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Aftermath of Hurricane Irma; E.U. Withdrawal Bill Wins First U.K. Parliament Vote; U.N. Security Council Approves Tough New Sanctions Tribute in Light to 9/11 Victims Aired 12-1a ET

Aired September 12, 2017 - 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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[00:00:20] MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. You're watching CNN's continuing coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

I'm Michael Holmes coming to you live from Tampa, Florida.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm George Howell, live in Atlanta, Georgia at midnight this hour on the U.S. East Coast and a lot to cover for you this hour.

HOLMES: It certainly is -- George, thanks for that.

Now only a tropical depression, Irma weakening but still affecting at least nine U.S. states with winds and steady rain as it continues to make its way north.

We've got some video to show you now that shows how it flooded parts of Savannah's famous river street. Three storm-related deaths reported elsewhere in Georgia.

Meanwhile in South Carolina, the waters in Charleston Harbor crested at nearly three meters on Monday. That is the city's third highest reading. A man killed there by a falling three limb.

And here in Florida, we are getting a better look now at Irma's destructive path from the Florida Keys to Jacksonville which saw historic storm surge and flooding. There is one confirmed storm- related death there.

And here in Tampa, I can tell you that I talked to the mayor, George, over the last couple of days. He was worried that there would be, in his words, a punch in the face for this city which is susceptible to storm surge and to show you, the "Tampa Bay Times" here now, "We're lucky".

There has been damage here. There's been houses destroyed. The power is out to a large part of the population here. But they're saying that they are indeed lucky. That storm surge never really eventuated. A city that could have been flooded downtown was not so they're now calling it a glancing blow and not a punch to the face -- George.

HOWELL: Surely, Michal -- those low-lying bridges there, the infrastructure, so susceptible, so vulnerable to a storm like this. But again, as you point out that city certainly dodging a bullet in this case.

Here in the Atlanta, Georgia area and throughout this region we definitely felt the effects of this storm as it passed through here in Atlanta. Many downed trees, some localized flooding here and there but throughout the region you saw much more flooding.

And also at the world busiest airport, just here in Atlanta, Georgia -- that's a scene to tell you about you. We could show you this Flight Aware video and you can get a sense of what's described as the misery factor. That, because of the delays across the board because of the storm's strong winds that blew through here so many people have to cancel flights.

And if you even consider between Florida and Georgia, these major airports that are now incapacitated, you know, until the weather gets better. That's definitely bad news for travelers.

Let's go to our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri who's following this. And Pedram -- what we saw here in Atlanta, the strong winds, the gusts not nearly what was felt in San Juan, Puerto Rico when it was a Category 5.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

HOWELL: But here -- this city experienced something that it has not experienced before.

JAVAHERI: That's right a tropical storm warning was issued for the city. That had never happened for Atlanta or an area that far inland at least.

You know, George, talking about the Atlanta airport -- 1,200 flights canceled on Monday, 500 flights delayed -- the most impacted airports in the world was Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson Airport. Now 10 states in on the rainfall at this hour, what is left of tropical depression Irma pushing across parts of the southern United States.

And we'll walk over and I'll show you what we're dealing with right now. Because the storm system, yes, glad to tell you it is on its last breath. It spent about 40 hours over land now, about the same amount of time it spent at 180 mile per hour strong Category 5 system.

Take a look at this, it is literally running into a tremendous amount of dry air. You're seeing all the coloration begin to disappear as dry air being (inaudible) for the storm. So what is left of this, the disruption and we know they are extensive across a number of states.

In fact, Florida Power and Light estimated 3.5 million customers would be without power. At number one out of 6.5 million customers, by the way, 3.5 million would have been enough to make it the most disrupted weather event as far as power outages are concerned in U.S. history, almost doubling that number -- you see it stretches across multiple states.

As far as flooding 40 -- about 40 flood gauges reporting moderate to major flood phase, some of them minor down across portions of Florida. But you notice again pretty expansive area of coverage as far as activity. And about eight million people dealing with the flooding that's in place stretching over numerous phases (ph) as well.

So where does the storm head and how does it all play out?

Well, we know it was the first category 5 to hit Cuba since 1924. Category 4 into Key West, Florida back on Sunday morning, 16 days removed from another Category 4 -- that was Hurricane Harvey. First time in U.S. history we had two hurricanes made Category 4 landfalls in one season.

[000506] Category 3 landfall across portions of say, Marco Island, just went to the east of Tampa but, of course, we know when this happens storm surge significantly impact portions of the western region of Florida.

On the other side we had the highest storm surge numbers ever observed out of Jacksonville, Florida. That was the highest in record there that has been kept since the 1840s. And the storm, of course, now impacting ten states in the way of heavy rainfall.

