please stay home.

We have reported our concerns about power outages, and I am pleased to say that we have no reports of power out in Washington, D.C., at this time. We are also very grateful to all of the employees of the District of Columbia who have been working on 12-hour shifts, and we are into our third shift now. Our 911 operators, for example, last night answered 300 calls and everybody received a response.

I want to turn now for the remainder of the briefing to our director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Chris Geldart, who will talk to you about the district's stages of response to this blizzard.

CHRIS GELDART, DIRECTOR, D.C. HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I am Chris Geldhart, the director of D.C.'s Homeland SECURITY and Emergency Management agency. And I want to echo what the mayor said. In this storm we are in right now we are very much still in the emergent phase. We haven't gotten to the response phase as we look at it from emergencies.

[10:15:00] We are in the emergent phase because the storm is still happening. We are still in that timeframe when real bad things can happen. Once we get past this emergent phase, once the snow stops and the winds calm, then we will get into the response phase. And that's when we'll be looking at how we clean the city up, how we do our damage assessment, how we look at the things we need to do to get to our recovery phase where we'll try to get all of the snow out of the district.

This is a multi-phase event. It will take us time to do all of that, and as we said before, we will be dealing with snow throughout the week. So again, we're in the emergent phase right now. It is still dangerous outside. It's cold. The wind is blowing. We've got 50- mile-per-hour gusts, and we're still going to get at least another six to 10 inches of snow from this event.

PAUL: So it is a very consistent message from New York all the way to Washington, D.C., both Governor Andrew Cuomo and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser saying, please, just stay home. Stay off the streets. Whether you're walking, whether you're driving, there is so much snow that is still coming. We are in the middle of all of this. We're continuing to monitor both of these press conferences as they're going on, and we do have reporters in all of these cities and places where there are warnings and watches. We're back with much more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: New York City is getting slammed right now as is Washington. Take a look at the White House here. You can barely see it. visibility not good in Washington D.C., and we just, of course, heard from both Governor Cuomo in New York and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, talking about the fact that they have the same consistent message -- you need to stay inside. Do not venture out on the roadways.

Martin Savidge is in fact live from Columbus Circle right now as you see that picture right there. And, Martin, I think one of the things that we have to remember, we've been covering this for 12 hours plus at this point, but all of the meteorologists tell us we are just in the middle of this thing. There is still so much to come, yes?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. New York has always been a city that when it came to this particular storm was on the bubble. In some cases they said it might get a few inches, in some scenarios they even saw where it could see little or no snow at all. Well, you can forget those. It is getting a lot of snow now. And it is clear that it has changed, which is very significant when you have got a city this large and you've got emergency management.

[10:20:03] And we've now been watching as the city has been forced to make changes in their planning. You've got the governor now declaring in certain areas states of emergency. You've also got the word now that some portions of the ground transportation system here are shutting down as of noon. So clearly this storm in this city is not what they initially expected.

It has died down a little bit, but this is going to be like a hurricane. When you see these waves come in, backs off, at least the respite allows them some time to clean up. Neighboring New Jersey suffering from not just snow but also from water. They've got a real issue of coastal flooding. Governor Chris Christie talked about it live on CNN a short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: We're not worried about coastal flooding all that much. It should just be street flooding of the kind that you saw in Margate. And we're going to have a lot of snow, though, inland. We're going to have, you know, upwards of a foot to two feet of snow in certain places.

And so getting our mass transit system back up is something we're working on already. We closed it down at 2:00 a.m. as a precaution, and all those things are things that we're working on. But, you know, this is my 17th snow emergency in six years as governor. So our group is ready. We're prepared. And we're -- the people of New Jersey should know we're on the job and we're going to do everything we can to make this as easy a process for them as we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: The interesting thing about snowstorms is that the public remembers every one of them and how the politicians handled them, especially when it comes to snow clearing. Let's just say, there have been people voting out of office over that very fact.

