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New Jersey Governor: Stay Off Roads, Visibility Very Low; New York Declares State Of Emergency; Flooding On Parts Of New Jersey Shore; New York Governor Gives Blizzard Update. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired January 23, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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


(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: And, in fact, give us an opportunity to get everything cleaned up, so that we can be ready by Monday.

Also forgot to mention, New Jersey transit, obviously, New Jersey transit is closed now. We closed it at 2:00 a.m. last night. That was predominantly for getting plows on the train so they can clear the snow off of the train tracks, so we can get a head start on trying to get ready for the Monday commute.

We can't make any guarantees yet, because we don't see what the full extent of the storm is, but I would hope that New Jersey transit would be up and ready to go in time for people to make their commute on Monday morning. We'll keep you up to date on that as well.

I'll stop there and take any questions from the folks in the media who are there. I want to thank the mayor for hosting us and I'll be continuing to travel around the state all day today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible question).

CHRISTIE: Well, the water is receding. We've seen already in the places where high tide was at 7:00 a.m. this morning. As the day progresses, that water is receding back out.

And what we're hearing is that there won't be enough water that has stayed, when combined with what's going to come in, in a more moderate way in the 7:00 p.m. high tide, in order to necessitate evacuations, broadly, or be concerned about significant property damage.

So, we're always going to have a little bit of property damage, and I think it's a good opportunity to talk about this. If you look at what's happening in Margate, in Point Pleasant Beach, two places that are fighting hard against the dunes.

You know, I saw today on your Philadelphia affiliates that early this morning already, there was significant water in the streets in Margate and ice that was floating up the streets.

Then it already got over the wall that the residents and the government in Margate says is good enough to protect them from any storm. Well, this is certainly not Superstorm Sandy and those streets were flooded this morning at 8:00 a.m.

Point Pleasant Beach, the same thing. There is significant tide coming in and again these are folks fighting against it. Here's the result.

Not just Point Pleasant Beach, but if you look at Ortly Beach, which is part of that project, which has been stopped because of the objection of 17 people in Point Pleasant Beach and about 30 people in Bayhead, Ortly Beach is being pounded.

We put a lot of sand up there at the request of mayor of Toms River, but that sand has already washed away. If we had the dune project moving and close to completion, those people in Ortly Beach would not be suffering the damage and loss they are today.

So if the people in Ortly Beach sustain that kind of loss and damage, they can send their thank you notes to the people in Bayhead and the people in Point Pleasant, who continue to fight which is an environmentally sound and necessary project.

To give you a point of contrast, where we have the sheet piling project done, on Route 35, Route 35 is open in Manlocki. So we really need to get moving on these dune projects. It's three years post- Sandy.

This should not be being held up by a few selfish homeowners, who do not want to give into the idea that we have to build these dunes, by using the fake excuse that somehow I want to build a boardwalk or a Ferris wheel or a hot dog stand or public bathrooms on the strip of land we're taking.

It's a ridiculous idea put forward by some selfish folks and their selfish lawyers who are just looking to make money off of this. I'm going to go down there and take a look at this myself today.

Not to Margate, but to the Point Pleasant area as well, to see exactly what we need to do to be able to speak to people in the public much more about this, and provide information to the court when this is ultimately litigated.

(Inaudible question)

CHRISTIE: Well, for the folks who voluntarily left, stay where you are. Tomorrow, I believe, will be a day when you'll be able to travel back to your home safely and to be able to stay there safely, if you have power.

And that we won't know until, you know, the whole storm passes. But assuming that they have power in those places, I believe they'll be able to travel safely home during day some time tomorrow.

Maybe not at 7:00 a.m., but certainly by later in the afternoon, they'll be able to go home. So if they've voluntarily evacuated, as I know Barnegat did and some of the other towns up along the coast, stay where you are. You're much safer there. Don't try to go back now. The weather is not good for you traveling, on the roads in particular, and we just don't want to see you get hurt by trying to get back to your home. Believe me, in those places, I authorized this morning the state police to deploy forces.

National Guard forces to the far part of the state, along with high- water vehicles, and swift-water rescue teams and regular state troopers, to make sure they're patrolling those areas so we don't have to worry about crime in those areas.

[12:05:00]And if we did have to take rescue steps, we have those assets pre-positioned and ready to go.

(Inaudible question)

CHRISTIE: The unfortunate thing is that, we never got any heads up from the federal government about this and didn't get a call from Secretary Castro before he announced the decision.

And I think that's unfortunate. It's contrary to the good working relationship that we had with Housing and Urban Development, when Secretary Donovan was in charge.

I spoke yesterday to Terry Brody, who is the head of Governor's Office of Recovery and Rebuilding, and we'll have a complete report that we'll be willing to put out in the next week or so, about our side of the story and how we participated in the process.

But you've only got one of the story so far, so we'll be happy to fill it in. This kind of intervened and became something we had to deal with more immediately than that. But we'll be ready next week to deal with some of those issues.

(Inaudible question)

CHRISTIE: Listen, there's very little we can do about that. When snow melts, it melts. That's usually a very good thing for us.

I don't think, given the relative dry conditions that we've had this winter and in the fall, that we're going to be worried too much about, let's say, reservoir flooding or the rivers and creeks flooding, because it's been a relatively dry fall and winter so far.