So really can't stress enough the significance of this impressive storm system. In fact, going back to August 31st, that's when we first took note of a storm that was going to be approaching portions of the Leeward Islands. It actually skipped getting into a Category 2. It went from Category 1 to Category 3, made landfall as a 5 across the parts of the Leeward Islands. Strongest storm to ever impact the Turks and Caicos and then, of course, the 1924 strongest since that.

But you see the damage that was left in places such as Barbuda. And I want to show you the before and after perspective because -- look at this, what I really looked for carefully is the coloration or the foliage or the trees essentially on top of this island, home to about 1,600 people.

Look at the after perspective, the dull coloration in this and of course, a lot of these trees literally flattened, pushed off, potentially pushed on into the waters.

Another area I looked, George, carefully at is seeing the colors right there kind of the subterranean perspective of some of the coral, the sand right on the coastal communities that have been disrupted and pushed offshore. It was not there before the storm system made landfall.

So significant damage and this is just one of many islands that has seen one of the biggest storms ever move across their land in the past couple of days -- George.

HOWELL: Pedram -- an historic storm indeed. Thank you so much.

And when you think about the flooding here, you think about what happened in Charleston, in Savannah, in Jacksonville -- Michael. This storm unlike anything people have seen before. In many ways it did spare these major cities but still there's so much devastation, so much flooding it's left behind. And it will take people some time to get things back to normal for sure.

HOLMES: Yes, indeed -- George. And that little kick to the east by the storm certainly saved Tampa from that storm surge.

We want to go now to Derek Van Dam, he's been covering the area down around Miami. And Derek -- we talked earlier about how the storm surge that could have really done a lot of damage here in Tampa didn't eventuate because of that move.

You're in a place where the storm surge had a major impact. Tell us about that and how that surge works.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Michael -- we're sitting in Biscayne Bay, one of the many marinas here. This is called Bay Shore Marina in the Coconut Grove region.

And what you've seen behind me is the worst damage in this marina in the past 12 years. We all remember in 2005, Hurricane Katrina and Wilma causing so much extensive damage across this area. But it's incredible.

Talking to some of the boat owners across this area, that particular luxury boat behind me is actually responsible for this damage you see. It was actually inappropriately tied for hurricane conditions nearly 250 meters to my left.

The tide pushed up. We had -- coupled that with 150-kilometer per hour winds, the lines effectively broke and that entire boat came -- shipped across this water and into the marina and actually crashed into all the various boats behind, literally taking these things, tossing them like toys.

So Michael -- it was a combination the hurricane surge, or the storm surge and that with the strong winds, that had brought this large, large vessel behind and took all the smaller boats along with it as well.

And it's unfortunate because this is actually -- some of the boats are used for non-profit organizations to take children out and learn and teach how to sail.

So there are so many stories here to tell but you're looking at some devastating damage. There are boats that are still intact and they didn't have any damage from the storm but what you're looking at behind me will take weeks, if not months, to clean up.

HOLMES: Yes -- incredible stuff. But Derek, before I let you go, a lot of people being told if you've gone, don't come back yet. And you know, a lot of people are worried about that. What is the advice of the city to residents?

VAN DAM: You know, we've spent a lot of time on Miami Beach. One of the evacuation zones -- and people are getting frustrated as you would, as I would that they cannot return home to see the damage, assess the problems at their house. The mayor of Miami Beach, Philip Levine, has a word to these residents looking to come home. It's time -- 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, the evacuation is lifted. Come home. The roads will be passable. The electrical lines will be cleared up enough to where people can get to their homes and assess the damage.

Still a long way to go, though to say the least -- Michael.

[00:09:59] HOLMES: Yes. And then in the case of people losing power, it could be weeks. And just imagine that. We're chatting to some people here just a little while ago, before the show, who are staying in a hotel because their power is out.

And they were just talking about, you know, in a way it's (inaudible) of all problems, given what some people are going through on some of the islands in the Caribbean. But you know, if you're without power for three weeks, the kids are back in school. You've got no food that can be kept in a refrigerator. The lights are out.

And if that goes on for weeks, the disruption that will cause to just every day life and they were talking about how you just don't appreciate the little things until they're taken away.

George Howell up there in Atlanta -- back to you for now.

HOWELL: Michael -- thanks.

So you know, we want to talk about flooding in -- right along the east coast here, the Georgia coastline along the Atlantic and I talked to you about Savannah. You talk about Chatham County, Georgia. They saw a lot of problems there.

And let's now bring in Catherine Glasby on the phone with us. She's the public information officer for Chatham County. Tell us about the situation there. Good to have you with us on the line this hour.

First of all, talk to us about what you're seeing right now -- the flooding. Where do things stand right now.

CATHERINE GLASBY, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, CHATHAM COUNTY GEORGIA (via telephone): Well, first -- thank you for having us.

Things are actually improving here. We've been out of the weather for a while. Tides, while high tonight, it's at 9.2 was not a major tide even though we were kind of expected a 10 that was much less than that. That helped us out a lot.

