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At Least 14 Dead from Winter Storm; Jersey Shore Slammed by Floods, Wind and Snow; Hundreds of Students Stranded; French Jews Find Home in Israel; Former NYC Mayor Eyeing Presidential Bid. Aired 12- 12:30a ET

Aired January 24, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Gale force winds, blinding snow and huge traffic jams. This is the scene across much of the Eastern United States and the blizzard isn't over yet.

Israel is seeing a big wave of Jewish immigrants from France.

But why are they leaving Europe?

We'll have a report.

And two U.S. presidential candidates get a big endorsement ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

It's all ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. We're live in Atlanta. Thank you for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen.

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ALLEN: A massive winter storm is setting records in the United States.

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ALLEN (voice-over): How would you like to have been out in that?

With blustery winds and heavy accumulation, the storm could rank among the five worst ever to hit Washington and other cities, including New York, along the Eastern Seaboard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep the wheels straight.

ALLEN (voice-over): And this was the scene playing out across side streets and major highways as thousands of drivers found themselves stranded or stuck.

There is even a darker tally taking shape. The death toll from the storm has reached 14, many from traffic accidents and from shoveling snow. Well, from Georgia all the way to New York City, right here, there's

Times Square, 11 governors have declared states of emergency with travel bans in effect and thousands of flights grounded.

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ALLEN: Washington has essentially been the bull's-eye of this massive storm. Chris Welch was with us last night in the run-up to the storm.

I hear, Chris, that you have been out in it all day. What a difference a day makes.

CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me tell you, that's for sure. It had been snowing just about up until an hour ago really. This is as clear as we have seen it since it started snowing yesterday around 1:00 pm.

At this point you can see the Capitol building behind me clear as day. For the vast majority of today, you couldn't see really beyond this little park that is covered in snow right now.

Take a look at my feet if you can. This is what we're dealing with here. Now I know we've talked about how the forecast changed in New York.

Here in Washington things pretty much stuck to what meteorologists called for. We have about 22 inches on the ground here in the D.C. metro area.

But at Dulles International Airport they got about 28 inches. So all along, they were really predicting about 2 feet, possibly more in other areas. And that's pretty much what we have seen.

And another thing we have not seen are people out on the streets here. We have seen a lot of plows going by. There's actually some trucks going by us now. That's a good thing. We have seen plows today.

But people have listened. They've heeded those warnings to stay inside. We saw -- you know, last night we saw a few people when they'd just initiated the ban on travel out and about on the roads but that really ended late night. That's a good thing.

And the mayor had a press conference today, saying things pretty much went according to plan. They had no power outages to speak of here in Washington, D.C. All 300 emergency calls that were made overnight, those were handled and they were responded to.

So you know, the mayor saying, look, things are bad, it's going to take a while to clean up. But you know, they're going to survive.

ALLEN: That's good news.

What about air travel, Chris?

We know that all of these flights have been cancelled and many major cities on the East Coast.

Any idea when those flights will resume?

WELCH: That's the $64,000 question at this point. You know, here in D.C., they made an announcement a few hours ago from the airports that, don't expect those flights to be taking off tomorrow.

They said tomorrow looks like another day of pretty solid flight cancellations across the board. They do expect some flights could go off but definitely check before you go to the airport. That's the major suggestion from the airlines at this point.

The other thing that people are kind of looking at for tomorrow when we talk about Sunday and sort of digging out from this, the temperatures will be nicer tomorrow. It will be a warmer day. It'll be above freezing.

So we will start to see some of that melting. We'll definitely see people out, probably a lot of people playing in this tomorrow, those who have been cooped up in their hotel rooms all weekend.

But tomorrow night expect those temperatures to get back -- go back below freezing and that's when we could see some of those slick spots, the black ice. And so don't let your guard down. That's another message from city officials and from meteorologists here for tomorrow night.