So I think in that respect, we're fairly lucky. On the coastline, fortunately, they're not getting nearly as much snow as we're getting inland. So you may see 8 to 10 inches along the coast, where you're seeing 12 to 24 inches or more inland.

So, inland, where it's been relatively dry, I think we'll be able to absorb it fairly well. We'll keep an eye on it. At the coastline, where it's flooding now, they won't get nearly as much melt.

The only place I'm concerned about are the Back Bay areas. The Back Bay areas could become a problem from a flooding perspective. So the commissioner of the DP is keeping an eye on that for us. And if we need to evacuate anyone, we'll let them know. But we're again, still not at that point, and don't think we'll get there. But the snowmelt, I think, we're fortunate in the respect that we've had a dry fall and winter so far.

So a lot of our reservoirs and rivers and creeks will be able to absorb a lot of this, as it melts. And on the coastline, they'll get less snow than anybody else, because of the warmer weather at the coast with the wind blowing off the ocean.

(Inaudible question)

CHRISTIE: About what we anticipated. And, there might be a few more inches of snow up north than we anticipated. You know, 3 to 6 inches more than they originally forecast. But again, we have 3,800 pieces of equipment the DOT has put out there.

We have 228,000 tons of salt. The state roads and highways, we're doing a great job. And you can see the folks here, the DPW workers here and others here in Sayerville, they're doing a great job and working hard.

I don't see any big problems so far. But I was on Interstate 287, the biggest problem right now is visibility. It's only because of the wind and the blowing snow. Like I said before, I think it's maybe a quarter of a mile visibility.

That makes it really hard for the tow truck drivers. They have to go much slower, in part because we know that despite me asking people not to get on the roads, some still do, and they don't want to hit a stranded vehicle with a plow.

They're taking their time and they're slower. And because of that, it will take us a little more time to clear the roads. But I think once the wind dies down, that will help the visibility and they'll be able to go much more quickly.

But even so, I was at the command center watching realtime cameras of a number of the major state roads in the state, and I saw a lot more blacktop than I thought I was going to see, which is good.

We still have more snow to come. So we're not taking a victory lap yet, but we feel pretty good about what we are. And as I said before, this is my 17th. So, we kind of know the right questions to ask and the right things to be worried and concerned about. And we're on top of those things.

And what folks should feel assured about is, the lieutenant governor and I have done this a number of times before. We know what we're doing. It doesn't mean everything will be perfect, but I think it will be taken care of.

And that by, you know, tomorrow, mid-day, people will be in a position to be able to get back out of their homes again in most places in the state. And by Monday, when they're getting ready to go back to work, we should be just fine. (Inaudible question)

CHRISTIE: Not really. I just met with all of them, the storm team. Really, we're focusing on sheltering in the southern part of the state, to make sure Cape May, Atlantic, Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester, that all the shelters are open, ready to go.

[12:10:06]So that people, as it gets later in the day, if they lose power, that they can get to a shelter and there's a shelter open and near them. That's one.

Second is keeping an eye on the flooding. I don't think we're going to have big problems, as I said before, but you can never count on it. So you've got to keep your eye on that.

I think are the two biggest things we're looking at. And third is to have our DOT stay on top of keeping the roadways clear, try not to fall behind. That's a difficult task during parts of the storm, because in parts of the heavier bands, they're getting 2 to 3 inches an hour.

That's a lot to keep up with in low visibility. I think they're doing a great job. On 287, there were some places that were very, very good, some that were a little bit more spotty. I let him know where those spots were.

And I think that's really much more a function of visibility than it is a function of not having enough equipment out there. We have 3,800 trucks, and they're in the southern part of the state, as the snow is lessening now.

We're going to a salting routine, because we want to make sure that as it melts, we don't have a lot of re-freezing going on and making the roads that much slicker.

(Inaudible question)

CHRISTIE: Really important. The fact that we've got enough notice that there could be an incident, allowed us to go out there and brine the roads. What that does, more than anything else is the first pass with the plows becomes much more complete, because you brine the roads, they're ready, and you can get much closer to blacktop on the first pass-through.

And so the preparation that Commissioner Hammer did with crews and the local folks did on their roads as well is really important part of staying on top of this and not letting it get away from you.

The worst thing that can happen with this stuff is if it gets away from you. We saw that late in 2010, when he snow was much greater than we thought it was going to be, 3 feet or re. When it starts to get away from you, it gets very difficult, because people start to get stranded.

That stops the plows. Can't get the plows through and can't clear the roads. We continue to be optimistic that we're enough ahead of the game here that people won't see those kind of circumstances again.

Anything else? All right. I don't know exactly where I'm headed now. I think I may be headed down to Point Pleasant. We're going to brave the roads and see how we're doing --

(ENDED IN PROGRESS) FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- all right, there from Sayreville, New Jersey, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie there with a host of observations for his state.

He says you know what, visibility is really bad, and he's echoing a similar refrain what you heard from a New York governor and from what you heard from the mayors of Washington, D.C., as well, saying, simply stay off the road.

In the case of the New Jersey governor, he says visibility is maybe a quarter of a mile. It's terrible and he says, of course, it jeopardizes everybody as soon as one person gets out on the road.