We did receive a lot of flooding in our islands and coastal and low- lying areas from storm surge and heavy rain. And we did have some wind damage as far as like blowing down branches and some trees have come down, power lines down -- those types of things.

But it certainly isn't as bad as we were expecting a couple of days ago.

HOWELL: Explain to us how the moon would have played into this, this king tide -- that was a big concern there.

GLASBY: We did have an exceptionally high tide with the storm surge. We actually had a 4.7 foot surge so that made at the Fort Pulaski gauge, it was a 12.24 today around 12:30. So that is exceptionally high, that did cause a lot of problems out on Tybee Island and into Wilmington Island, Isle of Hope, Burnside Island -- those things that are coastal areas.

HOWELL: Catherine -- so there is a curfew in effect this night, correct. Explain to us, you know how long that curfew will remain in effect and, you know, what do you tell residents? Those who want to come back into those neighborhoods, those communities given that there is damage?

GLASBY: Right. Well, we respect that everybody wants to get back in to look at their property. That's important. But we do have a curfew in place from 11:00 a.m. -- excuse me, 11:00 p.m. last night until 6:00 a.m. this morning.

And the reason that we have done that is because we don't really want people moving around the county in the dark. We're still being affected by having power outages. We still have at least 70,000 residents that don't have power right now.

Georgia Power is working on that for us. And they're amazing and awesome. They have actually restored a lot of our power.

But we do have dark areas. There are trees down. There are lines down. We don't want anyone to get hurt. So we have asked everybody to stay put for the night.

And as far as coming back into the county, we'll make announcements about that tomorrow. But again, we have to secure the county first. We need to make sure that everything is ok for people to come back.

We need to inspect roads and bridges. We need to make sure that the power lines aren't in the road and people aren't going to run over them -- those types of things.

That's why we've asked everybody to stay put right now and we will get everybody back in as soon as we can.

HOWELL: Catherine Glasby with Chatham County -- thank you so much for updating our viewers.

Michael -- I'll toss it back to you.

HOLMES: Yes, important issues there. George -- thanks. We'll check in with you in a little bit.

Jack Seiler is the mayor of Fort Lauderdale. He's joining me on the phone now to chat a little bit about what went on there and what the priorities are.

Mr. Mayor -- thanks for your time. As you look at the aftermath now, what do you see as the priorities for your part of the state? MAYOR JACK SEILER (D), FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA (via telephone): Well, for our part of the state, we've got to obviously dry out a little bit. We've got a fair amount of rain from a very, very big and bad and very, very broad storm.

But we're in a phase right now where we're dealing with trying to complete our assessment. We've actually now been out of the storm for about a full day but our area being not just a rather large urban area, you know, greater Fort Lauderdale has almost two million people.

[00:14:56] We've -- we're just in the process of finalizing our assessment in terms of power lines, street lights, a lot of sand that got moved across -- under the barrier island and a lot of trees that snapped.

We actually were doing a tree assessment and we had over a hundred trees blocking roads at various places. And so it's -- it's a significant storm so whether we escaped the brunt or not we're feeling the after effects.

HOLMES: Yes. Clearing roads, I think, as described by a lot of people is, you know, a very obviously thing but a real priority. If you don't have clear roads, you can't get emergency and assessment vehicles around just the basics of infrastructure.

And also power, of course, we're talking about before. It could be weeks. It's going to be such a massive job I think. I think five million people still without power in the state.

How long do you see the recovery be?

SEILER: Well, obviously, it's phases of recovery because, you know, from a short term standpoint we can clear the sand off the roads. From a short term standpoint we can get the debris out of the road.

Now you get into the longer term things and you touched on one, and you're 100 percent correct. The power issue -- we've got in Broward County, you know, hundreds of thousands lost power. We already had some people get their power restored. I was surprised.

I'm getting calls throughout Fort Lauderdale of people since this morning saying, you know, hey I got my power back. Or I get a text, you know, we got our power back. So Florida Power and Light is apparently, you know, working around the clock and we appreciate that, to get the power back.

But there are phases of recovery. If anybody tells you that you recover from a storm of this magnitude in a short period of time, they're not being accurate. They're not being truthful because this is a phased recovery.

And we'll take care of some of the smaller things -- the opening of roads, the debris cleanup, traffic signals. But this community took a pretty good punch and, you know, we're going to be fine. But this is going to take weeks and then months to fully recover and we'll see where we're going. But again, there's a sense of gratitude here like we didn't get the full brunt of it and we really are very fortunate and blessed here in Fort Lauderdale.

HOLMES: Mayor Seiler -- thank you so much. Appreciate your time. And yes, it's going to be a long road but our thoughts are with you. And you know a lot of people saying that even though this was bad, damage was done and in some cases lives were lost. It could have been so much worse in so many parts of the state.

All right. Lynda Kinkade is going to be with you next with the outcome of a big vote in the small hours.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Order. Order.

