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Coverage of Huge Winter Storm Affecting Millions; Flint, Michigan Protesters Want Governor Rick Snyder to Resign; Tina Fey Reprised Her Role as Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live"; "Des Moines Register" has Announced Its Endorsements Just Eight Days Before The Caucuses. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired January 24, 2016 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I found that and so much more in Rashad. I would say there's nothing off-limits in my life that Rashad doesn't have some kind of opinion on. Love life, professional, whatever. I listen to him.
Now, his oldest daughter has started junior high, at the very same school where her dad and I first met. I can only hope for her she finds someone in these hallowed halls who will teach her about life and love and fairness.
He, without even probably realizing what he was doing, was teaching me. Rashad helped teach me, and still does, how to be a better human being. How lucky am I?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right. Watch this special presentation tonight. "The person who changed my life." There are inspiring stories and it airs tonight at 8:00 eastern time right here on CNN.
The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.
[15:01:19] WHITFIELD: All right. Hello again, everyone. And thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The east coast is dealing with the aftermath of that record-breaking snowfall from Tennessee to New York for people trying to fly out, it is a travel nightmare at major airports throughout the northeast. New York and D.C. area airports are at an absolute standstill.
Many runways still closed as you see there. Earlier images, Dulles international airport trying to clear out the tarmac there. Some airlines are already canceling flights for tomorrow. And in both Washington and New York, dangerous icy roads are beginning to reopen, though driving is being highly discouraged in many cities hardest hit.
In New York, utility workers and snowplows are attempting to clear the roads for Monday's commute. The death toll from this storm has risen to 14. And in New Jersey, massive snow melt is putting parts of the coast
under flood warnings. This overnight time lapse video from a viewer in Maryland showing the rapid snow accumulation right there.
Baltimore, in fact, broke its snowfall record after getting slammed with 29 inches of snow.
Some truly historic numbers in the last 48 hours. You see all the airports hit 30.5 inches in parts of New York, 20 inches in Philadelphia, 28.3 inches in Washington.
In fact, let's go to Washington now where some folks are trying to make the most of it right there, upholding the blizzard tradition of a giant snowball fight in Washington's DuPont circle.
And D.C.'s public schools closed on Monday and so is the nation's capital. Congress will not convene for a week.
All right. Let's talk about New York where they are trying to clean up and move on. It's a new busy workweek straight ahead. Poppy Harlow is right there at Columbus circle. Folks are out. I guess they had a little cabin fever. They just couldn't wait to get out in that snow.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They couldn't wait to get out. And Fred, I was just thinking about this. I think growing up in Minnesota I have snow in my blood.
WHITFIELD: Right.
HARLOW: So I think I will forever be on snow duty, forever and ever. And I don't mind it today. I don't mind it today. It is a beautiful New York day, folks. Look behind me. Everyone is out and about after this city basically shutting down last night in the midst of a blizzard. Almost a record. We missed the record snowfall in New York City by 0.1 inch, literally a tenth of an inch is what we missed it by. But we got 26.8 inches here. Everyone is having fun in central park with all of it.
But there are still some headaches. We got 85 percent of flights at LaGuardia canceled today, 50 percent of flights at JFK canceled, that huge international airport. Broadway has reopened after going dark last night. You have the schools here reopening tomorrow morning so sorry, kids, if you thought you were getting a day off from school tomorrow. You're not in New York City.
I lot to get through, though. I want to go first to Ryan Young. He is joining me at Penn station.
Ryan, this is potentially the biggest headache today, the fact that they cannot seem to get the Long Island railroad back up and running yet.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly that could be an issue. As you said you grew up in Minnesota. I grew up in Miami so seeing all this snow is quite interesting, especially with it all here on the ground. And, of course, that's going to affect the railway. We are outside Penn station. And you can see the snow that is just outside of Penn station. But you have to think about the railways. They are going to be dealing with two feet of snow that are still left there that are actually blocking some of those rail lines from being open. We're told 2,000 workers are out there trying to get the lines back open.