And he also addressed some flooding that already some coastal communities have seen. At least high water, that of Margate. You saw some of the video that we were able to show earlier, as well as Point Pleasant Beach.

He is going to be on his way to Point Pleasant Beach, what he said, if not for the start of the dune projects that should have gotten underway three years after Superstorm Sandy, you wouldn't see this high water.

But that's a point of contention for a number of the residents that continue to live in that area. He did underscore there have been about 90,000 outages, but there are shelters open in every county.

If it is safe for you to leave, where you are, and you have lost power, if you can go to a neighbor's home or if you can venture, without getting out on the road in a vehicle, to any number of those shelters, he is the advising you to do so.

All right, so, again, the New Jersey governor also saying he's working with the New York governor, because they're all experiencing 2 to 3 inches of snowfall per hour.

Let's check in with our Marty Savidge, who is there in Manhattan, where the conditions continue to deteriorate --Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They do. You know, I was just noticing that as the governor in New Jersey is speaking, the weather in New York got dramatically worse. And we talk about, you know, what is it like to see 2 inches, 3 inches an hour? It looks a lot like this.

It starts to close in, you think it's fog, almost, but, no, it is snow. And snow that falls at such a rate, even those who shovel or those who plow it cannot keep up with.

So people that came out, initially, in the kind of a break are now realizing, hey, that wasn't a good idea anymore. And they're either starting to head back home or head inside, any place to try to stay warm.

It's not a good idea to venture out. You heard Governor Chris Christie talk about the situation along the coastlines there. CNN's Boris Sanchez has been out there and he has seen it firsthand as the water comes in.

And he's been monitor things for us and continues to do so. So Boris, how's it looking now?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, I was going to tell you that things had calmed down, but just as you were talking, the wind started picking up again. Not much snow has fallen in the past few hours.

It's kind of this rain/snowy mix that's falling very lightly, but again that wind keeps pushing and it's pushing the storm surge from the beach into the bay.

[12:15:10] And not far from here, about three blocks down, where we were earlier today, we had to move out, because that bay overflooded, came into a neighborhood with residences and businesses.

We're right now standing on Ventnor Avenue. This is Margate City, the area that Governor Christie had been discussing. And you can see, it is pretty widespread street flooding.

The water appears to have receded slightly, but it is expected to crawl up, once again, as we get closer to high tide, later tonight, just before 8:00 p.m., that bay will rise up, forcing us from that location.

You can see there's a police car down the street, but the streets aren't exactly closed. There are some streets that are open. We've seen cars passing through. It's an interesting thing about this area.

There are different elevations here in certain parts. Just down the street, it seems very clear. Other spots inundated, like where we're standing right now. As you heard from Governor Christie, it seems like we won't see the end of this until potentially Monday morning -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Boris, real quick, I was watching this morning as the water came up on you, it came up incredibly fast. I'm thinking that it's going to push slowly your way. It really surged your way.

SANCHEZ: Yes. It's unlike anything I've ever seen. I've covered several floods before, and typically, they creep in. There's a steady pace. This came over the harbor, moving just about a foot up in less than an hour.

And it came over the harbor into an area full of businesses and residents, as well. A lot of these people didn't prepare. There were only a handful of places that had sandbags out front.

There is the potential for damage, as soon as the water recedes, we will head back to that area and see how they're holding up.

SAVIDGE: All right. Good on you. Thanks very much, Boris. Let's check in with Allison Chinchar. She can tell us more about the flooding circumstance and what we may have to look forward to, if that's the way to put it -- Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right. There is something to look forward to and that's the center of circulation with that low pressure has finally pushed offshore.

That means in a few short hours, we'll start to see that shift in wind direction, which should help alleviate some of that pressure in parts of New Jersey.

Look at the wind gusts right now, 39 in Atlantic City, 39 in Toms River, 47 in Ocean City, Maryland. Again, here's that low pressure. As it begins to push off, it's going to change the wind direction.

And we hope that that wind shift happens before tonight, before the high tide, because if that happens, that will help alleviate some of that extra water from coming in.

Because we're going to be experiencing not only high tide, but the full moon. Then, if you factor in that wind, if it was still coming onshore, then that would cause a huge problem.

But now we're going to be able to take away that onshore wind. Hopefully, that will help alleviate some of those problems, especially for those communities like Margate in New Jersey, where they've just been dealing with torrential flooding.

Look at these areas. All the areas you see here, highlighted in orange. That's where you expect moderate to major coastal flooding. The areas in yellow, minor to moderate flooding.

So not as bad, but we still want to emphasize that it's still going to be flooding. It just won't be as bad as some of these areas along southern New Jersey, along those eastern coasts and also along the extreme eastern coast of Delaware and also into parts of Maryland.

Again, that's where we expect some of the worst of it to be. Right now, the forecast winds in Atlantic City, about 60 to 65 miles per hour.

So, again, not only did that cause problems with the flooding, but also, Martin, that's going to cause some power outages, because 60 to 65-mile-per-hour winds alone can knock down some power lines.

SAVIDGE: Pretty amazing, Allison. All right, thank you very much. And you heard by Allison's report there, this sounds very much almost like we're talking about a hurricane, a white hurricane, a winter hurricane.