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HOLMES: Britain's prime minister seeks order out of chaos after a contentious Brexit bill wins its first vote in parliament. We'll show you why the fight still isn't over.

Also the U.N. Security Council slapped tough news sanctions on North Korea, the strongest ever. We're going take a look at the effect they might have on Kim Jong-Un's ambitions.

Stay with us. You're watching CNN. We'll be right back.

[00:18:25] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade at CNN's World headquarters here in Atlanta as our tropical storm Irma coverage will continue shortly.

But right now we want to take you to London where a controversial Brexit bill passed a majority parliamentary vote just a few hours ago.

It was high drama in the midnight hour at the Houses of Parliament when lawmakers passed the European Union withdrawal bill by a majority of 36 votes. Now the bill gets into the nitty-gritty of changes to laws of the land once Britain splits from the E.U.

Tuesday's victory is a boost for Prime Minister Theresa May after Britain's tough start to Brexit negotiations in Brussels. But the fight at home is not over. The U.K. government will now face attempts to amend the withdrawal bill for a final vote later this year.

Now the shadow Brexit secretary put Tuesday's outcome a deeply disappointing result.

CNN's Max Foster tells us how it all played out at the Houses of Commons.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: 326 MPs voted to put this bill through to the next stage but 290 voted against. That was a triumph for the government to some extent but it was also a big voice from those who feel that the government is abusing its power.

As many of these E.U. laws are brought over here to the British Parliament, the government will have the power it hopes to update them and that's seen as undermining sovereignty here in the U.K. Parliament. And many oppositions and back bench (ph) conservative MPs don't like the idea of that.

Nevertheless, Theresa May did herald this decision, describing it as an historic decision to back the will of the British people and their vote for a bill which gives certainty and clarity ahead of our withdrawal from the European Union.

Brexit does appear to be happening and that's the plan at least. But this is really a sign of things to come. Late night debates, arguments over all of the detail and so much work to be done ahead of Brexit.

Max Foster, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, the U.N. Security Council has approved new sanctions on North Korea which the U.S. calls the strongest measures ever against Pyongyang.

Now the unanimous vote comes just a week after Kim Jong-Un's regime carried out its largest nuclear test yet, the U.S.-sponsored resolution and it had accord (ph) for a full ban on oil exports to North Korea and a freeze on the country's assets. But when China and Russia pushed back, the U.S. dropped the asset freeze and settled for a cap on North Korea's oil imports as well as a ban on textile exports which is estimated to hit about $800 million of North Korea's revenue.

Well, we're covering this from all angles. CNN's Will Ripley is in Pyongyang, the only Western television journalist in North Korea. And our Ian Lee is live for us in Seoul, South Korea.

I want to start with you -- Will. These are said to be the toughest sanctions yet although it has been watered down. Let's just take a listen to what was said earlier tonight.

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NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Today's resolution reduces almost 30 percent of oil provided to North Korea by cutting off over 55 percent of its gas, diesel and heavy fuel oil.

Further today's resolution completely bans natural gas and other oil byproducts that could be used as substitute for the reduced petroleum.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KINKADE: That was the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley. She said that oil is the lifeblood for North Korea to build and deliver a nuclear weapon. So if that is targeted, what sort of impact will it have?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well certainly, any restrictions of oil imports or, you know, the ability of North Korea to sell its exports. I mean this sanction also cuts their textile export business theoretically which is an $800 million business.

But North Korea has already been one of the most heavily sanctioned countries on earth for many years and yet their economy has still managed to grow. It grew by almost 4 percent last year according to South Korea Central Bank estimates.

And this sanctions bill is a watered-down version of what the United States really wanted. They wanted an oil embargo which China and Russia would not have gone for. They wanted to freeze the assets of North Korea's national airline Air Koryo. That was also taken out.

[00:24:57] And most significantly North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-Un, his name was taken off of the sanctions. Initially the U.S. wanted to blacklist him, to freeze his assets and to impose a travel ban -- something that North Korea would have equated to tantamount to an act of war. And that was also taken out.

Apparently Russia and China feel that those measures would potentially have a destabilizing effect.

I just spoke with North Korean officials here within the last 30 minutes or so -- Lynda. And their response is that they condemn the sanctions but they pledge to push forward. They says that they'll continue to grow their economy and they'll continue to develop these weapons at an even faster pace which is what we've heard North Korea say after previous rounds of sanctions.

And frankly they have kept their word. And we have seen that in their actions repeatedly.

KINKADE: Well, you raise a good point there when you spoke about the fact that the GDP of North Korea has grown despite all the sanctions in the past.

I want to go to Ian on that point. Given that this is the ninth round of sanctions since 2006, Ian -- what is the hope this time?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're going after different areas. And this is the harshest sanctions that we've seen imposed on North Korea.