We actually sent our producer on the inside. He took some pictures of the signs they have on the inside to say that it's temporarily suspended right now. What we do know is they're working to get the lions back open. Some 300,000 people use these lines to get to work every single day. As we drove into New York and New Jersey this morning we could see the roadways looked pretty good. But the mayor here is still telling people if you don't have to be on the on the roads, stay off them for now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[15:05:19] MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: First of all, do not drive if you don't have to, unless it's really urgent. We want people to stay off the street. We want people to keep their cars where they are parked. It is very important to recognize. There's a lot of work being done to get the city up and running for Monday. We need people off the streets for their own safety. We need people off the streets for the safety of others. We need them off the streets so that sanitation can clear the streets. We need you off the streets so our first responders have the freedom to get to emergencies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Once again, those 2,000 workers out there trying to get the lines back open for the Monday morning commute. You know people are itching to get back to work, especially dealing with all the snow. What we have seen throughout the area is workers are trying to get the streets clear as well. But we do know the governor is going to give an update around 6:00 to tell us what's going on with the rest of the area so we know what to deal with when it comes to the Monday morning commute - Poppy.
HARLOW: No question. I got to say, Ryan, I was so impressed waking up this morning seeing so many of the roads clear, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, absolutely cleared by early this morning. They've done an incredible job overnight here.
Thank you so much, Ryan Young.
Now to Times Square, our meteorologist Chad Myers.
Chad, can you believe it? We came so close to a record here in New York.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we did break the 24-hour record, just not the all-time record. So a couple things went on at 7:00 this morning. It was like a starter's pistol went off and everybody got in their cars and tried to drive somewhere. And now we are at almost gridlock. Gridlock, where see on a Friday afternoon. This fire truck has been sitting there for at least three minutes
trying to get through this red light here on 57th -- 47th street here in midtown. There's another fire truck behind it. The good news is they're not trying to go anywhere because earlier we had a major fire on Ninth Avenue. It was a four-alarm fire. Had this happened right now, these guys would be in a world of hurt.
Something else that's happening -- ice falling off the buildings right onto people's heads. So I don't want to say look up and watch out because you don't want to get hit in the face, but it's coming off the buildings now as we see this afternoon's sunshine hit the buildings, ice falling down right onto pedestrians.
I'll tell you what. This 47th street, you can look all the way down to langon's (ph) down there, there is a backup at least four long blocks. The avenue blocks are much longer than the street blocks here in New York City. Traffic is going nowhere. I know the ban is over but it might as well be still on because cars simply aren't moving down here, Poppy.
HARLOW: And you know, Chad, you mentioned that ice. My photographer and I just had to move over about three feet because that happened to us. We moved under the awning here. A huge chunk of ice fell. This is no joke. For everyone watching, Chad, right, if they can walk under the awning, they should absolutely do that where possible and just be aware.
MYERS: No question. I was walking down on Eighth Avenue a little bit ago and a piece of ice hit a man as I was walking the same way that he was. And he was -- he wasn't knocked unconscious, but he was knocked a little silly as he went, wow, what was that, thinking that, you know, something hit his head and it did. It was a large chunk of ice.
And now, we do have these guys needing to go somewhere and they can't get anywhere. This is what we were worried about when we had this kind of gridlock when there's only one lane on any one roadway because the rest of the lanes that should be there are covered in deep, deep snow. This will delay the people that need to get to other people that need help. This is what we're going to see now for the rest of tonight, I'm afraid, Poppy.
HARLOW: All right. Chad Myers, good day to take the subway. Thank you, my friend. I appreciate it.
Let's head to our nation's capital, Washington, D.C. Rene Marsh live for us at Reagan national.
And Rene, not many people there, right?
RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: No. Take a look. You know, we're the only ones here right now with the exception of a couple of workers, Poppy. We're talking about since Friday all the way through to today, nearly 12,000 flights canceled. More than 3,400 today alone. And here at Reagan national, this kind of tells you the picture there, nothing but canceled, that c-word all these passengers don't like to see. Flight operations have not been able to get up and running here at
Reagan national. Same situation at Dulles because they just -- they're still dealing with snow on the runways, taxiways, and they are still trying to clear all of that out.
Some good news, New York airports, we are seeing some limited service. That's starting to resume. Philadelphia, limited service as well as Baltimore.
But, you know, you said it, you look around, we are the only ones here. Our only hope for some food and beverage was Starbucks and they just told us they're closing because of lack of business. There's no one here. So they are hoping within the next couple days things are up and running. But fliers really just have to be patient because it will take some time before airlines can catch up to themselves - Poppy.