It's got that kind of power and the way it's drawing in moisture is just amazing to see. Jean Casarez joins me now again. She is in Times Square. It's another vantage point here in New York City and I imagine just like here, it's closing in.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marty, it's coming down hard and it's coming down fast, and that's what it's been doing all morning, as the snow just keeps accumulating.

What we've just learned from Mayor Bill De Blasio in New York City is that they are expecting up to 25 inches of snow. Worst-case scenario, 30 inches.

So they believe that it's going to break a record and it's going to be one of the top five snowfalls in New York City recorded history, breaking a record from 1869. But that is not stopping people from coming out here to this area.

I want to show everybody Times Square. Look at all the people. Everybody is out here. Everybody wants to see what's going on. See what it's like here.

That group of people you're looking at right now, those are people getting discounted tickets for Broadway shows tonight. But, it's tourists here, and they say they've never seen anything like this. We've spoken to people from England and from Ireland, Geneva, Switzerland.

[12:20:08]He actually is used to this, but he says it's a very fast snow, even for Geneva standards. But as you can see, we want to pan up a little bit, because the visibility is so limited, you're looking at, and I bet it's really hard to discern on the screen.

But you're looking at some skyscrapers right here in Times Square, but you can hardly see them. So you see that visibility, how poor it is and that is why they're telling people to stay home.

We just learned, also, that right in New York City, since this morning, they have had 200 accidents on the streets of New York City. So they're telling everybody to stay home, watch this on television. It will get better.

But we're in the brunt of the storm now. The conditions will only get worse and the National Guard has been called out, 600 National Guard. They have much larger equipment to take care and help in this emergency -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Jean Casarez there in Times Square, with folks who are out there enjoying it, despite the deteriorating conditions. Thanks very much.

She makes a good point. So many of us are used to looking at the skyline of New York and recognizing it. It's lost, lost in all of the snow that is coming down. Very limited visibility.

We're expecting the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, to give an update and a briefing. We'll bring that to you as soon as it happens. In the meantime, we'll take a break and come back with more on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Washington, D.C., has been a bull's-eye, I guess you could say, for this particular blizzard. They've known that they were under the gun and that forecasters lived up to what was promised down there.

They really have been taking the very heavy part of this storm. Jennifer Gray is down there. Brian Todd is also down there for CNN.

And Brian, we'll come to you, because you've been out on the streets and doing a great job for us all morning long. There is a hint, a suggestion that things could start to get better over the next few hours. So, what are you seeing and what are you reading on the street?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If there's a suggestion of that, Martin, you wouldn't know it by being out here. I have heard the same forecast that it may start to taper off in a couple of hours, but it's still pretty treacherous.

[12:25:04]We just got off an exit of I-66 eastbound going into D.C. from the Virginia suburbs. We're on that exit now. I want to switch to our dash cam now to show you kind of what it's like on an exit, because exits off these major arteries in the D.C. area have been the issue all day long.

They are often blocked, they are often just kind of, just pummeled with snow drifts and people cannot get off on them or off them. Often, vehicles are blocked right as they try to get off these ramps and on to the major arteries and we have seen rescue trucks blocked, we have seen ambulances blocked.

We have seen snowplows and spreaders blocked from doing their jobs by stranded vehicles on the exits. This one is not too bad, but the visibility here is absolutely awful. It's been getting worse and worse all morning long.

And you know, as the wind kicks up, that makes it more of an issue. We've -- in this area, we've already had close to 2 feet of snow and it hasn't tapered off yet.

So Martin, this is kind of what we're up against, right now. The good news is that most people have heeded the state's warnings to stay off the roads.

The bad news is that it is treacherous, even for the emergency vehicles and the plows and the spreaders. They may be waiting some of this out.

We haven't seen a plow truck or a spreader for a little while in this area, but we have seen plenty of stranded vehicles all morning. And Martin, you know, again, people -- even trying to walk on the side of these roads, if you get out and you have to maybe clear your windchill or something, that's a very dangerous thing to do.

Everything you do on the roads, right now, is pretty dangerous. No matter what it is, no matter what your skill level is, and no matter what kind of vehicle you have -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Right. Yes, that's something that is worth noting. This is a storm you're not going to beat, no matter how much you pay for that big 4 x 4. Thanks very much, Brian.

Jennifer Gray is now also in this weather as well. She's got a different vantage point there in D.C., but nonetheless, probably equally miserable -- Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right, Martin. We're here in Freedom Plaza. This is basically the bull's-eye for the storm. And we have been snowing steadily since 1:00 yesterday afternoon.

Overnight, really picked up. Very, very -- now and very gusty winds. We're still feeling those winds and we're still under that blizzard warning here in the D.C. area.

We're right here at Freedom Plaza, and I don't know if you can see down Pennsylvania Avenue. You can barely see the silhouette of the capitol. Visibility is next to nothing.

I would say probably about half a mile or so, which is actually better than what you would see in actual blizzard conditions. I have this little yardstick that I made actually in our hotel lobby, just to give you an idea of how much snow we've seen.

Right where I'm standing, we've seen about 11 or 12 inches. But keep in mind, with all of this wind, a lot of this snow is blowing around. So one area may see 11 and another area, 100 yards away, may be up to 18.

It's really hard to get a sense of exactly how much snowfall has fallen. I will tell you, though, to beat the record here in D.C., you have to make it all the way up here, to around 28 inches, and that's from 1922.