Boris Sanchez now joins us. He is standing along the coast line in New Jersey. He's been monitoring it for us. And at times that water has come dangerously close. Boris, how are you now?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Martin. Just about every time we've spoken to you we've been forced to move because the water keeps moving. This island, specifically this part of Margate city, has very differing varying elevations. Where we were this morning at a harbor where the water came over the edge and started flooding residential and business areas, that water has now moved on to Vintner Avenue. This is just south of Atlantic City. As you can see, it's totally submerged. But again, it varies greatly. Just down the street there's a police officer parked in the middle of the road and the water isn't over that street, but down here it certainly is and we can tell that it's going into some businesses.

If you look over my right over there, that business did not put up sand bags, the water right at their front door. So there certainly is some damage here, and there's the potential for more. We keep feeling the bands of this storm, and not as much with precipitation or snow. We haven't seen much snow since this morning, but there's kind of a rain mix falling now, and wind. There's a lot of wind in this area that has the potential to knock down just about anything and put more debris on the street. We've already seen sheets of ice going down the street. A lot of cars have come down the street and had to turn around. So obviously a very delicate situation here sitting, waiting, and watching to see exactly how this unfolds and when this water might finally recede. High tide comes up again just before 8:00 p.m. tonight. We'll be watching to see how this water responds.

SAVIDGE: Real quick question. The governor described it as sort of street flooding. To me flooding is flooding, so how widespread is that flooding that you're seeing there? How far is it going?

SANCHEZ: Well, there are certain pockets of it. As I mentioned before, there are different elevations in Margate city so if you drive just a block or so down it's not as bad as it is here, but as you get closer to that bay, certainly inundated. Where we saw that water rush over within a half hour, I think about three or four inches came out on to land and covered us. So I think it's probably best people stay home. Even if their neighboring areas might seem to be clear, you don't know what road might be submerged, like the one behind me.

SAVIDGE: All right, Boris Sanchez, thanks very much.

One of the things we're hoping for when we get the next high tide is that the wind direction has changed and thereby may not force as much water on land. We'll have to wait and see.

Jean Casarez meanwhile here in New York City. She's in Times square. And I'm wondering, at the crossroads of the world, and is the world still showing up?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's actually a lot more people are out and about. The tourists want to see the snow. We're going to talk to some people in just a minute. But Marty, I want to tell you, it's gotten a lot worse out here. The visibility is not what it was when we first got here. The ball that drops on New Year's Eve, visibility, we can't even see it anymore.

And although they're trying to pick up the snow with the snow blowers and shovels, they can't keep up with the snow that is falling. As you know, the governor believes two feet of snow is going to fall in New York City, the eye of the snow -- of the storm in less than an hour.

[10:25:00] But that's not stopping the people from behind me from being out and about. You are here all the way from Ireland? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ireland, yes, correct.

CASAREZ: When did you get here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last night.

CASAREZ: So welcome to New York. Were you expecting this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We saw news reports yesterday saying that there was going to be snow, but we didn't think it was going to be this bad at all. But it's not stopping up. We're still enjoying it. We're loving it.

CASAREZ: What are you going to do today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just pretty walk around, see the sights, and probably have some food and drinks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More drinking hopefully. We're Irish.

(LAUGHTER)

CASAREZ: And do you have snow like this in Ireland?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not like this at all, no.

CASAREZ: So this is a great addition to the trip?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is great. This is something you don't see very often. So while we have the time to see it now, it's amazing. It's really, really good.

CASAREZ: Enjoy yourself, be careful. Walk slowly. Don't fall down.

And if you're driving, Governor Cuomo is saying go home. Stay home. Only if you have an emergency, be out. But here people are walking around, they're enjoying it. Look over here. This is where you can get discounted tickets to Broadway shows. So people are really taking advantage of it, those that are in the city, because there are going to be seats in these Broadway shows because people can't get in.

But as you can see, one car driving very slowly. We saw one car get stuck in the snow right over here. He kept rolling the tires and couldn't move. So it's safe here, but in the outlying areas with those wind gusts up to 50 miles an hour, just be careful, Marty. That's the word of the day. And they have deployed the National Guard here in New York because they have the largest vehicles of all, larger than local and state authorities.