[15:10:35] HARLOW: As our parents told us when we were children, patience is a virtue, especially on a day like this.
Rene Marsh, thank you so much.
Let's go outside in D.C. now to the national mall. That is where we find our Jennifer Gray.
Jennifer, I could barely see your beautiful face yesterday in the middle of the whipping wind. Voila. What a difference 24 hours makes.
JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is no joke. What a difference. I mean, it feels so good. You just want to run out here and play it in, especially compared to the last 48 hours we have to deal with along with everyone in the nation's capital.
Blue skies today, the sun is out, it is absolutely gorgeous. Temperatures are right around freezing. Only a couple of degrees warmer than where we were yesterday, but it just feels so good. A lot of people are getting out by foot mostly. There are a couple more cars out on the roads. But just like Chad was saying, you know, some of the roads are cleared but those secondary roads aren't. And so, that's why it's so important to stay off the roads and give crews time. It's going to take time and patience is the hardest part, especially when you have a day like today in the nation's capital.
So schools are closed tomorrow. And actually Congress has postponed votes that were scheduled for early in the week. So it is going to take some time to get the city back up and running. We will have a little bit of melting going on today. We had temperatures just above freezing, a lot of sunshine. So we are going to get a little bit of a slush on the roads so we are going to see a refreeze as we go through the overnight hours. So it could be an icy commute for a lot of people on Monday. I'm sure that's why they decided to cancel school. And so, it is going to be interesting to see how the city responds by the time we get to tomorrow. But it is going to take some time to get things back to normal here in the D.C. area, Poppy. HARLOW: No question. There is a press conference coming up from the
mayor of Washington D.C. 5:00 eastern. We will carry that for you live as well to get some update from here.
Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.
And now to Virginia where we find our Nick Valencia.
Nick, I know Virginia where you have some of those deaths, some of the 14 deaths from this storm. The roadways still a mess.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We just got an update from the Virginia state police according to the office of the medical examiner. Five deaths now in the state of Virginia contributed to the severe winter weather, four of those, Poppy, dying as a result of hypothermia. You know, those temperatures were hovering around 20 degrees, today more than a 15-degree difference. We had 34 hours of straight snow. That essentially led to about 30 inches of accumulation.
We are here at the Virginia department of transportation where salt trucks, plows, spreaders, they are still getting ready to treat those roads. A lot of them you see here have just come back from their missions. We were talking to one snowplow driver who said he was working for 24 straight hours. A lot of them also working for 12 hours straight, 12 hours on.
This is the kind of material they're using to treat the roadways out there. It is a little mixture of some of it sand, a little bit of salt. It feels like hard grass. That's what they use in to treat those nature, thorough repairs. Such impressive work. You are talking about exactly what we see here in New York City, some of the same thing. I mean, such impressive precautions and preparations taken by the emergency workers here in the commonwealth of Virginia. More of the same, Poppy, 4,000 pieces of heavy equipment. That includes all of the snow plow trucks. Some of those emergency vehicles were caught up in those - you know, really hard hit area of snow coverage.
Today, though, the sun is out, the sun is shining, and this is a welcome sign of relief for a state that just got pounded by this winter weather - Poppy.
HARLOW: No question. They are even hiring extra people here in New York City, Nick, to try to get these roads cleared. So our thanks to all of them for making it easy going for all of us.
Nick Valencia, thank you so much.
Fredricka, I send it back to you in Atlanta.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Poppy. We will check back with you.
All right, some people along the jersey coast are contending with now flooding from that storm. We'll go there live and find out if the waters are all receding.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:17:08] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. In part of New Jersey, more than 30 inches of snow fell during the storm. But it was not just the snow and wind. It was also flooding along the coast. Some coastal towns were under several feet of water, in fact. And there are still isolated flood watches and warnings for some areas up and down the Atlantic coast.
Boris Sanchez is live for us now from Vender City (ph) in New Jersey, just south of Atlantic City.
So it looks terrible. But it looks like they are trying to clean up as best they can behind you.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, it looks terrible, but I got to tell you. This is way better than it was even three hours ago. This entire road was impassible. There were giant boulders of ice in the street and trash about aside from obviously about a foot of water that came into this neighborhood.
Part of the reason why is, that this neighborhood is alongside a canal that's attached to a bay here in New Jersey. And the water just kept rising and kept rising partly because as the storm was peaking, there was a full moon so there was that much more water coming in. We have spoken to several neighbors who tell us the first level of their homes have been damaged.