So still a ways to go to beat that record. But I do think we will definitely be in one of the top ten worst snowstorms in the D.C. area ever recorded.

And so, the mayor was on earlier with a press conference saying she still thinks that there are too many people on the roads and too many people out walking about.

And Martin, as you know, with storms like this, you are going to get people with cabin fever. They say, just stay indoors, because it will help their process of cleaning up the roads and getting their city back to normal as soon as possible.

This snow should be tapering off into the afternoon. By tomorrow, believe it or not, we should see total sunshine, with temperatures in the mid-30s. So we will get some melting going on, but keep in mind, Sunday night, all of that could re-freeze.

So then we could have a pretty icy situation on our hands. But, right now, the D.C. area, just a lot of snow, Martin, and it's still going to be coming down for a couple more hours.

SAVIDGE: We're starting a news conference here in New York. Apologies. Let's go to the governor of New York.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK: -- metro north for the Long Island rail road, 4:00, we'll begin shutting the system down earlier, as you'll hear, but 4:00, if you have travel plans and need metro north or the Long Island rail road, 4:00 for the last inbound or outbound.

We're also having problems on the subway system, on the exterior routes. Not the underground subway system in New York City.

[12:30:02] But the above the ground exterior routes are experiencing similar problems to Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road, where equipment delays, icing over of the third rail, et cetera. And the plan is the same course of action there 4:00, last train, inbound or outbound, on the exterior subway routes. And we have President Ronnie Hakim and Joe Juliette from the MTA who will give us more details on both of those.

So that basically sums it up. The recap, the National Weather Service has increased their forecast for the amount of snowfall, 30 inches would be one of the most serious amounts of snowfall that we have had in decades. And to protect public safety, we're going to be closing down the roads, technically, what's called a ban on travel, as opposed to a technical road closure. We don't the have the physical capacity to close roads. We ban travel on roads, in the down state area, and that will be 2:30.

Also with the Port Authority crossings, Long Island Expressway, Northern State, all city and state roads, within the down state area. And MTA closures, Long Island Rail Road, Metro North, and exterior subway routes. You'll hear more details in a second. With that, let me turn it over first to County Executive, Ed Mangano, who as I mentioned, has been doing an extraordinary job with his team and you'll hear from County Executive Steve Bellone and then we'll go to officials from the MTA. County Executive Ed Mangano.

ED MANGANO: Thank you, Governor.

CUOMO: Thank you. Watch your hand there.

MANGANO: Thank you Governor. Obviously, we'll want to thank the governor and their state for their cooperation and communication with our administration with our emergency management. Really, it has been excellent, continues to be excellent. In each storm it gets even better.

So, obviously, you have to heed the warnings here. In particular, visibility out on the roadways is very, very poor. You shouldn't be out there unless you absolutely need to be out there. As the governor said, those state roadways will be closed. We will be keeping our county roadways as clear as possible, because we need to get trough our hospitals and other emergency services, but you should not be on those roadways unless you absolutely have to be on the roadway for a very, very important purpose.

In addition to that, we are concerned in our county about coastal flooding. In particular, the high tide that is forecasted between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. this evening. That high tide could have serious affects on our south shore, in particular. If your home is prone to flooding, this may be a time where you want to relocate to somebody in the higher land through our family and friends plan. For instance, if it is going to flood to that degree, as the forecasters said, and you plan on getting out of your home during those hours, whether it be for health reasons or work reasons, now would be the time to move out of harm's way.

Those are the forecasts for the coastal flooding. We're very concerned with that. We're going to monitor that. Please in touch with the media for instructions that we would provide through my office and the Office of Emergency Management. Lastly, we want to congratulate and thank all the men and women of the Department of Public Works for doing an outstanding job keeping our roadways as clear as possible in these treacherous blizzard-like conditions. Thank you.

CUOMO: Thanks.

STEVE BELLONE, SUFFOLK COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Thank you very much. I want to first thank the governor for his efforts. We have been through this, as he said, we've been through this a number of times. In over the last four years since I've been in office, we've seen a series of storms that have always, at the end of the day, been a little worse than, and sometimes, much worse than predicted.

So, we coordinate very closely. The governor has been terrific from the start in providing resources that are necessary to help us do what we need to do on the ground here. As both my colleagues here said, the roads are treacherous. It's a combination of a significant amount of snowfall combined with very high winds. Those create dangerous conditions on the roadway. I was traveling on the Long Island expressway, not long ago. And we had several vehicles that were struck. We helped one of those escape. We had reports of an overturned vehicle. So those roads are dangerous. This is a time to stay at home, with your family. Fortunately, this storm is hitting on a Saturday. That's the one bit of good news that we have here.

As the county executive said, we have a big concern with coastal flooding. Post Superstorm Sandy, we have seen these low-lying areas, and certainly for us, certainly on Fire Island as well, flooding more frequently than we have ever seen before.

[12:35:08] So storm like this is a big concern to us. We are closely monitoring that high tide cycle that will be coming up this evening, tonight. So, that is a concern and we'll be working closely with our partners. We've coordinated with town supervisors and mayors over at Fire Island. And I want to thank all of our Department and Public Works personnel, our Commissioner of Police [00:0031] is here and coordinating with Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory, who is here as well.

And again, our great thanks to the governor, who has once again provided additional resources to Long Island and has them at the ready for us when they are need in this storm event.