SAVIDGE: Yes, the National Guard has your back, and in weather like this, that is exactly what you want to hear. Jean Casarez, thank you very much, in Times Square.

A little bit of an ominous change we should point out here in New York. The snowflakes are bigger. We have the granular stuff earlier today but now it looks like the heavy stuff is really moving in. It is not just New York, of course. Baltimore, Miguel Marquez joins

me from there. Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am in the worst conditions we have seen so far, Marty. The wind is blowing like it hasn't so far, the snow coming down. I am buried to my hip. We will have more coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Some things we've noticed about the storm system is the way that it continues to intensify.

[10:30:00] You would think maybe after 24 hours things would begin to ease up. That is not the case in most areas. That is specifically not the case in the Baltimore area. Last we left him, Miguel Marquez, I believe, was up to his hips and stuck in snow. Let's check back with him now. Miguel?

MARQUEZ: You know, look, in the news business we always look for that live shot that looks like it's really tough. This is the -- these are the worst conditions we have seen so far in Baltimore, literally, buried up to my hips in snow here. This is federal hill. Look at the flag. The wind has just been whipping. We have about maybe, maybe a quarter mile of visibility here. This -- if you turn around here, this is meant to be -- you should be able to see downtown Baltimore there. You can't see a thing. The snow is coming down harder than it has for the last 12 hours. The wind is blowing harder than it has for the last 12 hours. Come over here. I know it's hard to talk to us. What is your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Stoney (ph) Pierson (ph).

MARQUEZ: Stoney (ph) Pierson (ph), you're out checking out the town. What have you seen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing but complete white and wind everywhere. This snow hurts when it hits your face.

MARQUEZ: This is probably the worst, being up here this exposed, I take it, that I'm seeing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. This is pretty bad, as you can tell from the flag. It's blowing pretty good.

MARQUEZ: I want to point out, there are some people who are braving the slopes out here. They're trying to do some skiing while they're out here as well. You've stocked up, Stoney (ph), on everything. What have you stocked up on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got food, water, candles, batteries. You name it, I've got it, just in case of the worst.

MARQUEZ: You live on one of the emergency routes here and you've moved off?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely, on Highway 40.

MARQUEZ: Thank you very much. We have about 12 inches of snow so far. It is still going strong. The wind is intensifying. The snow is intensifying. I can tell you, it is painful to be out here right now. Martin?

SAVIDGE: Miguel, I was curious. You talked about the wind. Has it changed directions at all? Has it moved in any way? Because that would be an indication of how the storm is progressing and moving.

MARQUEZ: It has been changing directions in different parts of the town. Yesterday it was coming up from the south going north. Now it's moving from the north basically going south. So we do get a sense of that churning when you look at those radar maps and you see the storm just sitting there over Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. It is -- it's just not moving. Martin?

SAVIDGE: All right, Miguel Marquez, thanks very much. Try and stay out of the deep stuff.

In the meantime, let's get down to North Carolina. The governor there is giving a briefing on the weather circumstance, and we'll listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To expand a little bit on the governor's comments about lane closings and just illustrate the breadth of those, I-95 south, the left lane closed at exit 102, which is near Selma. I-40 west, Raleigh, the right lane closed at exit 297, Lake Wheeler Road. I-40 east in Greensboro, there's a shoulder lane closed. Exit 210 which is NC-68. I-40 east, Winston-Salem, the right lane is closed at exit 195 which is NC-109. I-40 east in Four Oaks the road is closed at exit 337 due to an accident at Meadowbrook Road. I-440 east, Raleigh, the right lane closed at exit two. I-95 south the governor mentioned with a major accident. I-40 west in Raleigh, we had a left lane closed at exit 284.

And, again, these things are intermittent and may happen at exits where there are multiple lanes off the exit to make sure that we can treat the area and keep people safe on some portion of it. We also have the NC-DOT State Farm safety patrol vehicles out. We have relocated the vehicles that would normally work the Wilmington area and move into the area where we have greater need.