One area in particular, Lynda -- that they're going over is the smuggling of goods, what the United States has called the very sophisticated evasion techniques by sea. And they want to give more tools to countries to go after those smuggling rings that smuggle everything from coal to textiles to seafood and iron. And some of those tools include that -- the inspection of vessels. And they say that if the state -- a flag state refuses to allow the inspection of a suspicious vessel, then that flag state is required to redirect the vessel to a port for inspection.

And it is important to note that these states that these ships are registered have to give their consent for these vessels to be searched. But if -- also if they refuse to allow these vessels to be searched then it says that they can be designated for an asset freeze, denied port of entry, be registered and suffer other penalties. And they're hoping that this will help curb any sort of smuggling efforts.

You know, the other thing that this heart of the sanctions really depends on is the cooperation of other countries. If other countries don't cooperate or don't enforce it strictly that really has no effect, you know.

And there's one point that the United States wanted in the sanctions bill -- the sanctions resolution that didn't get in there was that there isn't the authorization for the use of force to make these ships comply. Again, something the United States wanted but wasn't put in the final draft of this resolution.

KINKADE: Yes -- certainly some disappointment that it was watered- down.

Ian Lee and Will Ripley for us -- great to have you both with us. We will talk to you very soon. Thank you.

Although Hurricane Irma has weakened as it's headed north, the storm's (inaudible) strength is clear. Coming up -- assessing the damage in the Caribbean.

Plus thousands of people in the ravaged part of the Keys could still be forced to evacuate. We'll debate (ph) with a storm chaser about the devastation there when we come back.

[00:28:21]

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HOWELL: Welcome back to our continuing coverage. The aftermath of hurricane Irma. I'm George Howell live in Atlanta, Georgia where it is still raining, feeling the effects of the storm.

HOLMES: And I'm Michael Holmes live from Tampa in Florida where 24 hours after we were broadcasting last from here, it is a very different scene, a very calm Tampa.

Irma, though, getting weaker but it has left plenty of destruction and devastation behind everywhere. It is now officially a tropical depression but it's affecting at least nine US states.

In South Carolina Irma flooding downtown Charleston where the water was as high as three meters in some places. Jacksonville, Florida scored a record storm surge turning streets into rivers. And this is part of the devastation in the Florida Keys where Irma hit as a category 4 hurricane. Homes were destroyed. Roads are still blocked, and one resident tells us, "There's nothing left," in his community.

Well, Irma left its mark across the Caribbean as well. Melissa Bell, reports people there are just now beginning to assess the damage.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Hurricane Irma left a ton of destruction as it pummeled the Caribbean. From Antigua to Cuba, the category 5 storm destroyed homes, cut power, and left dozens of people dead.

The damage is expected to reach billions of dollars. Barbuda was devastated by the storm. Its prime minister says around 95 percent of buildings were damaged.

GASTON BROWNE, BARBUDA PRIME MINISTER: It was heart-wrenching. Absolutely devastating. I have never seen any such destruction on a pre-capita basis.

BELL: In Cuba, people (INAUDIBLE) of the devastation to their homes and livelihoods.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

INTERPRETER: It's been a huge catastrophe. My home and my business, everything is ruined. I'm self-employed carpenter. I tried to lift up things but the water came too fast and too high. Everything is wet.

BELL: Trump did send the army to its territories of Saint Martin and Saint Barths, but rescuers' distributing food and water. On the British Virgin Islands fierce winds blew away roofs and trashed homes.

Billionaire Richard Branson weathered the hurricane, sheltering in the wine cellar of his private island Necker, where many buildings were destroyed.

British Prime Minister Theresa May announced the 42 million dollar relief fund and there are just under 500 British troops in the region currently helping with the aid effort. The Dutch King Willem- Alexander arrived to the Dutch territory of Curacao yesterday to evaluate hurricane aftermath.

WILLEM-ALEXANDER, DUTCH KING: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

INTERPRETER: I have just landed so I really don't have enough information but the only message that I have right now is we realized what had happened to you and we are doing our best to help everybody who needs assistance. So have faith in the relief efforts, have faith.

BELL: For people in these Caribbean Islands, the worst of the storm may be over but the long road to recovery has only just began. Melissa Bell, CNN Paris.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOWELL: Melissa, thank you for that report. There are so many communities, so many neighborhood that were affected badly by the storm. One, in southwest Florida and that's where our Brian Todd has this report where he also got involved in the search for missing couple.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Much of Bonita Springs, Florida is under water. This small stoic community sandwiched between Fort Myers and Naples was slammed with Irma's highest winds and unrelenting rain. When the Imperial River flooded so did this mobile home neighborhood.

The Imperial Bonita Estates. When we come upon Doreen Raegal (ph), caretaker of the mobile homes, she's visibly worried about an elderly couple who decided to stay in their home.

DOREEN RAEGAL, IMPERIAL BONITA ESTATES, MOBILE HOMES CARETAKER: They're may be there, I don't know.