You see this garage had some water damage to it. The folks that live down from here also have some damage to the first floor of their home. Fortunately it's mostly just water and they have been able to get it out. But you can see where the water line was right here on this home to my right.
Fortunately this storm was not as severe as other storms that they have had. Perfect example was super storm Sandy. We were told that the water line was at four feet during that storm here. This is only about a foot. But you can imagine the headaches that it causes for neighbors. Fortunately, as you can the road is now clear, it is drivable once more, but there are a lot of areas especially south where problems are lingering. The cleanup expected to take at least a few more days as those flood watches, as you mention, begin to expire, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Boris Sanchez, thank you so much.
All right. New Jersey governor and Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie is back on the campaign trail in New Hampshire after spending Friday and Saturday in his home state dealing with the snowstorm. Well, this morning during a town hall he touted his handling of the blizzard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not that I was somehow innately born with the ability to deal with snow emergencies or, you know, hurricanes. It's that you've done it, you learn. And it's the point I've been trying to make to everybody, and I think the storm helps me to make it really clearly to folks -- it matters what is you've done before. It matters. You know, some candidates in this race try to tell you it doesn't matter what you've done before. It does. It does matter. It does matter are you going to be ready when you sit in that chair the very first day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: A new FOX News poll shows Christie has work to do in New Hampshire. He is tied for fifth place with Jeb Bush at seven percent. Trump still the clear front runner in that first primary state.
And in Iowa, the "Des Moines Register" has announced its endorsements just eight days before the caucuses. For the GOP, it is Marco Rubio. For the Democrats, Hillary Clinton. The paper's decision on Clinton is in direct contrast to the latest polling.
Our CNN/ORC poll shows Clinton trailing senator Bernie Sanders. He has 51 percent to Clinton's 43 percent.
Senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny is at the scene of CNN's town hall Monday night at Drake University in Des Moines. Good to see you. Where the Democrats will be taking actually questions from voters.
So Jeff, how big a deal of this is endorsement for Hillary Clinton who appears to be in real trouble when you look at the latest national polling?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, I think the endorsement is very important for Hillary Clinton. She certainly has been going after it. She went to visit the newspaper a couple different times. It really feeds into her argument she's making in the final stretch that she is the most experienced candidate. If you watch her television ads, if you watch her, you know, speeches to voters, she is saying that, look, she has done it all. She's been the first lady. She's been a senator. She of course was secretary of state. So in very detailed argument, she is saying what she would do.
We saw a couple dueling rallies yesterday with Hillary Clinton and her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders in the eastern Iowa town of Clinton right along the Mississippi river. And look at the crowd differences here. You can see she had an OK crowd but Bernie Sanders had so much more enthusiasm. But listen to the argument that she is making to voters about the urgency of the selection.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't wait. We have urgent business to do in America. And if you give me the chance I will work my heart out for you and I will continue to learn from you and make sure that we move forward together. Thank you all very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: So, of course, Secretary Clinton is trying to make the case she is ready from day one. That she is prepared to do this immediately. Well, just across town after she did that, Bernie Sanders was firing up a far larger crowd, and he was reminding these Iowans that anything is possible, that they should believe in his ideas, they shouldn't necessarily fall in line with what the establishment is saying. Listen to what his message was. He is harkening back to what happened here in Iowa eight years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bit it really reminds me very much of what happened here in Iowa eight years ago. Remember that? Eight years ago Obama was being attacked by everything. He was unrealistic, his ideas were pie in the sky. He did not have the experience that was need. But you know what? People of Iowa saw through those attacks then, and they're going to see through those attacks again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: So, of course, Bernie Sanders is trying to present himself as the modern-day Barack Obama. He, of course, won here in Iowa in 2008 and that set him up for a victory months later. But, of course, Bernie Sanders is not the same as Barack Obama. There's no question about that. But the energy is on his side. The energy is on the left side of the party, if you will. These liberals who are frustrated he didn't get everything accomplished. So the question here now in the final stretch, is it her experience or his energy, for his inspiration or her organization? So that is why they are campaigning so hard here in the final eight days before those Iowa caucuses, Fred.