So Governor, thank you, again, for your leadership.

CUOMO: Thank you.

We'll now hear from Joseph Juliette, who is representing the MTA, and then Ronnie Hakim who is in charge of the New York City transit system. Joe Juliette.

JOE JULIETTA: Thank you, Governor. And behalf of the (inaudible) and the entire MTA family, we are extremely grateful to the governor and the staff for the support we've received. We're also very grateful to the employes and family of the MTA who have all come in to make sure we are providing service.

We've reached a point right now, that at this time, we are starting to get the switch failures, we're starting to get some of the issues with the trains that are getting stalled, and we have to make the decisions that are best for all of the passengers that are out there, as well as the employees that are involved.

So, we're going to begin an orderly shutdown of the service. As you heard the Governor say 4:00 will be the last trains inbound and outbound for the service. As it goes, we're going to hear a little bit more from Ronnie Hakim because there's an explanation on what can be kept going on the transit authority and I would like you to hear that part.

And for the passengers who are out there, please stayed tuned to the MTA info section. You'll find what we are going to be doing and the trains that will be operating listed on that section. Thank you.

RONNIE HAKIM: Thank you. Let me echo what the government said earlier which is, that public safety is paramount. That's the safety of our customers and our employees. As you know, we have already suspended bus service in New York City, so MTA and New York City transit busses are no longer running.

We will also be suspending above-ground subway service at 4:00. What does that mean? We are seeing issues with the third rail. Subway service in New York relies on third rail power. When our outdoor third rail gets ice or drifts or these blizzard conditions, there can be times when trains and subway cars in particular cannot run. That is a dangerous condition, obviously, for our customers, as well as for our employees. So we are doing the best thing that we think is reasonable, which is to recommend that we suspend service on the above-ground stations at 4:00.

In order to make that information user-friendly and readily available, we will be posting on mta.info an extreme weather service plan. That will be a map that will clearly indicate what service will be running, which is basically our underground service. So please go to mta.info, look for the extreme weather map, and you will be able to clearly see whether or not subway service will be running for you. Thank you.

CUOMO: As you heard from the county executives, the snow is nothing new. There's a lot of it. But we know how to deal with the snow. The wind is compounding the situation, but we understand that also. The most dangerous pitch from Mother Nature is the flooding. That is the greatest threat to public safety. That does the most damage.

Flooding is a problem in some areas of New York City, low-lying areas, Brooklyn, Staten Island, et cetera, some areas off the Hudson. But it is most likely a problem on Long Island. And it's a problem that we've gone through before with Superstorm Sandy, with a lot of pain, a lot of hardship, a lot of loss, a lot of tears, and a lot of aggravation. So that is our primary concern now.

This morning, the high tide was basically OK, some minor flooding. But as you heard from the county executives, there's a tide tonight that we are concerned about, and we're organizing and we're prioritizing all of our resources to be responsive to that. We have the National Guard that is on the ground. NASA on Suffolk County have done an extraordinary job of organizing their resources. We have state police.

[12:40:11] So, everything that can be done in terms of equipment, boats, high-axle vehicles, et cetera, is in place. And rest assured that, unfortunately, we've had too much experience responding to these circumstances. But we're poised and will prepare for the worst and we'll hope for the best.

I also want to thank all of my colleagues for their cooperation, as County Executive Bellone said, this only works if we all work together. Because in a situation like this, there is no Nasasau County of Suffolk County or Manhattan or Queens, it's just one area that is affected by a storm. And the coordination has been extraordinary.

And I want to thank County Executive Bellone and County Executive Mangano. I want to thank New York City De Blasio, who we've had numerous conversations all through the situation. And I want to thank Governor Chris Christie. It was my request he close -- the Port Authority to close the bridges and tunnels coming from New Jersey to down state New York. And I want to thank the Port Authority and the governor in particular for their cooperation.

And all the men and women who are out there today, thousands and thousands of public servants who are doing extraordinary work under difficult circumstances. You don't see them but they're driving the trucks and driving the trains and they're part of the DPW crews and they left their family and they left their homes to come out and serve the public and it really is inspirational and it's extraordinary. And we thank each and every one of them and we want them to be safe.

With that, any questions for myself, the county executives or the MTA officials?

[ INAUDIBLE QUESTION ]

CUOMO: You know, luckily, you're right. It did fall on a weekend. It's a Saturday, probably a Saturday and a Sunday for the storm itself. We'll see what Monday brings. We're doing our best to get back to work on Monday. The economic damage will be nothing like what we went through in the

past. Superstorm Sandy was horrendous. This is a fraction of that in terms of economics. And we hope, in terms of public safety, it's the same. There will be a cost to the state and to the local governments for the response, the crews that are out there, the overtime people will have to work. But in the scope of things, that is not a major issue, in this circumstance, luckily.

[ INAUDIBLE QUESTION ]

CUOMO: Well, first, you know, we've had the roads open during the day, but we've said all along, unless it is truly an emergency, you should not be on the road. And I know New Yorkers, you know, we're tough, and we think that we can handle anything, and we have a four-wheel drive vehicle, which means we can go up the side of a mountain, I get it. I am not a hyper cautious person. But the roads were truly, truly dangerous.