TODD: Through water that sometimes comes up to our waists, water contaminated with oil, chemicals, and garbage. We charged about a mile into the neighborhood. Homes are inundated, badly damaged. Some are completely overturned.

You're Doreen's husband? We meet Doreen Raegal's husband Roger, also a caretaker of the mobile homes who couldn't get to that couple. He's shaken by the condition of his neighborhood.

ROGER RAEGAL: There's a lot of damage, a lot of damage.

TODD: We finally make it to the home of Edith and Ed Nalapa. She is 88, he is 93 and has [00:05:00] Parkinson's and diabetes. The water is lapping the front door of their trailer.

The alarm of their flooded car is buzzing. Do you want us to call the fire department or police department?

EDITH NALAPA: No, no, no, no, no. We're fine, we're doing good.

TODD: Edith says they knew they probably have flooded. We asked why they didn't leave when most of their neighbors did.

NALAPA: Difficulty taking care of my husband and we have every, you know, we have food here at home, we have all of his medication and everything, just easy.

TODD: And the question we often ask of disaster victims like Edith and Ed, do they want to continue to live in a place so devastated?

NALAPA: Yes, we love in here. We've been here 27 years. This is home. TODD: We repeatedly offered Ed and Edith Nalapa food and water, we offered to call the police and fire departments for them, we even offered to carry them out of the neighborhood if they wanted to, they were resolute and said no.

They had plenty of supplies to last for several days. Edith also said they have flood insurance so they're optimistic about how this is going to turn out.

But the mayor of Bonita Springs told us they're still trying to get fire and rescue crews to neighborhoods like the Nalapa's to see who's stranded or possibly injured. Brian Todd, CNN, near Bonita Springs, Florida.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOWELL: Brian Todd, thank you. And again, here in Atlanta, Georgia, this state more than a million customers without power including myself.

But considering myself lucky when you can think about what so many people are dealing with the aftermath of this very strong storm. Stay with CNN, we'll have the latest after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade at the CNN Center. Our tropical storm cover will continue at the top of the hour, but right now we want to turn to Myanmar. The Trump -- White House today condemning the ongoing humanitarian crisis there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The United States is deeply troubled by the ongoing crisis in Burma where at least 300,000 people have fled their homes in the wake of attacks on Burmese Security Post on August 25th. We reiterate our condemnation of those attacks and ensuing violence.

KINKADE: Well, the U.N.'s top Human Rights official is also speaking out on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya movement fleeing the country.

Saying the treatment appears to be a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. A group said Rohingya people have fled across the border to Bangladesh since fighting broke out about two and a half weeks ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, Bangladesh said it needs 77 million dollars in aid to help the new arrivals. And to -- as of now, Alexandra Field reports most of the refugees crossed the border at night.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's no hope they can save anything but themselves. A hundreds of thousands on a treacherous journey trekking by boat into Bangladesh right after night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

INTERPRETER: We fled into the mountains and hid there for a couple of days. When we went back to our houses, we saw everything was burned down. They killed people by [00:10:00] stabbing, slaughtering, and starting fires.

FIELD: What's happening on the other side of the river in the Myanmar's Rakhine State is captured by satellite images that show entire villages burned to the ground. This is home to Rohingya's, people often called the "world's most persecuted".

Minority Muslim group in a predominantly Buddhist country forced on a deadly journey over water, through the jungles, and under fire to escape a living hell.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

INTERPRETER: One of my relatives when she was fleeing, she came back to get tobacco. The army fired rocket propelled grenade and she died.

FIELD: The massive exodus counted for almost the third of Myanmar's Rohingya population in just two weeks. Nearly 300,000 Rohingyas fleeing on foot. Bodies including children are pulled from the Naf River that leads refugees to Bangladesh.

As many as 80 refugees are believed to have drowned. This Rohingya man tells us he's working to find and removed landmines lead along the border maiming those escaping. A weapon's expert confirms that he's holding two live mines.

Some of the paroles for 30,000 Rohingyas were now stranded in the hillside without food, without supplies. Unable to get to the river crossing and too fearful to turn back. Others are stuck in villages across Rakhine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now we have reached to another village and it is safe yet but we don't know when they will start shooting and setting fire to this village but we hope we will stay safe here.

FIELD: CNN cannot verify this accounts. The government is not allowing media access to our kind. But the United Nation estimates at least a thousand people have died in the violence that broke out at the end of August triggered by a militant attack on border guards.

The military responded with an intensified campaign that they say targets terrorists. Human Rights groups call it ethnic cleansing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

INTERPRETER: They are killing us because we are Muslim. They wanted to destroy all Muslims at the Rakhine State. We don't want to go back, they will kill us.

FIELD: The Rohingyas now rapidly leaving the country where they've lived for generations. A place where they aren't recognized as citizens. The second exodus in a year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

INTERPRETER: They burned everything, they killed my husband. They beat him to death.