WHITFIELD: And then, Jeff, you know, you have to wonder while, you know, Hillary Clinton is not polling as well as Bernie Sanders in the Iowa and New Hampshire polling, not as well as she is nationally, you have to wonder if the two of them will really be duking it out, you know, if you will see gloves off at that town hall tomorrow.
ZELENY: I think that both of them, of course, will be appearing separately and they'll be answering these questions from voters. And Fredricka, I can tell you traveling across the state all week as we have done, there are some undecided voters, many undecided voters, and some others who are willing to change their minds. So what I'm looking for tomorrow night is just to see how Bernie Sanders specifically says how he will accomplish some of the things that he's been promising and addressing. That's one of the things that a lot of voters want to hear from him. They want to believe in him. They want to sort of hear the idea of universal health care for all. But of course Washington is a divided place. So I think we will be perhaps be pressing him for more specifics tomorrow.
And Hillary Clinton, you know, perhaps, is she able to be a candidate of change? Is she able to be an agent of change here? So those are a couple of the topics that are certainly to come up tomorrow. And Governor Martin O'Malley from Maryland will also be here. And they will be all taking questions from voters here. Eight days away, the Iowa caucuses will be here before we know it -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. It will indeed. Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much from Des Moines, Iowa. Appreciate that.
And of course, you are going to want to watch that town hall tomorrow night in Iowa. All three Democratic candidates taking questions from the Iowa voters hosted by our Chris Cuomo. It airs at 9:00 eastern right here on CNN.
All right. The show must go on. That was "Saturday Night Live's" motto, last night, even if there's a blizzard. And Tina Fey, well, she was back as you know who. We'll see it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:28:08] WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Welcome back. All right, Virginia, among the state's hardest by that big storm, Virginia is being hit by 28 inches of snow. Here is the state governor Terry McAuliffe with an update.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TERRY MCAULIFFE, VIRGINIA: Every Virginia resident was touch by the storm. Our 8.4 million residents. Every part of Virginia saw some snow. Even Hampton roads, which was not to see any snow, they did see some snow. In addition, very high winds. We did have some coastal flooding in Chincoteague and some other areas. That has all subsided now.
But this was a massive storm for us in the commonwealth. And once again our folks have been working 12-hour shifts since Wednesday. I want to thank all those folks. We at the state are to responsible for 58,000 miles of roads that we are in charge of making sure stay clean and safe. That is what we are doing today. As I say, we just finished a helicopter tour. The main interstates. Commerce is moving. We saw many trucks. Some cars on the road but many tracks. So commerce is back. Now let us hit those secondary streets and get everybody up and moving as fast as we can.
But please, the last thing I'll say, please, please, if you don't have to be on the roads tomorrow, stay off and let our plows do their work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. So the cleanup still a work in progress. But again, Virginia state government closed tomorrow. You heard it from the governor there.
All right. And you knew it wouldn't take long after the former Alaska governor endorsed a certain Republican presidential campaign. Tina Fey reprised her role as Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live" after Palin endorsed Donald Trump for president.
Our senior media correspondent Brian Stelter has that for us -- Brian.
BRIAN STELTER CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. You know, that moment Sarah Palin stepped on stage of Donald Trump this week, there were predictions that Tina Fey would be stepping back on the SNL stage reprising her character from many years ago. And "Saturday Night Live" did follow through. You know, despite the blizzard here in the city, the show did go on last night, and Tina Fey as Palin was the cold open. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[15:30:06] TINA FEY, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: I'm here because we Americans are struggling. So many of us have lost our jobs at the factory or reality shows about Alaska, and we've seen our own children targeted by the police for no reason other than they committed some crime. We turn on the news every morning and are shocked to see we're not even on it because we've been replaced by immigrants like Geraldo Rivera.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's fun. She just says whatever she wants. It's like her mouth starting driving before her brain gets in the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STELTER: Now, I doubt Sarah Palin appreciated that impression. The show, of course, oftentimes goes after Republican politicians, conservative figures, but sometimes they do take shots at the other side as well. You know, Larry David was announced as the host of the show for February 6th. So right between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. So the show will have ample opportunity to poke fun at Sanders and the Democratic race right after the caucuses.
Fred, back to you.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Brian. A fun political season on "SNL" indeed.
All right. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:34:24] WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. At New York's JFK airport, over 30 inches of snow fell and the prospect of cleanup from this weekend's historic blizzard is enormous. Still some New Yorkers are figuring out a way to have a little fun.
