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Most Mid-Atlantic Airports Shut Down; New York Snowed In; Sand Dunes Help to Lessen Flooding; Orphaned Chinese Boy Now Home in the U.S.; Norway Halts Refugee Deportations to Russia; Iowa's Largest Newspaper Endorses Clinton, Rubio. Aired 2-2:30a ET
Aired January 24, 2016 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The snow just keeps coming, pushing records along the U.S. East Coast. And in some spots tidal flooding is making conditions even worse.
Plus: Norway stops sending asylum seekers back to Russia after Russia requests a pause. Even the U.N. saying Russia just isn't safe for refugees.
And Donald Trump, he's at it again, saying he could shoot someone and still not lose any of his supporters. That's definitely raising a few eyebrows.
From CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm George Howell. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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HOWELL: And a very good day to you. We start this hour in the U.S. East Coast. Major cities still at a frozen standstill after that massive snowstorm and there is still snow coming down in some places.
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HOWELL (voice-over): High winds, you hear them there. Heavy snow or both. They are still blasting states from New York all the way down south here to the state of Georgia; 11 governors have declared states of emergency from this storm that has proven to be a deadly one.
At least 14 people have died, some from shoveling snow, others because of traffic accidents across the region's highways. Thousands of drivers found themselves stuck, stranded.
And it's not just roadway travelers who are stuck. Airports throughout the mid-Atlantic states are shut down. Almost 7,000 flights are canceled through Sunday.
Let's get the latest on this storm. Our Derek Van Dam is here to tell us about it.
Derek -- and it's still snowing in some places. DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is. But the bulk of the heavy
snow is coming to an end and it's still coming to an end very quickly. It's still the winds that are going to whip around that fresh fallen snow, creating drifting and still lots of problems out there.
And the potential of still some minor coastal flooding because the storm is still pushing on the ocean and still impacting that region.
So we're going to cover all these details now but a lot of people want to know, were records actually broken?
We started to focus on Washington, D.C., the nation's capital. There are the top three snowfall totals ever reported in Washington. You can see it was 28 inches set back in 1922.
But did we break it this time?
Reagan National Airport is actually the official Washington, D.C., record taker for snowfall events. And at the moment they only have 17.8. So we are putting ourselves at top five in D.C.
But New York City, if you're located or you have traveled, you can familiarize yourself with Central Park and know exactly where I'm talking about, that particular location saw its second snowiest event of all time, just 0.1 inch shy of breaking that all-time record.
It is still snowing in that region but only a few flurries. It will be a close call. We will have to wait till we see that official measurement from Central Park, once we see the sun come up early in the morning. We'll start to report on those official totals.
Look at the rest of the totals across the area, 40 inches-plus for some locations, leading to scenes just like this.
Dude, where's my car?
Can you imagine actually having to try and sift through meters of snow or feet of snow just to find your vehicle?
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VAN DAM: And you can see the winds improving there, George. That means that the storm is quickly pulling away.
HOWELL: That's the good news. And it's nice to see on the ground and all. But people will have to deal with this, Derek, days and days, maybe even weeks.
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VAN DAM: Without a doubt they will be digging out from this one for a very long time.
HOWELL: Derek, thank you. And we'll stay in touch with you.
It's no surprise in New York and it's about five hours away from sunrise and people will wake up there to a city that is still frozen and covered in what may be record-breaking snow. CNN's Brian Stelter took a look at the roads just a short while ago there.
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BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: We all know New York is a city that never --
[02:05:00]
STELTER: -- sleeps but it came awfully close to snoozing these past few hours.
We're on the West Side Highway right now, heading toward Lower Manhattan and you can see that we are the only ones out here. The sanitation vehicles have been able to get ahead of this storm, thanks to the travel ban that was put into effect on Saturday afternoon.
That's why we're already seeing blacktop out here, already being able to see that the roads are clearing up as the snowfall starts to calm down.
This storm was much bigger than anticipated for New York City. A couple days ago, the forecast was for four or eight inches, maybe a foot. But we ended up with more than two feet of snow here which is interesting because normally people complain when the weatherman overestimates, overstates or even exaggerates how bad it's going to be.