FIELD: Like the rest, Jojar Began (ph) says she has nothing to go back to. She was desperate to leave. Alexandra Field, CNN.

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KINKADE: Well, Pope Francis (INAUDIBLE) announces spending four days tour in Colombia. Speaking on board --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: -- the papal plane, the Pope responded to a question about U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to end DACA. That's the U.S. program that lets undocumented child immigrant stay in the country.

Well, Pope Francis said that if the president is prolife, he should also defend family unity.

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KINKADE: Twin beams of light are reaching up into the sky at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. The "Tribute in light" --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: -- honors the thousands of people that were killed when terrorist crashed passenger plane into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Pennsylvania Field on September 11, 2001. The beams echoed the shape of the Twin Towers which were destroyed in the attack.

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KINKADE: Well, thanks very much for watching this edition of "CNN NEWSROOM". I'm Lynda Kinkade. Stay turn now for "WORLD SPORT" and our crews in Florida and Georgia will be back at the top of the hour with more Irma coverage and much more news from right around the world. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:45:00]

VINCE CELLINI, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Welcome to "WORLD SPORT" I'm Vince Cellini at the CNN Center. Rafael Nadal entered the 2017 Grand Slam Season having not won a major in two and a half years.

He ended the Grand Slam Season as a clear-cut number one with a dominant performance in winning a third career U.S. Open Title.

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CELLINI: As finals opponent Kevin Anderson said afterward of Nadal, "He brings that high energy to every single point." Nadal failed to even reach the Grand Slam final in 2015 and '16 but this version of Rafa had put injuries and poor play behind him.

Anderson's first Grand Slam final was simply a footnote to tall South African was overmatched. Nadal was magnificent. Winning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, and 6-4, pocketing a 1th career major through sheer will as well as a favorable draw.

The 31-year-old Nadal went 15 of his final 16 sets of flashing medals. (INAUDIBLE) net play defensive skills all razor sharp. And look at the numbers again. Singles Grand Slam Title number 16, just 3 behind his rival Roger Federer.

He's won two majors in a year for the fourth time in his career. Federer won the other two in this season so he did not gain ground on Feds. And fourth hardcourt Grand Slam Title.

By contrast, Federer has only one victory on clay. New York, new Nadal. Our Don Riddell chatted with the winner Monday from New York City.

DON RIDDELL, CNN ANCHOR: Rafa, many congratulations. Many people thought you are going to win this final, they expected that, but you had to earn it and it was obvious at the end with your emotions how much it mean to you. How does it feel to be the U.S. Open Champion again?

RAFAEL NADAL, U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: Well, great, you know, unbelievable feelings to have the trophy with me again, you know, so just thanks very much for the support of my team, my family and the crowd.

You know, have been always amazing with me are the crowd here in New York. I have great connecting with them and, you know, they give me a lot of energy. So, yes, I have this trophy with me again. Yes, it mean a lot.

RIDDELL: Two major titles this year, five trophies, and now you're back to World Number One. How does this season compare to the other seasons you've been playing?

NADAL: Oh, no, no. I have -- I had -- and like them, I had some races under my career but, of course, this one is special. You know, every time it's more difficult, you know, I got older and older, but still having the possibility to compete well and (INAUDIBLE) this is so special for me and makes me feel very happy.

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CELLINI: The business of managing in sports can be a brutal one. Job security almost constantly in question and as it turns out Crystal Palace of the Premier League made an early change. Frank De Boer paid the price for his team's poor offensive showing.

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CELLINI: The team announced on Monday that they have "parted company" with De Boer following a winless start through four matches. Crystal Palace says it's been offensively challenged not scoring a single gold this season while allowing seven.

Palace Chairman Steve Parish summed things up during an exchange with fans on social media writing "People are frustrated. I'm frustrated, so are the management and players. We know we are better than this." The team said a replacement manager will be appointed in due course.

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CELLINI: To Germany where history was made on Sunday. Bibiana Steinhaus becoming the first ever woman to referee a top-flight match in Bundesliga. The 38-year-old --

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CELLINI: -- police officer officiated the fixture between Hertha Berlin and Werder Bremen in the Olympic Stadium. Steinhaus correctly making an early advantage call as Berlin struck first. Bremen would equalize.

Thanks to an incredible solo effort from Thomas Delaney in 1-1 it would finish. Steinhaus receiving nothing but credits for her composed performance. The match deemed landmark and a breakthrough for women in footballs.

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CELLINI: The long awaited group stage of the UEFA Champions League kicks off Tuesday throughout Europe. And the first chance will see a number of new players with their new teams in this competition.

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CELLINI: Some amazing day one matchups too. Barcelona hosts Juventus. The Italian side ousted the catalogs in last season's quarter finals. Elsewhere, Roma hosts Atletico, while Chelsea face debutants Qarabag in that same group C.