Here is CNN's Jason Carroll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, out here in Central park, everyone coming out to do everything they can to enjoy every inch of the snow. If you're going to do that, this is probably one of the spots to do it, this is one of the major hill here. This is the 72nd street entrance here to central park. And you can see it's just packed with folks coming out here with sleds, with plastic discs, anything at all they can use to get down that hill. Actually broke a record here in New York City. Central Park measuring
26.8 inches. That is the second largest recording of snow here in the city ever. A lot of snow, brings a lot of people, brings a lot of various types of sleds, including this one, the avenger sled.
And how fast does the avenger sled takes you down?
[15:35:24] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superfast, like 15 miles an hour tops.
CARROLL: Yes. I'm sure, 15 miles. And tell me about, you know, how do you stop? I mean, because I'm watching what's going on down here and everyone's sort of like throwing themselves off in order to stop. I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Human barricade. Human barricade.
CARROLL: What do you think? Human barricade?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, what I do is I stop for my feet, like, I dig my feet into the snow.
CARROLL: Is that where all the snow is coming from here? Looks like you've done a little bit of that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.
CARROLL: So, you know. Tell me about the storm. I mean, what did you guys do to ride out the storm?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we, like, ran out in the snow and just enjoyed it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were running in the streets.
CARROLL: Running in the streets. I hope you were doing it carefully. Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CARROLL: A little bit. A little bit. All right. Well, I hope you guys have a chance to get out and join the snow a little more. Have at it. Thanks a lot.
So once again, lots of folks coming out here to enjoy the snow. It is a Sunday, so many of them fortunately have the day off. Tomorrow is going to be a big question. What happens tomorrow, during the commute to the city in terms of most of the people we've spoken to, did a pretty good job at clear the streets, clearing some of the roads. People out there getting the sidewalks cleared as well. But tomorrow during the rush hour commute, that is going to be the big question in terms of how the city does at that point.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Jason Carroll, thank you so much.
All right. Let's look at the top stories right now.
Local and federal authorities are looking for three men in California. The inmates escaped from the Orange County jail Friday night. The man in the middle of the screen is accused of murder. The man to the left is accused of torture and kidnapping. And the man on the right is facing charges of attempted murder. Anyone with information should call 911.
And a Turkish airlines flight from Houston to Istanbul is back on its journey after being diverted to Shannon, Ireland. The airline says the plane was rerouted because of a bomb alert. Flight TK-34 was carrying 207 passengers and two infants. It landed safely and all passengers and crew disembarked and were moved to a secure area of the airport. Police tell us nothing was found on that plane.
And the U.S. geological survey says a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Alaska early this morning. The epicenter hit the cook-inlet about 160 miles from anchorage. There was no tsunami threat because it was about 50 miles deep. Anchorage police tweeted that there were no reports of major damage or injury following the earthquake.
And Flint, Michigan's water crisis may lead to criminal charges being filed. We'll explain next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:41:08] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome book. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
This weekend's monster storm impacted the Carolinas with snow and ice, officially three inches in Charlotte. But the fact that it's starting to warm up today just in time for the NFC championship football game. In just about three hours the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals will kick off in Charlotte. The winner goes to the super bowl. The loser going home.
Well, warmer weather is hoping to clear the field just a bit. Let's check in now with CNN's Polo Sandoval where earlier the tailgaters were out in full force. They didn't care if there was a little ice, a little snow on the roads earlier. But people are excited, aren't they?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. You talk to people here and they will say what snow, what ice? Because at this point it's very hard to believe the storm actually swept through the region here on Friday dumping about half an inch of ice, about two inches of snow. It is all beginning to melt away. We will leave behind some ice. So, of course, officials are asking that if you are walking to the game, be careful because it's pretty easy to take a tumble. And they say that it's hard to find those needles in haystacks. We found at least one. A Cardinals fan in the heart of uptown charlotte. Despite the boos, though, you're telling me that you almost didn't make it because of the weather.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
SANDOVAL: So tell me about getting here, though, with the weather. Was it complicated for you and your friend?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is. We actually left at 5:00 this morning. There were a lot of people still waiting for flights trying to make connections. We were on the tarmac about an hour and a half just waiting to get to the gate, but we got here, so.