ALLEN: And as far as -- Chris, I don't know if you have this information yet but as far as the federal government goes, any word on whether federal --

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ALLEN: -- offices will be open Monday?

WELCH: Well, at this point, there hasn't been any announcement that they would stay closed. And I think if all signs continue, and, you know, nothing else comes by surprise here, we won't see any more major accumulation tonight into tomorrow.

So it seems as if tomorrow's temperatures are higher, the sun's out, if plows can do their job, it seems that at this point things would be able to reopen on Monday. But we haven't heard anything to indicate otherwise at this point.

ALLEN: All right. We thank you, Chris Welch. That really is amazing, no power outages with all of that snow. That's really fantastic. We thank you for being out in it, again, for us tonight.

Well, it is not just snow and ice causing problems in this massive storm. Strong winds are pushing water from the Atlantic Ocean into parts of coastal New Jersey, causing floods across the region. CNN's Poppy Harlow spoke with New Jersey governor Chris Christie about the flooding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), N.J., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The National Guard has been called into the southern part of our state. We sent a number of high water vehicles there to be able to move people if we need to.

The state police has moved the urban search and rescue and swift water teams there if there are people who need to be moved from their homes and local law enforcement can't handle it. And so we know that we have got the resources there we need.

And we know that our National Guards men and women are ready at a moment's notice even more than to be called up and help. They are some of the true heroes from Hurricane Sandy three years ago. And we'll be able to do it now.

The great thing about this, though, is this. If you think about the fact that right now we only have about 63,000 people in New Jersey without power at the moment. That's down from over 100,000 earlier today.

So the utilities are working hard to get the power restored quickly. We've lowered it by a third so far. And so by tomorrow when the weather is better, Poppy, I think we're going to be able to make real headway on that.

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ALLEN: Chris Christie earlier on CNN.

For more on the coastal flooding we are joined now on the line by Vincent Jones, he's the director of the Atlantic County Office of Emergency Preparedness.

Thank you for joining us, Vincent. We are sure you are quite busy. We just heard the governor, talking about whether people might need rescue or help.

What has been the situation since the flooding occurred?

VINCENT JONES, ATLANTIC COUNTY OFFICE OF EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: Well, that's one of the problems we had this morning with the flooding. We did have, because of the wind, keeping the water in and the back bay areas, we did have some substantial flooding and we did have people that were displaced, not only from their homes but individuals that were out in their vehicles, trying to traverse and drive through it.

They became stranded; they needed rescue. And we were able to do that successfully.

And then right now, we are getting through tonight's high tide and of course looking at tomorrow to see what tomorrow is going to bring.

But we still have some flooding in our back bay area. The snow has started to taper off, which is a good thing. And the winds, we are hoping, throughout the night, are going to turn around and come out of the northwest and help to push some of that water out of the back bays.

ALLEN: You talk about the tide tomorrow.

So there could be more flooding tomorrow?

JONES: Yes, there is a good chance that we're going to see some moderate flooding tomorrow. And any water that does not drain off the streets or drains into the back bays, any tide that comes in and any water that we do get, it's just going to add to that.

We don't believe it's going to be as bad as it was today but, nevertheless, we are still not out of the woods with that.

ALLEN: Yes. And this is a region that say -- that got hit by Hurricane Sandy three years ago. This is a different situation. But I know that one area there along the shore built up a wall, a sand dune wall.

Did that help keep the water out?

JONES: The sand dunes absolutely helped. They are basically the first line of defense. They take the brunt or the initial punch, if you will, from the waves. And we had some -- anywhere from 12- to 14- , up as much as 20-foot waves from this storm pushing in.

And those dunes take that initial brunt of the waves; they knock the waves down enough that, you know, any water that does make its way up over on, from the beach onto the street ends is not as bad as it would without the dunes, where the water would just have a clean shot, making its way toward the street.