Well, in this case the storm models were suggesting that Washington would bear the brunt of this storm, that New York would be let off comparatively easy. It turns out in that great D.C. versus New York rivalry, actually New York was dealt the bigger blow, the tougher blow from this storm, ended up with more snow up here than in many areas around Washington.
Of course one of the notable parts about this storm is how widespread it is. We're talking about hundreds of miles that's going to be digging out as this day now gets started here on Sunday.
As people start to recover from the storm and start to head out, maybe enjoy the fresh snow, going sledding, of course, taking their pets out and things like that.
So as we drive around here I can tell you we see almost no one out here. Only a few pedestrians and a few emergency vehicles. This travel ban was maybe surprisingly effective, surprisingly well accepted by New Yorkers. And it's had the benefit of being able to clear these roads as a result -- back to you.
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HOWELL: Brian Stelter for us. Thank you.
Even a near record-breaking snowfall in New York can't keep some people inside. Plenty ventured out into the snow earlier, including rock star Steven Tyler. You heard right. The lead singer from Aerosmith and his daughter, Mia, they were out for a walk when they came across my colleague and friend, Poppy Harlow, out there.
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STEVEN TYLER, SINGER AND MUSICIAN: Not playing out anytime soon. I am from New York City. And I'm down here to see my daughters and my grandson, Milo.
How are you doing, Milo?
And Royston.
Decided to go downtown but then decided not to. The weather's terrible.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Where are you guys going next?
The weather is terrible.
You were here promoting your latest single on Colbert last night.
Where are you going next?
I mean you're going to obviously hunker down for this thing.
STEVEN TYLER: I'm going to hunker down. I've got a funny feeling this storm's going to keep us here a couple extra days. Stay home. Two words: hot chocolate.
HARLOW: Hot chocolate. All right.
MIA TYLER, STEVEN'S DAUGHTER: And family hugs.
STEVEN TYLER: Family hugs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Hot chocolate. Not a bad thing there.
As I mentioned earlier, this storm stranded people on highways. In one case hundreds of Catholic students in Pennsylvania spent some 20 hours on a highway.
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HOWELL (voice-over): But here's what they did. They made the best of it. The students basically held mass in the snow. The teenagers were returning to Nebraska from Washington when their bus got stuck -- their buses, several of them.
Two trucks had stalled, backing up all the traffic behind them. Eventually snowplows got all the vehicles back on their way. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: In New Jersey, some people are dealing with dangerously high water in addition to that snow and ice. Strong winds are pushing water from the Atlantic Ocean into areas along the Jersey Shore, causing flooding in several seaside towns.
Vincent Jones is the director of the Atlantic County Office of Emergency Preparedness. He spoke with my colleague, Natalie Allen, just a short time ago about what's being done to try to resolve the situation. Listen.
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VINCENT JONES, ATLANTIC COUNTY OFFICE OF EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: 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.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: This is a region that saw -- 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 --
[02:10:00]
JONES: -- they knock the waves down enough that any water that does make its way up over from the beach onto the street ends is not as bad as it would without the dunes.
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HOWELL: So dealing with flooding there in New Jersey.
And in Washington, D.C., there is snow, snow and more snow on the ground. Chris Welch is there to tell us about the situation -- Chris.
CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, snow, snow, more snow. Take a look at the ground here at my feet. This is what we've been dealing with here. It's about two feet of snow in general in the D.C. Metro area. A little bit more at Dulles International. We had been talking since last night, meteorologists had been talking that we might break a record here in D.C.
It doesn't appear that that's happened here. And you can see it has certainly let up. This is really within the last few hours. It's stopped essentially. We don't expect to see much more throughout the evening, maybe an inch at that.
But we've got a crystal clear shot of the U.S. Capitol behind me here right now. And, thankfully, all we have really seen on the roads so far tonight is snowplows and emergency crews. That's a good thing because it does seem like people have listened to the warnings and heeded those calls from government officials to stay inside today, done get out on the roads in your cars.