SANDOVAL: Were there concerns you wouldn't be able to make it to this huge event, the NFC championship?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's always concerns but we were confident we would make it.
SANDOVAL: Tome, explain this. You said you were a little confused.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very confused. I am from Charlotte. I still have season tickets and I live in Arizona. So I'm rooting for both.
SANDOVAL: Who's going to win?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cardinals. Absolutely. Rise up.
SANDOVAL: But then, Fred, you asked this sea of blue - and they say the Panthers are going to win. Mother Nature is cooperating now.
WHITFIELD: No snow, ice, nothing, was going to stop them.
All right. Thanks so much, Polo Sandoval. You got a lot of new friends out there.
All right. We will be right back.
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[15:47:16] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Who will pay the price or will anyone for the water catastrophe in Flint, Michigan, water contaminated with lead after switching to river water ultimately poisoning people? There is new information out there that some state officials knew about this water while the people were drinking it. The EPA is now taking charge of water testing there after the agency's administrator for Michigan and five other states resigned.
Some protesters want Governor Rick Snyder to resign as well because he didn't respond quickly enough to the crisis. The governor saying the state is committed to making sure every Flint resident has clean, safe drinking water and that he will not be stepping down.
President Barack Obama has even declared a state of emergency in Flint, opening the door to federal help. But will there be criminal liability for the residents too scared to drink their own water?
Let's ask Cary McGhee who was a part of the legal team involved in a class action suit and our own CNN legal analyst Phillip Holloway. Good to see both of you.
So Cary, I understand you are representing four families in this class action suit. Will there be more? And what are the demands being made in this suit?
CARY MCGHEE, ATTORNEY FOR CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS FILED IN FLINT WATER CRISIS: Yes. We represent four different flint families in this class action. The class action could potentially open up to 100,000 people in the city of Flint has 100,000-plus residents. And so it is framed as a class action. We filed a class action in federal court under the federal constitution based on a state-created danger. Separate lawsuit in state court under the state constitution based on a state-created danger. And we've also filed a circuit court action based on gross negligence, fraud, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
We have heard from over 1,200 people who have contacted us interested in being interviewed in part of this class action, and the number goes up every day.
WHITFIELD: So I wonder, Cary, you know, is the primary goal, you know, to win a settlement that will help pay for the medical costs of the thousands of people who are now looking at irreversible damage? You know, for many years to come, adults, children. Is that the primary objective?
MCGHEE: Absolutely. Absolutely our objective is to finally get the governor in the state of Michigan to listen to the city of Flint residents and to get them justice because they have not received any justice. And we hoped through this lawsuit that we will get media attention to them, immediate relief in monetary ways to compensate them for their injuries as well as programs started such as child development programs to help these children poisoned with lady, nutritional programs. So we are seeking not only monetary compensation, but also equitable relief for our clients.
[15:50:28] WHITFIELD: So I wonder, Phillip, you know, looking for justice in this form, recovering costs for health problems for a very long time, is that likely the only kind of justice that people might see? Or might we all be looking -- also be looking at potential criminal charges being filed against those who knew that people were being poisoned who might have even participated in the poisoning of thousands of people in Flint, Michigan?
PHILLIP HOLLOWAY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Fred, something certainly stinks in Flint, and it's not just the water. This is, at a minimum, very, very bad government, obscenely bad government. Whether or not it rises to the level of a crime remains to be seen. We know that there are parallel investigations mounted by the state attorney general as well as the state U.S. justice department. The problem is going to be if -- the government officials involved in the decision- making do not completely 100 percent own up to anything they've done because it's not against the --
WHITFIELD: Well, who will willingly do that when you're talking about this kind of state of affairs? I mean, who is going to volunteer that, you know, they may have been complicit or they may have overlooked or ignored certain warnings?
HOLLOWAY: Well, that's the problem is that they tend to want to minimize -- if you're involved in something and you are this grossly negligent, you tend to want to minimize your convents. So, if you make a fault statement to a federal investigator or through a grand jury or you destroy one document or you hide one email or you deleted voice mail, we saw some of this kind of conduct going on in the BP oil spill investigation because it's not like somebody wakes up one day and says OK, I think it will be a good idea to poison the water supply.