Now to be on a banned road, you can be subject -- you can be summoned for being on the road when a ban is in place. And it can be points on your license and a significant fine. So what we're saying is, stay off the road, officially, the travel is now banned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And you've been listening to a briefing by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. And it's been interesting, every time we've heard from the governor, and we've heard from him a couple of times this morning, it's progressively gotten more and more dire. Now you're hearing of a travel ban going into effect in New York City that will start at 2:30, the bus transportation that stopped at noon. And we're also hearing that some of the rail -- aboveground rail service will be stopped at 4:00 in the afternoon.

So, essentially, you're seeing degradation and shutdown of public transport, initially something the mayor and governor said wasn't going to happen, but now circumstances have changed. We'll be back with more of this dramatic storm and the developments just after this, nest after this.

[12:47:49] Let me show these live pictures that are coming from Brooklyn, exactly outside of the Emergency Management Office for New York City. We are participating to get an updated press briefing from Mayor Bill De Blasio as soon as it happens, we'll take you to it.

In the meantime, New York is not the only city that's suffering of course. There are a number of major cities that are suffering in this blizzard. Baltimore is one of those just about at ground zero. And for that we'll check in with Miguel Marquez to see how things are faring now. Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Martin, Baltimore is feeling the full force of this storm right now. The winds blowing at probably 30 to 35 miles an hour. The gusts feel like they're moving much, much faster, and sometimes, you cannot literally see 10, maybe 15, 20 feet in front of you. This is up on Federal Hill where we are feeling a lot of the wind. It's a very exposed area of Baltimore. If you look at over that way, that's the inner harbor. It has brightened up just a little bit. We are able to see a bit of downtown now. We weren't able to see that before.

A lot of people are coming out, but this storm, simply not going anywhere. They had about two inches an hour overnight, maybe getting as much right now. We're supposed to be on the backside of this, by this point. And it's supposed to be getting better, it is not. It's getting much, much worse, the snow coming down harder than ever. Baltimore is coping with this. They're able to keep certain streets open. That's one of these gusts that we're getting right now. You literally have to brace yourself to keep from falling down in this wind.

They are able to keep certain emergency routes through Baltimore are open plowing them constantly. Though with this blowing snow, it's extraordinarily difficult. I see the tow trucks pulling out a lot of cars that were left on those emergency routes. No public transport now throughout the entire State of Maryland until at least Monday morning. A very serious storm, no major problems right now, some power outages, but they seem to be dealing with those, people getting out of the house for a bit, doing some sledding and some skiing. But for the most part, people staying put and keeping warm. Martin?

SAVIDGE: Miguel Marquez with a view from Baltimore. Thanks very much. We're going to send it to break.

[12:50:02] Be back with more on the other side?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome back, right now I want to go to New York Mayor Bill De Blasio in the latest press conference on this huge blizzard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL dE BLASIO, NEW YORK: All personal vehicles must be off the streets starting at 2:30. So people of New York City have been given a warning. If you are out on the street, get in now. If you came into New York City from elsewhere, leave the city immediately. Go back home. Get off the streets by 2:30. NYPD, again, you'll hear from Chief O'Neill in a moment. We'll be enforcing this travel ban consistently.

We also want to make some specific points. We know that a lot of restaurants opened around New York City. We know that some Broadway theaters were planning on going on with their regular schedule. I want to strongly urge our friends on Broadway to cancel their performances and send everyone who works in those theaters home. Restaurants should close to the maximum extent possible and send their employees home.

The important point to remember is that the people who work in the theater industry, work in the restaurants, have to come in from somewhere. They're going to be left in a very bad situation if they're not sent home now, given that much of the MTA operations are being suspended. Given that people have to be off the roads by 2:30. It's time for businesses to shut down and get their employees home right away. Again, the estimates we're hearing, put this storm in the 20-inch to

25-inch range, but remember, it could be worse. We have a contingency in effect for up to 30 inches right now. But once we break 20 inches that would already make this blizzard one of the top 5 worst snowstorms in terms of accumulation in the history of this city.

So people have to heed these warnings now and immediately get home. And again, the NYPD will enforce this travel ban, starting at 2:30 today. Let me turn to chief of department, Jimmy O'Neill.

JIMMY O'NIELL; Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. So, so far, we've done over 300 tows and have been over 200 accidents in the city. As of 2:30, if you're out on the road and don't need to be there, you are committing a violation of the administrative code and you are subject to arrest.

Listen, this is not what we want to do. We have over 500 four-wheel drive vehicles out there. We need our cops to be able to answer calls for service, not lock up people who make bad decisions by staying out on the road. So after 2:30, you're out on the road and don't want to be there, you are subject to arrest. But it's not what we want to do, but if we have to do it, we will.

DE BLASIO: Thank you very much, Chief. All right, any questions? Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's say there is someone who doesn't really care about other folks on the road and they are out there driving around. You always have to deal with these kinds of nuts? What do you do? Do they get arrested? Do they get taken in? Do they get warned? What?

DE BLASIO: Again, I'll start and pass to Chief, Dave. Let's make this very clear. I think the chief said it perfectly. We never want to have to arrest someone in this situation, but we will arrest them if needed. So people need to understand after 2:30, if you're on the roads and not in an official capacity or doing something related to life saving or health, you're just a civilian out driving, you are subject to arrest. It's as simple to that.