In the eastern part of the state we've not yet experienced major issues along the outer banks, but this could well turn into a nor'easter and give us some problems there. We are pre-positioned in Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. The other former of transportation with which we work including public transit have been impacted by the storm. And you'll need to contact the local systems to determine those.

As I said yesterday, our DMV offices function whenever they can. There are right now -- there are at least -- at least there were as of 9:30 41 driver's license offices open in the state but 72 are closed. So all of this information is available on our website if you can check ncdot.gov/DMV. SAVIDGE: We've been listening to a briefing that's being given by

state officials there in North Carolina. Obviously what they're dealing with down there is not just snow but more of an ice problem, and especially on the roadways down there that is problematic because they don't have the equipment you find up north to clear ice. But let's face it, anybody who has an ice problem, it's tough because you can't drive with that.

[10:35:04] We'll continue to monitor that. We'll follow developments. We'll be back with more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: We've heard it repeated over and over from governors and from mayors telling people to, please, stay off the streets. The reason is not just for your own safety but for the safety of first responders trying to get through.

Brian Todd, meanwhile, has been with his crew driving through the streets of Baltimore and D.C. and he's been seeing the problems that can come as a result of people heading out. Brian, what are you seeing now?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, the conditions have not gotten any better. They have, in fact, gotten significantly worse. I spoke to a Maryland state highway official a short time ago, and he told me any decision by anyone to enter a vehicle and actually try to drive right now is a dangerous decision. It almost doesn't matter what your skill level is or what kind of vehicle you have.

When you switch from me to our dash camera, you can kind of see what we're talking about. This is I-270 heading northbound in Maryland away from the D.C. beltway heading north. We were told of a jackknifed tractor-trailer truck. We're trying to find it. A moment ago we saw another vehicle, another tractor-trailer truck that hit a guardrail near Bowie, Maryland. This truck was blocking an exit ramp going onto the D.C. beltway. And because it was blocking that exit ramp there were about three or four plow trucks that needed to get onto the beltway which could not get onto the beltway.

That is a typical scene. We are told by Maryland officials especially that exits and onramps are a huge problem because many of them have not been plowed. The ones that have sometimes have snowdrifts from the other plowing kind of blocking them. You have to punch a hole through it. It is very treacherous now, Martin.

[10:40:00] And another thing you can see out this dash cam, I heard you and Miguel Marquez and others talking about this earlier, visibility is just horrendous right now. It was at a quarter mile at its best, but clearly now it's not more than maybe 300 yards, and the vehicle in front of me, which is a heavy vehicle, looks like it's a tow vehicle of some kind just fishtailed.

So this is what we're looking at. It is still a driving snow. The wind is whipping around very significantly, very fast. That's causing more visibility problems and it's just hard to navigate whether you're in a vehicle or on foot, Martin.

SAVIDGE: We really appreciate the reports you bring us, Brian, because they do give us a real sense of especially why no one should be out on the road. There are times when you have to get out and report, and I am sure that emergency crews have to get out on foot, too. You really are very vulnerable, and I would imagine they are, too, in these kinds of circumstances because you never know what's coming your way.

TODD: That is absolutely true, martin. As a matter of fact, we were filming that one tractor-trailer that had hit a guardrail. We were at an elevated position, but we were in a dangerous spot because we, ourselves, were on an off ramp and there wasn't much room to maneuver around us, and some cars and other vehicles were coming at a pretty decent clip. So, yes, every time you get out of a vehicle you are vulnerable.

I was talking to a Virginia state trooper last night when we were on the side of I-95 south in Virginia heading out of D.C., and he was trying to help someone who had done a 180 and spun out on the highway in front of us. He said, this is the part of his job he hates. He's got to be out there trying to be out there helping people out of these situations, and you are a couple inches in some cases from cars coming right by you and do not have much control.

SAVIDGE: Brian, Todd, appreciate it. Sorry, just ice breaking off the building coming down. Thanks very much for that.

