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Shooting at Two Mosques Being Investigated By Police; Water Crisis in Venezuela; Nebraska Sees Record Flooding After Bomb Cyclone; Snow Food Truck; Bat Gets Trapped in Newsroom
Aired March 18, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Happy day after St. Patrick`s Day and thank you for starting off a new week with CNN 10. I`m Carl Azuz at the CNN Center.
Investigators in the South Pacific island nation of New Zealand say they`re working to find out if an Australian citizen who occasionally lived in New
Zealand was there to carry out a terrorist attack. On Friday the suspect sent an 87 page email to the Prime Ministers Office and dozens of other
addresses minutes before the attack begin, too soon for police to respond according to the prime minister. Afterward police say the suspect
shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch leaving 50 people dead and 50 others wounded.
The attacks were made as Muslims were gathered for Friday prayers. Investigators have not discussed what the alleged shooter`s motives were
but his email spoke out against Muslims and described immigrants as invaders. Though police initially arrested several people afterward, only
one suspect was charged with connection with the shootings. Police reportedly captured him by ramming the car he was driving 36 minutes after
the attacks begin. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there were more firearms in his car and that he would have continued the attack
if he hadn`t been caught.
Police said after the arrest that their focus would shift toward helping the families and the victims of the shootings, making sure those effected
would get the support and help they need. As make shift memorials appeared around the mosques, promises of support, prayers and donations were being
made by leaders, citizens and religious organizations from all over the world.
From the South Pacific we`re taking you to South America. Last week we reported on a rare widespread blackout in Venezuela that added to the
country`s economic and political problems. Electricity went out in 19 of Venezuela`s 23 states and while the government information minister says
the outage have been completely restored, CNN teams on the ground there say this is true for a lot of the capital, Caracas but the lights aren`t on
everywhere.
Another issue all this created was a water shortage, 70 percent of Caracas now has drinking water and 80 percent of the rest of the country, again
according to its information minister. But while the Venezuelan government accuses the United States and Venezuela`s opposition leader for trying to
bring down the electrical grid, the priority for many residents is getting their taps to run clean.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At its worst, the blackout triggered a water crisis so severe there was a degrading scramble for water, any water, even dirty
water whatever the drainage pipes and the stream could offer up. The water shortage has eased up a bit but not the indignity of finding water wherever
and however you can, even coming from inside a highway tunnel and an open pipe.
I mean look at this water, it is not clean. There is debris in the water. There is garbage. There are insects and yet people are very desperate and
their happy to have this water right now. Telling me that they are using it for bathing and for anything else that they need to be doing. They know
they can`t drink it but right now this is all they have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE TRANSLATED: It`s tough. It`s very tough. He tells me. We need water for everything. If we don`t have water, we can`t do
anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Black goop instead of water ran through these faucets when the power did come back on. Residents posted on social media of a
water system rarely maintained or repaired. Ana Ramirez (ph) says she`s afraid that now the water system will never recover. She`s done without in
her tiny apartment in the Bobbio of Bata since the blackout started last week and Venezuela is still running out of water. Unthinkable in a country
once blessed with vast water resources. Years of neglect and now drought has left many struggling and savaging to get water as it too has now become
a luxury. (inaudible), CNN, Caracas.
(END VIDEO END)
AZUZ: The governor of the U.S. state of Nebraska says nearly every region of his state is dealing with historic flooding. This is all part of the
bombogenesis or bomb cyclone that blew east off the Colorado Rockies last week. It blasted that states capital and many other parts of the central
U.S. with blizzard conditions and nearly hurricane force winds. Heavy rains and flooding were all part of it and that continues to be a problem
in Nebraska as piles and drifts of snow melt swell river and flood communities.
Nebraska`s Emergency Management Agency says records have been broken in at least 17 locations and that more of that`s expected. The water had never
been measured this high along the Missouri, Platte, and Elkhorn rivers, 53 counties, 54 cities and two Native American tribes have declared
emergencies. Most of the areas effected by the bomb cyclone are expected to have calmer weather this week. But as the snow continues to melt and
the rain water runs down hills into creeks and rivers, the flooding threat isn`t over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN REPORTER: Bridges destroyed. Highways washed out. Cars and cattle stranded. This is the aftermath of a bomb cyclone. The
powerful weather system slammed the Midwest with hurricane like winds and blizzard conditions last week leaving drowning rains and flooding in its
wake. And after heavy snowfall this winter, natural snowmelt is making bad conditions worse. In Wisconsin, Darlington officials say the city hasn`t
seen this much flooding in more than 25 years. Freemont, Nebraska home to more than 26,000 people became an island when roadways in and out of town
flooded Friday. Nebraska`s governor touring the damage in his state.
GOVERNOR PETE RICKETTS: This is probably been the, you know, the most severe, widespread flooding we`ve had, most, you know, as far as the part -
- parts of the state`s been impacted we`ve had in the last half century.
HARTUNG: Nebraska rescue teams have been pulling trapped residents out of flood waters since Thursday and forecasters caution more snowmelt is on the
way. So the worst flooding maybe yet to come. Kaylee Hartung, CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Mischievous, Hologias and Saltun Straw are all restaurants that started as what? Shark Tank investments, chain restaurant
spin offs, food trucks or carts or hot dog stands. All these restaurants were once run out of a cart of a truck, a food truck.
Whether you`re an aspiring or already successful chef, there are a number of challenges associated with opening a food truck. Ingredient costs,
kitchen costs, permit costs, not to mention the cost of losing customers when the weather doesn`t cooperate. It`s all part of it. But CNN recently
caught up with the "Taco Beast" a snowbound, snow cat that serves food. It`s chefs don`t mind if its snowing outside though we`re not sure what
they do in the summer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I fire up the beast, I kind of feel like I`m piloting a spaceship. You know, it`s still dark outside. You press one
button and you light up the sky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have the best office view in the world. We look at the flat tops every morning. It`s not a bad day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As much as I`d like to be on my snowboard at that point and time, I still enjoy driving this - - the "beast".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We meet at the bottom of the Gondola and head up on the first one in the morning at 6:30am. We head here to where our docking
station with the "Taco Beast". All right.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve done steamboat for 30 years. I`ve opened up half the restaurants in town and been working outside for the mountain for like
three. I`m only in the kitchen for a couple hours a day for what I do, mostly out there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh some funny questions. I go, do you leave the kitchen here and you drive the snow cat away? Nope. Nope. We - -
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re selling out all the time so people are definitely like what we`re throwing down for sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: The saying "Bat in the Belfry" usually applies to someone who`s said to be a little crazy. What about having a bat in the newsroom? Is it
going to drive reporters batty? It did for awhile at WCBI`s newsroom in Columbus, Mississippi when a flying mammal somehow found its way inside. A
couple of fearless employees eventually trapped the animal in a conference room and they didn`t need to hold a conference to decide the bat was better
off outside.
The staff of WCBI then waved "WC Bye Bye" not "batting" an eye when "batman" flitted back out into the "Dark Knight". Letting him hangout
inside would have been a "Chiroupterrible" idea even if you got to wing it sometimes in news, some of the most "battle" tested reporters would want to
fly to a different "echolocation". I`m Carl Azuz, "batting" 1,000 for CNN 10.
END