So they absolutely worked. Unfortunately, we've had some substantial beach erosion and damage to those dunes and that's one of the things that, going into the winter, we are prone up here to get these nor'easters. So we're going to have to build that dune structure back up.

ALLEN: How many towns did get flooded?

And did the water get inside people's homes?

JONES: Almost all of our barrier islands had flooding and they experienced flooding at different level, different heights --

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JONES: -- depending on where they were and the direction of the winds.

But we did have water that did get into a lot residences, especially in the low-lying areas that did, unfortunately, see flooding during Sandy. They saw and experienced flooding again in this storm. So they had to relive all that.

We did have some commercial buildings, too, some businesses that also were flooded for this event as well and did receive flooding again in Sandy. So you know, three years later and they're having to rebuild and clean out again from the flooding.

ALLEN: It's such a shame. I want to ask you one more question.

How in the world will business owners and residents try and clean up in these frigid, icy conditions?

I mean there were ice chunks going down their street.

JONES: Yes, that's going to be one of the problems. And, as you heard, the temperatures -- tomorrow's supposed to be a nice day. So we have to get out there and we have to start assessing some of the damage. People are going to try to start cleaning up.

But there's really not much they can do until the some of this snow does melt away. There still -- we still could be faced with another storm at any time going into what we refer to as our nor'easter season. So people, it's going to be a slow process but they will bounce back.

They are pretty resilient and we have the support of the governor and others in the state. And we'll get through this just like we did Sandy.

ALLEN: All right. We'll end on that note. Thanks so much for taking the time with us. Vincent Jones with the Atlantic County Emergency Office there in New Jersey. Thank you, sir. Good luck to you and everybody there dealing with that.

Well, we want to turn now for more on the situation in New York, the governor there has declared a state of emergency: 25 inches of snow. That's 63 centimeters is on the ground in New York City. So far that's its third largest snowfall ever recorded. Time for a selfie, I guess.

Roads, bridges and tunnels in the city are closed to all but nonemergency vehicles until at least Sunday morning. Chad Myers has been covering all of this for us from Times Square, where there are a few people out exploring, of course.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we are officially going to break a record here in Central Park or Times Square, all across the city. Manhattan officially going to go above the highest snowfall record on record for as long as they have been keeping records here in New York. And I guess that is kind of a milestone.

But the wind here in Central Park and in Times Square wasn't as bad as we saw down the shore or down in Baltimore and Philadelphia and D.C. So we don't have the drifting like they have down there. It's a little bit better.

Talia (ph) is actually from Florida; she joins me now.

You live over in Hell's Kitchen but you said the cars over there are snowed in?

TALIA (PH), RESIDENT: Everything is snowed in over there and it's freezing. But we are having fun.

MYERS: Now this is the most snow you have seen?

TALIA (PH): Yes. I've lived in Manhattan for 10.5 years and this is definitely the most snow I've ever seen in my life.

MYERS: So how are you going to cope with it?

Are you going to cook?

Are there stores open?

What's it like over there?

TALIA (PH): We found one restaurant over there that's open. It's not as crowded as I thought it would be. We figured it would be packed but it's not and we're just having fun with it.

MYERS: I think that's all you can do. At this point in time, we have gone by the, "oh, my gosh; I'm not going to get to work on Monday," and now we're just going to have fun with it.

So I guess if you can't and you don't want to go out, please don't; maybe Monday and Tuesday is the day to get there. Right now, it's stay in and watch TV or just kind of enjoy it briefly and get back inside.

ALLEN: All right, Chad. I say get out and have fun if you can.

Well, the massive storm stranded hundreds of Catholic students on a highway in Pennsylvania for 20 hours.

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ALLEN (voice-over): But the students made the best of it, at one time even holding a prayer service in the snow. The teenagers were returning to Nebraska from Washington, when the buses they were on got stuck. Two semi trucks had stalled, backing up traffic behind them. Eventually snowplows got all the vehicles back on their way, happy to say.