So that's a good thing because tomorrow is going to be the digging out. It's going to begin that last phase of trying to clean things up.
So one thing that's going to help with the cleanup are the temperatures. It will be slightly warmer tomorrow. It will be above freezing. It will be sunny for much of the day tomorrow. So that will help melt a little bit. It's certainly not going to melt the bulk of what we got. But it will help when it comes to road clearing.
But it will also make things tricky because everyone who's been cooped up for the last few days in their homes, any tourists in their hotels are going to want to be out there. They're going to want to explore tomorrow. So that could put a little bit of a hindrance on some of the cleanup efforts.
So in terms of getting things fully back to normal for, say, Monday, government offices, schools, the mayor has said we just won't know until tomorrow evening after they've had the full day, after crews have had a full day to really get out there and do some cleanup and see what they have left.
HOWELL: So, Chris, you're saying basically as far as finding out whether people will have to make that journey and deal with that Monday commute back to work, officials are waiting to see how tomorrow goes, yes?
WELCH: That's exactly right, George. It's going to really come down to what they're able to get done. And I think that kind of is the case for here and further north really.
And in terms of airports, essentially here in D.C., they've said they do expect to remain shut down tomorrow. We sort of heard similar things from the Port Authority in New York and from the governor in New York. They say, as of now, they don't see much in the way of flights leaving from there tomorrow, either. But, again, if cleanup efforts go well, if the runways -- if the sun comes out and helps melt some of the snow on the runways, if they're able to get plows out there, they do think they might be able to start announcing that certain flights from certain airports might be able to get out again.
But it's just going to be one of those situations where they see where they are. You know, time will tell, so to speak. It's a cliche but, in this instance, it is sort of true -- George.
HOWELL: And Chris, just to clarify for our viewers, when we talk about tomorrow, we're actually talking about today, just five hours away before sunrise there in D.C.
Chris Welch, thank you so much for taking time with us and hope you can get back in the warm there. Thank you.
The U.S. is not the only country that is getting hit with extreme cold. Coming up, the record-breaking snow in Eastern China that's forced some people out of their homes.
Plus: Iowa's most powerful newspaper gives out its presidential endorsements and leaves out the two Republican front-runners. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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HOWELL: People in China are experiencing bitter temperatures and the snowfall that they're dealing with of their own as well.
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HOWELL (voice-over): This is the scene in one eastern province, where snow is uncommon. Up to 50 centimeters, though, of powder has blanketed some mountainous regions there.
Temperatures are expected to drop 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 temperatures there.
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HOWELL: A Chinese boy who thought he would never get adopted is now settling into his new life in the United States.
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HOWELL (voice-over): JiaJia arrived in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday with his new parents. His new American name is Jason Wilson. Before that, he spent most of his nine years at a medical orphanage in Beijing. CNN's Will Ripley and producer Serena Dong have more on what it's like covering JiaJia's adoption in this special report.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Serena and I have been working on this story for five months.
And it was really hard for you to find an place, an orphanage that would allow us to even film.
SERENA DONG, CNN PRODUCER: So most were saying, sorry, it's kind of like sensitive topic in China.
Finally I reach out to the Elena's House.
RIPLEY: I don't know what you were expecting but I was kind of expecting this drab, dismal place. And then it was lovely in there.
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RIPLEY (voice-over): Hardwood floors; it was bright and kids were playing.
But it didn't make up for the fact that all of these kids didn't have parents. There were a lot of kids when we were filming, but JiaJia really stuck out to me.
He was the oldest one at the orphanage. But he just was acting as if he was a big brother for everybody.
DOING (voice-over): He's smart. He's brave. You know, he helps taking care of his little sisters and brothers in the orphanage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come here. Lots of people will see you.
DOING (voice-over): When his parents come to get him, he was telling me that, I don't want to, you know -- my best buddy to be here, because I don't want him to go through what I've been through before.
RIPLEY (voice-over): I got to the know the Wilson family a lot through Facebook and I admire them so much that they, as really working class people, who don't have a lot of money, would be willing to kind of risk it all and come and do this.