And we should also point out as he mentioned there, going out and driving, whether you have the best 4x4 or whether you think you are the best driver in this weather, it doesn't matter when it's this bad. Stay home.

In the meantime, let's get back to Christi Paul. Christi?

PAUL: Hey, Martin, if this doesn't keep people home, I don't know what will. I'll tell you about several really dicey situations we've been watching this morning. First of all, in Kentucky there was a 35 mile stretch cars, trucks, buses at a standstill, some of them sitting there for more than 20 hours. Our update on that as we understand, they are starting to move now.

Also, in Pennsylvania there's a five-mile stretch near Pittsburgh on the Pennsylvania turnpike where they are stranded. And guess who is stranded in that section? The Duquesne men's basketball team, we understand. We're going to talk to some of them in just a moment.

Also, West Virginia, I-77 is closed from Charleston to Jackson City with an estimated 150 to 200 tractor-trailers stuck there. We are back talking to someone from the Duquesne basketball team in just a moment. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:46:05] PAUL: You've heard officials saying don't get on the roads. This is part of the reason why. We want to talk to Jim Ferry, head coach of the Duquesne men's basketball team. They are stuck on the Pennsylvania turnpike and have been I believe for at least the last 10 to 12 hours. Mr. Ferry, coach ferry, are you with us?

JIM FERRY, COACH, DUQUESNE MEN'S BASKETBALL: Yes, I am.

PAUL: How are you holding up?

FERRY: We're holding up. You know, it's -- the best we can, right? It's been about 13 hours now so, you know, we've got a good bunch of guys, and team bonding. A bunch of our players just went over to the bus next to us to talk to a bunch of eighth graders, so use it as some community service time as well.

PAUL: I see that you tweeted something out with a picture of I think some of your men's basketball team with some of those other folks saying we're not in this alone. Duke hanging out with middle- schoolers from Iowa on the bus stuck next to us, is that right?

FERRY: Yes. We -- they came over and asked if we could come over. They saw us on ESPN. So we sent a bunch of guys to talk to those kids, calm them down, let them know it's going to be OK.

PAUL: So 13 hours you've been sitting there. Are you fully equipped? Do you have food, do you have water?

FERRY: We did. You know what, our game was changed from Saturday, it was moved up to Friday at 2:00. And we were able to monitor the storm so we played at 2:00. We got on the road at 4:30. We had a bunch of food and drink for everybody. We stopped halfway, got more food, more drinks.

We were about 80 miles away from campus on I-15 last night, just came to a dead stop. We thought it was going to be a car accident or something and that we'd have to wait a little bit then move on. And we haven't moved an inch in 13 hours.

So we're doing the best we can. We have a great group of guys here. Guys are goofing around, having fun last night and getting some sleep when they could. You can't sleep too much on these buses, big guys. We're dealing with it. We've dealt with adversity before on our program. We've had two cancer survivors on our team, our assistant coach and point guard, Derrick Colter. So this group has been through a lot together, and we're going to get through this together, too.

PAUL: That's interesting. Obviously your team is quite close there. What are you learning about each other that maybe you didn't know before after you're being forced to be stranded together for so long in such a tight space?

FERRY: Well, you know what, we know a lot about each other already. I don't think this tight space was going to get us to know more. We took a trip to Ireland together. We went 10 days to Ireland as a team, spent a lot of time together. Like I said, we've dealt with a lot of adversity amongst our program with our two leaders getting sick, one of our captains just tore his ACL. So we've got a good group. It's a tight knit group of guys, a great group of guys. Believe it or not, no guys are complaining. They're trying to have as much fun as they can. These guys, as long as they have their phones and their chargers, they're all set. They're connected to the world.

PAUL: They're connected to the world.

(LAUGHTER)

FERRY: Yes. We'll get through it. We'll be OK. Worst case scenario, we'll start using the snow for water if we run out of water. So we'll get through it.

PAUL: And real quickly, have you heard from troopers or anybody there as to how long it might be before you might be up and running again?