Well, last night, same situation; we spoke with a woman stuck for hours on I-75 in Kentucky.

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ALLEN: And everybody there is moved along as well. Derek Van Dam is here. The -- I tell you what, Derek --

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: People making the best --

ALLEN: -- making the best of the situations, too.

But the storm is not quite over, is it? Or is it?

VAN DAM: It isn't quite over. There are still places where there are some heavier snow bands moving through, basically Boston, just south of the New York City area, right along Long Island.

But it's really exiting the D.C. area and into Philadelphia. So snow totals there pretty much coming to an end. But regardless, it's been a record-breaking day for many locations or at least near record. And we'll get to some of those.

But first I want to show you this picture, Natalie, take a look at this.

"Dude, where's my car?"

Can you find it?

This is what people have to deal with, unreal.

ALLEN: It really is.

VAN DAM: And some of the snowfall totals coming out of this region, again, this is just some of the --

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VAN DAM: -- major airports: Dulles Airport's 28.3 inches. That's 71 cms. That's the second largest snowfall behind a February 10th, 2010 -- or February 2010 even that was over 30 inches of snow.

Washington, D.C., we haven't broken all-time records. They had 17.8 inches. That's 45 cms. Baltimore, there is a potential for an all- time record to be broken there.

And New York Central Park, that's the area where officially take records for the Big Apple and they are sitting at 25.1 inches. That is 64 centimeters. Not quite a record just yet but there is still some snow. So we don't want to give up on that one just yet because we want that all-time record to be broken.

Don't we?

I mean, we want to see that stuff.

OK. Maybe I'm coming from a meteorological standpoint, weather man stuff right there.

But look at the other snowfall totals, I mean, 40 inches of snow on the ground.

What would you do?

Not much you can, other than grab that cup of hot chocolate.

(WEATHER REPORT) VAN DAM: Hey, I'm going to end with this, Natalie. Check this out.

Scott Kelly actually took this photo of thunder snow from the International Space Station.

See that little bright light in the center there?

That is actually lightning inside center of this storm.

ALLEN: Scott Kelly, he's working up there.

VAN DAM: He really is. A year in space.

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ALLEN: All right, thanks, Derek.

All right.

You talked about China last night so we want to talk about that as well. People in China are experiencing bitter temperatures and snowfall.

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ALLEN (voice-over): This is the scene in one eastern province where snow is uncommon. Up to 50 centimeters of powder have blanketed some mountainous regions there. Temperatures expected to drop to around 11 degrees below zero. Some 13,000 people living in the province have been relocated due to homes that are not equipped to handle the cold.

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ALLEN (voice-over): Well, let's go back to Washington, something that is equipped to handle the cold, can you stand it? A giant panda totally enjoying the blizzard. Zookeepers recorded Tian Tian -- that's him -- frolicking and rolling in the freshly fallen snow at his home in the Smithsonian National Zoo.

They posted the video online with a tweet, "Tian Tian woke up to a lot of snow and he was pretty excited about it, #blizzard2016."

Looks like he's trying to make a snow angel.

Snow panda.

Well, we are getting reports that Norway has temporarily suspended the deportation of refugees to Russia following a standoff at a church. We'll have more about that ahead here.

Also Jews in France are now migrating to Israel in record numbers.

Why?

We'll have a report in just a moment. Stay with us, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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ALLEN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.

We're learning that Norway has temporarily suspended the deportation of asylum seekers back to Russia. Russia state news agency reports the decision followed a request from Russian officials. Migrants arrived there by taking the so-called Arctic route. Norway is part of the European Free Movement Agreement.

Activists in Norway had been supporting a group of Syrian refugees staying in a church to avoid being deported. The U.N. says that Russia is simply not a safe country for migrants.

Cell phone video from the French port of Calais shows hundreds of people breaking into the gates of the port on Friday. About 50 managed to get onto a ship, disrupting ferry traffic for a time; 35 people were arrested.