DOING (voice-over): That's why I wish our piece could, you know, get more people like touched and get involved.
RIPLEY (voice-over): When we did the story and they raised almost $50,000 in about a day, I -- I didn't expect that kind of a reaction.
DOING (voice-over): I know. I was shocked as well.
RIPLEY (voice-over): It was great. And I just think about the life that JiaJia is going to have now.
UNIDENFIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. They're looking at your shirt.
DONG (voice-over): And also with all his three big sisters in Kansas City, I'm sure they're going to have fun while JiaJia is there.
RIPLEY (voice-over): I think he's just going to be embraced and loved by everybody in his town.
DONG (voice-over): Exactly.
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RIPLEY: I'm so happy that JiaJia found a family but I'm haunted by the fact that there are so many other kids like him out there. There are hundreds of thousands of orphans here in China and these kids need homes.
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HOWELL: And Will makes that very important point. We have so much more on those many other children from JiaJia's orphanage, who also need homes. You can read more about each of them at cnn.com.
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 there, disrupting ferry traffic temporarily; 35 people were arrested.
Earlier a demonstration denounced living conditions in the nearby refugee camp known as The Jungle.
Following pro-refugee protests in Norway, the government there has temporarily suspended the deportation of asylum seekers back to Russia. Russia's state news agency reports the decision followed a request from Russian officials.
[02:20:00]
HOWELL: Activists in Norway had been supporting a group of Syrian refugees staying in a church to avoid being deported. The U.N. says Russia is simply not safe, not a safe country for migrants.
The deadly terror attacks in Paris and the rise of anti-Semitic violence have led to the largest migration of Jews from Western Europe into Israel in more than half a century. Our Oren Liebermann reports from a town in Israel that has many French Jews now calling it 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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HOWELL: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Donald Trump, he has never been lacking in confidence. But only he would describe his odds of winning the way he did at a rally. You will hear his words -- next.
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HOWELL: An influential paper in the United States in the state of Iowa has endorsed its --
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HOWELL: -- Republican and Democratic candidates for president. "The Des Moines Register" gave the nod to Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton, respectively. Notably the publication interviewed every major 2016 candidate, with the exception of Republican front-runners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
Despite that endorsement of Marco Rubio, Republican front-runner Donald Trump seems even more confident that he will win his party's nomination. He told a crowd in Iowa about just how loyal his supporters were. Listen to this.
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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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HOWELL: One week before the state of Iowa casts ballots in the nation's first caucus, the Democratic candidates will go face to face with voters there. CNN's Chris Cuomo moderates a Democratic presidential town hall with Martin O'Malley, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. That will be Tuesday at 2:00 am in London, 3:00 am Central European
time, only here on CNN.
A police officer in the U.S. state of Florida responded to a noise complaint at a basketball court. But rather than come down hard on the folks there, he played a game with them first. And then that video went viral.
Well, he promised them a rematch and a rematch delivered with a very special guest, former NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal. Look at that.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I told you I was going to bring some backup, right?
You guys ready?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you bring your good game?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at these big boys I brought.
You sure you can take them?
You're pretty sure you can take these guys, right?
I brought some other backup for you all.
(INAUDIBLE)
HOWELL (voice-over): We had to bleep out those words there. You'd be a little surprised to see Shaquille O'Neal stepping out.
Good luck in that game.
But you know, it was a good game for everyone there and a good moment.
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HOWELL: At least one Washington resident is totally enjoying the winter weather in the U.S.
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HOWELL (voice-over): Check out this giant panda at the Smithsonian National Zoo. Zookeepers recorded Tian Tian, rolling and frolicking in the freshly fallen snow on Saturday.
Look at that. Doesn't get better than that.
They posted the video online with the tweet, "Tian Tian woke up this morning to a lot of snow and he was pretty excited about it. #blizzard2016."
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That's a great way end this show. We thank you for watching. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta. The "WINNING POST" is up next. But first, I'll have a check of your world headlines. You're watching CNN, the world's news leader.