FERRY: Actually, we have not. You know, we haven't heard from anybody. We haven't seen anybody. So we really don't know what's going on. The chief of police at our university, Tom Hart, just called me. He's reached out to try to figure out what's going on. He said something about a mile up they still have some more things to clear out before we can possibly get moving, so he's not too sure how much longer it's going to take.

PAUL: Head coach, Jim Ferry --

FERRY: We'll just keep plugging.

PAUL: I know you will. Thank you for talking to us, and we are certainly wishing you the very best as everybody tries to get back home and get to where they belong.

[10:50:00] But certainly you give us a lot of food for thought there with your positive energy and spirit. So thanks again. Take good care.

FERRY: OK. Thanks a lot.

PAUL: Of course.

And we will be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Up to 24 inches of snow possible in New York. That's where Martin Savidge is live from Columbus Circle right now. And we understand you're seeing it. We're seeing it, you're seeing it, but you're feeling it.

SAVIDGE: Yes, we are in every way. You know, the wind has shifted somewhat, so that's changed the dynamic in the immediate area where we are. But the snow continues to fall. What's interesting is that we've seen a transition from the really kind of ice pellets which came down in great volume to now the larger snowflakes, which generally means there's probably more snow headed this way.

And that's the thing, this forecast in this area has changed dramatically over what they originally thought where they are now. We're anticipating that the mayor of New York is going to be holding a press conference in a short while. We'll get an update on where things stand. We've already heard from the governor of New York. So this is a storm that in this city has changed and changed dramatically, and unfortunately not for the better, Christi.

PAUL: Thanks very much, Martin. I want to get to Boris Sanchez who's in New Jersey. And he's been bringing us some incredible pictures this morning of just how dangerous it is there. And one of the things that New Jersey is so concerned with, and New York, is that coastal flooding. What are you seeing right now there, Boris? Boris, can you hear me?

SANCHEZ: I can't hear anything.

PAUL: OK. He can't hear us. Obviously when we're in the middle of storms like this there are always often technical situations. But I do believe we have some video that we can show you here of what was happening in New Jersey as we go to Allison Chinchar because she's been watching obviously the storm models. And I'm wondering what the trajectory is at this point. We keep saying and hearing people say, listen, we're in the middle of this storm. We're about halfway through it. Is that still true this hour?

[10:55:04] ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, yes. So this is a look at the current radar. You can see some of the heaviest snow over parts of Washington D.C. and also into Pennsylvania. We actually had some thunder snow stretching from Philadelphia, between that and Harrisburg. And that tells you that's where some of the heaviest snow is coming down right now.

But also as Martin was saying, we're also starting to see a change into parts of New York. They're starting to transition over towards that very heavy snow. And the wind is likely to start to pick up there, too. So it's not just the snow, Christi, we're also going to be dealing with the wind, which is going to be very strong. That's why so many places have the blizzard watches and warnings out.

The problem is the direction of that wind. It will push a lot of water into the coastal areas of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, a lot of those areas. So we have the coastal flooding to be concerned with in addition to, again, just all the snow that's coming down.

High tide again will occur tonight at 7:20. We have the full moon tonight. That combined with everything else we have is going to cause some pretty significant coastal flooding along those areas, especially in parts of New Jersey. Notice the orange area. That's where we expect the moderate to major coastal flooding, and the majority of that is right there along New Jersey.

We also expect minor to moderate coastal flooding along the areas you see there in yellow. So again, Christi, it's not just the coastal flooding. It's the strong winds. Take a look at these wind gusts. Atlantic City, 60 to 65 miles an hour. Around Ocean City around 45 to 50, same thing around Richmond, Virginia. In addition to, Christi, all the extra snow that we have still yet to get in a lot of these cities. Parts of Virginia have already picked up over two feet. But they're still expecting to get much more than that before it's all finally said and done.

PAUL: Allison, thank you so much. We appreciate it again as we continue to cover this storm.

Eight people are dead. States of emergency in 11 different states now. And there's so much more to cover ahead in the next hour of CNN Newsroom. We're going to send that over to Fredricka Whitfield. She'll be right with you after the break. Do stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)