O'NIELL: So, Dave, what we're asking people to do is make good, common sense decisions. If you've been out on the road, the conditions are dangerous, conditions are slippery, use your head. If you don't need to be out there driving, go home. We've given you until 2:30. After that, it's a -- you are subject -- you're going to be stopped. It's a possibility...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, very dire warning now coming from the City of New York. New York mayor Bill de Blasio is saying everyone, pedestrians, people who are in long lines to go to Broadway shows.

Everyone needs to be off the roads there, off the streets, by 2:30 today. You heard from the mayor, saying that people who are working at the restaurants, people who were working in the Broadway shows, they have to somehow get home. And the conditions only continue to deteriorate with now forecasts of

20 to 25, maybe even 30 inches of snowfall there in Manhattan. And you heard from the mayor there, saying that people are subject to arrest if they do not adhere to this ban on travel there in New York City.

[12:55:09] You heard it from the governor earlier, a ban on travel throughout the storm, this storm's path there in New York. And you heard it again from the New York City mayor. Everyone get off the road by 2:30 today.

All right, let's talk about National guards being deployed in many places, from the nation's capital, up to New Jersey, and New York as well. And we're talking right now to Major General James Witham, who's the director of Domestic Operations at the National Guard Bureau.

So, Major General, give me an idea right now, as we hear from various cities and states who say the National Guard is ready to be deployed, and in some cases actually deployed, give us an understanding as to what the focus of their jobs, their duties will be?

VOICE OF MAJOR GEN. JAMES WITHAM, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE AIR NATIONAL GUARD: Well, good afternoon, Fredricka. Thanks for letting us join you this afternoon. We currently have almost 2,300 army and air guardsmen across 12 states in the Mid-Atlantic region, supporting their governors and citizens with hundreds of pieces of equipment.

Most of the missions that these guardsmen are doing, including assistance to stranded motorists, welfare checks, snow and downed tree removal and assisting the Departments of Transportation and ensuring that major arteries remain open or at least assisting in their opening, and when asked, we can also assist with food and water distribution as part of the welfare checks.

WHITFIELD: OK. And you know, we were talking earlier to a woman who is on a bus, stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, with 37 students and chaperones as well. And she, of course, described the setting that they are doing all right, because they have food, they have water, they actually have a bathroom onboard their bus.

But in a case like that, when you have motorists who are stranded, whether it be on the turnpike or other roadways, in what way is National Guard table to assist localities, either rescue or administer sustenance. What do you do in a case like this?

WITHAM: Well, obviously, what the National Guard does, in each one of our states and territories, is we assist the state emergency management and state and local law enforcement in terms of supporting the citizens or the stranded motorists of those states.

For the specifics of stranded motorists, and I believe that in the Pennsylvania Turnpike incident, that is one of those missions that is or will be assigned to the Pennsylvania National Guard, in terms of supporting them. But in a lot of cases, guardsmen, with the unique communications capability, heavy equipment, they sometimes have the ability to get through and assist some of these stranded motorists, perhaps, now, obviously, we're in support of civil authorities the entire time, but due to the equipment, communications' ability and unique training of some of these soldiers and airmen, sometimes they're able to help our people quicker.

WHITFIELD: All right, Major General James Witham thanks very much for your time. I know you're very busy appreciate it.

WITHAM: Well, Thanks for having us on today Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Thank you. So General Russel Honore with me now, he's a familiar face during Hurricane Katrina and the response to that.

So, when you listen to the general here, clearly, the airmen, soldiers, extremely versatile, but what are your concerns when you talk about deteriorating conditions like this, what are your concerns about their safety, while they try to assist?

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, US ARMY (RET): Well, number one, they're operating in blizzard conditions, right now. And with the number he spoke of, about 2,300, being able to run on shifts and keep your equipment running, hats off to those guardsmen. They're going a great job.

WHITFIELD: Incredible.

HONORE: And you know after Katrina, we reorganized how we respond to major disasters. But the guards are always on duty, 24/7, in response to being governors. And when I tell, they're doing a great job. The only thing I would be concerned about right now is having more of them ready, to be prepared for -- as night fall comes in to go clear people off of roads.

WHITFIELD: OK, and you know, he talked about the various scenarios, everything from rescuing people who are in their vehicles, assisting with towing. You've got areas of potential flooding. We've already seen some of the pictures out of New Jersey, certain areas like Margate, that are already dealing with, you know, rising water and high tide will be coming later on. Are you worried about their resources?

HONORE: They have the capacity. They have the numbers. New York has about 10,000 National Guard and the -- or General Witham in Washington. If they need to move those assets across state lines, they can do that. The guard's ready. It's a portion of the governors mobilizing them early enough so they can be ready, as the power goes out and as it gets dark to go get people off the road. But I've got confidence in the guard.

WHITFIELD: All right. General Russel Honore, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

HONORE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, New York City in the bull's-eye right now. Accumulation of two to three inches per hour, our mart savage is there in Manhattan, right there at Columbus Circle.

[13:00:00] So, Martin, we heard from the Mayor of New York, who says everyone, all those people who are walking behind you, whether it be in the snow, you know, throw snowballs, or whether it's those who are actually try to get around, they all have to be off the streets, off the road by 2:30. What's the response so far from people there?