And one of the biggest storylines is this very new look on the PSG side breaking the bank to sign superstars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. How far will they go? It all begins as they visit Celtic (INAUDIBLE)

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CELLINI: And still to come the first NFL Sunday brought honor to brothers J.J. and T.J. Watt. And the brothers opposed each other on the gridiron but unite for a social cause. And we'll talk about that as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [00:50:00]

CELLINI: We have all been painfully aware of the devastation caused by hurricanes Irma and Harvey in recent days and weeks. Remaining us sports is just that, it's just a game.

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CELLINI: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were set to play the Miami Dolphins on the road Sunday but Irma forced that game to be rescheduled for Sunday, November 19th.

Harvey hit the City of Houston hard causing at least 70 deaths and up to a hundred and eighty billion dollars in damages. One of the cities NFL stars Texas defense end J.J. Watt took action. Spearheading the relief effort for his city.

And what an effort it was and it is. J.J. Watts Harvey relief fund has now surpassed the 31 million dollar mark. On Sunday the fans in Houston let J.J. know just how much they appreciate his efforts.

Watt ran onto the field before the Texans game holding a flag for the State of Texas. The crowd of more than 700,000 giving J.J. ovation. Unfortunately, that was the highlight of the afternoon for the Texans. They were routed by the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-97.

Still is rookie linebacker T.J. Watt, J.J. Watt's younger brother had a banner day for the Pittsburgh Steeler defense in a 21-18 win over Cleveland.

T.J. registered two sacks and an interception. The first rookie in three decades to post those numbers in his NFL debut. Brother J.J. has never had two or more sacks and an interception in a single NFL game in his career.

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CELLINI: Also the opening NFL Sunday brought more protest by players. Sighting social injustices in the United States. One of the most prominent voices of late has been Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett whose story took a dramatic turn when he was detained by police in Las Vegas last month.

And accused authorities of abusive conduct and racial profiling. Police have disputed his account of that incident.

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CELLINI: Bennett sat during the national anthem before Seattle's game with the Green Bay Packers Sunday. And while he drew some support from his teammates during Sunday's protest his stand was also supported from across the sideline.

His brother Martellus Bennett a Packer tight end raising his fist in protest during the anthem. It's not the first time Martellus has expressed himself, though. He created a -- and posted a political cartoon supporting brother Michael and applauding athletes willing to take a stand.

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CELLINI: Sunday night's matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and rival New York Giants wasn't much of a game. The Cowboys dominating the G 19-3 for the win, but in the 4th quarter we did an early, and I mean very early contender for catch of the year.

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CELLINI: With 11:46 remaining the game and the ball on the Dallas 24- yeard line, quarterback Dak Prescott looked to his left, fired to Cole Beasley who tips the ball away from a Giant defender three times but that wasn't tough enough.

He pins the ball on the back of his shoulder pads securing the catch and keeping his feet in balance to get the first down. The internet dubbed it, "The Romeo catch and the headrest catch, the no-look catch." But by any name it was a dandy.

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[00:55:00] CELLINI: In baseball, the Cleveland Indians won their franchise record 18 straight games Sunday night in Baltimore. The team can do no wrong, even bad is good. When Francisco Lindor --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CELLINI: -- broke two bats in the sixth inning he ran out of his own model. So he borrowed a bat from teammate Abraham Almonte, heavier than the one he's used to on the next pitch he homers smiling back at the dugout.

Cleveland's good fortune continues. The winning streak, the second longest in the last 50 years in major league baseball.

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CELLINI: And that's going to do it for this edition for "WORLD SPORT" but before we say goodbye a recap of competition by saddle and sea, Equestrian and yachting combined to create your Rolex Minute.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 2017 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup came to an end on Saturday after a week of thrilling racing in Porto Cervo Sardinia where 50 of the world's finest monohulls had gathered.

The Maxi 72 class was also competing for the world championship title and Dieter Schon's Momo took the honors by a single point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are happy and proud that we won here. First, we improved our boat in a lot of details and then we improved as a team. And in this way, it's possible to win here. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Spruce Meadows Masters, the year's second equestrian majors concluded in dramatic fashion when Philipp Weishaupt and LB Convall became the first combination to jump a double-clear.

Only Luciana Diniz and Fit for Fun stoop between Weishaupt and victory and the Portuguese rider's token commitment looked exactly awarded. Disappointment for Diniz but Weishaupt, a famous first victory in Calgary.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Hello, everyone. You're watching CNN's continuing coverage of the aftermath of hurricane Irma. I'm Michael Holmes coming to you live from Tampa, Florida.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell live in Atlanta, Georgia. 1:00 am on the U.S. east coast a great deal to cover for you in this hour.

[01:00:00] HOLMES: Indeed, George, thank you. Tropical storm Irma has weaken from that monster hurricane that slammed into Florida on Sunday and we are just starting to see some of the widespread devastation it has left behind in its wake.