Earlier, a demonstration denounced living conditions in the nearby refugee camp known as The Jungle.

So again, the refugee crisis goes on on many fronts.

The deadly terror attacks in Paris and a rise in anti-Semitic violence have led to the largest migration of Jews from Western Europe to Israel in more than half a century. Our Oren Liebermann reports from a town in Israel that many French Jews now call home.

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The ages are as varied as the backgrounds in this class. Students in their 20s or 40s, from France or Russia, all learning the same language: Hebrew.

They are new immigrants to Israel, part of the largest wave of Jewish immigration from Western Europe to Israel since 1948.

French Jews are leading that wave.

After the attack on the kosher supermarket in Paris a year ago, where four Jews were killed just days after the Charlie Hebdo attack, many French immigrants say they felt increasingly unsafe. Yoav Krief's friend was killed in that attack.

YOAV KRIEF, FRENCH JEWISH EMIGRE: I was not good, really not good. And talked to my mom. I said, "I must go to Israel."

LIEBERMANN: And this is where you will continue your life?

KRIEF: Yes, of course.

LIEBERMANN: This is home for you?

KRIEF: Yes.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Many, like Krief, have made their home in Ashdod, a city in Southern Israel. Here, you are as likely to hear French on the streets as Hebrew.

LIEBERMANN: The cultural center here in the heart of Ashdod, right near city hall, looks an awful lot like The Louvre. And across the street is Cafe Lyons, a popular meeting spot for the French community here in the city.

Sitting here, at this French cafe in Ashdod, it's quite stunning; all the conversations in here around me are in French. The entire menu is in French. And on the window outside, it says, in French, "joie de vivre," the enjoyment of life.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): And that's what French Jews like Charly Dahan say they are looking for, a place to combine their old home with their new one.

"We've tried to per serve our culture here," he says.

"It's very important to hold onto that when you've lived in a different country for 30 or 40 years. We bring our old culture with us and try to combine it with a new one."

Reminders of why they left continue to this day. A Jewish teacher was attacked last week in Marseilles in an ISIS-inspired attack. And the city's chief rabbi told Jews not to the wear religious skullcaps, called kippah, on the French streets.

According to the E.U., the vast majority of French Jews openly identifying as Jewish at least some of the time.

Dov Cohen left Marseilles in July, headed for Ashdod.

"There's a feeling of security here that no longer exists in France," he says.

"Twenty years ago, maybe there was. Since the year 2000, it's gone."

The idea of Israel has always been that Jews anywhere have a home here, but what of the place these newcomers have left behind?

One French leader expressed the fear that France would no longer be France without a group of its native sons -- Oren Liebermann, CNN, Ashdod.

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ALLEN: The U.S. campaign trail: two U.S. presidential candidates just found out some good news while on the trail in Iowa. That's next.

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ALLEN: An influential newspaper in the U.S. state of Iowa has endorsed its Republican and Democratic candidates for president. "The Des Moines Register" gave the nod to Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton. Notably, the publication interviewed every major candidate, with the exception of Republican front-runners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

Well, despite that endorsement of Rubio, Republican front-runner Donald Trump seems even more confident he will win his party's nomination. He told a crowd in Iowa about how loyal his supporters are.

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DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The people, my people are so smart. And you know what else they say about my people, the polls, they say I have the most loyal people.

Did you ever see that?

Where I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters.

OK?

It's like incredible.

No, they say, Trump, we love you too, man.

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ALLEN: The former mayor of New York City may have his eye on the Oval Office. "The New York Times" says Michael Bloomberg would be willing to spend $1 billion -- that's with a B -- of his own money on an independent campaign.

A source close to the media mogul has previously told CNN that Bloomberg would consider entering the race if it appeared Donald Trump or Ted Cruz would face Bernie Sanders in the general election.

That will do it for CNN NEWSROOM. I'll be right back with our top stories. Thanks for watching.