But the problem is in the cover-up. And you know, I hate to use the pun, but it's like what did they know and when did they know it? And by they, I mean anybody who had any part in the decision-making process of why the water system got changed and what they did or did not do to make it safe for the citizens of flint.
WHITFIELD: So bottom line, do you think anyone would go to jail, you know, for this crisis? Will anyone have to individually pay a fine if people are unable to sue the state government or localities, are they able to go after individuals?
HOLLOWAY: They can go after individuals. In criminal cases it's called restitution. You can't get quite the same amount of monetary damages that you can get in the civil lawsuit or in this case a class- action which could be a really, really large amount of money.
But if somebody is criminally prosecuted, I guarantee you, the government will try to get everything they can out of them in terms of restitution. But if one person, Fred, gets caught, minimizing this, saying something that's not true or engaging in any kind of cover-up even if it's already occurred, there's already questions that maybe some things have already been done that are in the nature of a cover- up. If that can be proven, people can and probably will go to jail.
WHITFIELD: And then, Cary, is it your belief that this is going to be an uphill battle or do you believe at least for this class action suit, that you have everything you need in order to have a successful end -- successful from your client's point of view?
MCGHEE: I think, first of all, the evidence that has been uncovered thus far is extremely compelling demonstrating governmental misconduct. And I would like to speak to the cover-up issues because one of the things that we are doing through this lawsuit is tomorrow we are serving a subpoena on the governor of Michigan demanding that he produce all his email and text messages regarding this particular situation dating back to 2011 when they first started talking about it. And so, we are hoping through those e-mails and text messages that we will be able to prevent any type of cover-up.
We also are hoping that perhaps the government takes a different tact in dealing with this class action. Not one that would require six years of litigation. We're hoping that they come to the table knowing that they created this situation and are prepared to create a settlement fund to try to help these residents immediately. We can't wait.
WHITFIELD: All right. So a subpoena for the governor as early as tomorrow. Real quickly, Phil, does that raise the stakes at all? Does that
change the tone here?
HOLLOWAY: Well, the governor is probably going to quash that subpoena because they will try to do everything they can to defend themselves not only in criminal court but in civil court. He has stated publicly he is going to release those emails, but the subpoena just puts a lot more pressure on him to make sure that he comes clean if he can't get the subpoena quashed. I bet they're going to do that.
[15:55:04] WHITFIELD: All right. Phillip Holloway, thanks so much. Cary McGhee, thank you so much. To both of you, I appreciate it.
MCGHEE: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, up next, the storm may be gone but the trouble is still there. We're looking at what to expect when we head back to work tomorrow.
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[15:58:17] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. The massive storm may have moved away but there's still the threat of dangerous conditions for thousands of people all along the east coast.
CNN's Tom Sater is with me now.
All right. So we are talking about six separate states that were hit with something like 30 inches of snow?
TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Yes. I mean, is that amazing?
WHITFIELD: It is.
SATER: It really is. When you look at this is what has fallen. Pretty close to what the computer models were hints at until really you got into, you know, late Friday and Saturday for New York City. But as you look at the fuchsia color, the bright pink, the darker pink, that is, those are states with over two feet of snow, and then it gets heavier where it gets dark.
So every night, we are going to go through this refreezing process. It is going to melt during the days. So for at least the next five nights, do assume anything that's wet is frozen. And that is going to keep schools and businesses closed a little bit longer.
Every day we are going to see the massive melting. But it only takes a little bit as everyone starts to venture out and let their guard down, there's going to be accident. There is no doubt about it.
But it is interesting to note, also Fred, as beautiful as it looks, and it is fun, always pretty, you know, until the lights start to flicker, where you have thousands that have lost power. So again, getting into the cold in parts of the Carolinas at night, if you are at the end of the power grid, it will take a while. And it was just the last hour, Fredricka, we've talked about you got to be careful with shoveling snow. History has shown us with totals like this, as you're outside and the heart is beating faster to keep the body warm, it only takes a foot of snow on a one-car driveway like moving equivalent of two tons of weight. We have had our first confirmed fatality now in D.C. area from a heart attack of shoveling the snow in Prince Georges County. So double the snow, triple it. Again, it is going to be a big concern. I know we've got to get rid of it. But, only a tenth of an inch off the all-time record in New York City.
WHITFIELD: My goodness. That is something else.
All right. Thank you so much, Tom Sater. We will check back in with you. Appreciate it.
The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.
