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Weather Blamed for 5 Deaths on South Carolina Roads; Worst Flooding in South Carolina History; 225-Square-Mile Debris Field Found in Search for Missing Ship; Officials Dig Up Disturbing Information about Oregon Shooter; Student Entered Legally into North Korea from China. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 05, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:02] NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

Just within the last hour, the curfew, that 12-hour curfew here for the city of Columbia, has lifted. But the rain has not let up. It's almost as if the storm is just lurking over the state of South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): A state of emergency underway in multiple states along the East Coast this morning, flood watches in effect from Georgia to Delaware as a deadly and historic amount of rain bears down on parts of South Carolina.

GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA; We haven't seen this level of rain in the low country in a thousand years.

VALENCIA: Search-and-rescue operations will continue this morning in Columbia, the capital pummeled by its wettest day on record. Parts of the coast receiving up to 24 inches of rain in 24 hours, forcing more than 750 motorists to call for help Sunday, trapped by the raging waters.

CHIEF SKIP HOLBROOK, COLUMBIA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Our concentration right now, obviously, is emergency and rescue.

VALENCIA: Officials deploying more than 600 National Guard members. As local authorities say, they've carried out more than 140 water rescues in one county alone.

By air, the Coast Guard rescuing a mother and her 15-month-old child from their flooded home. By boat, officials rescuing this man after he was found clinging to a tree after driving through a road barricade.

MACK REED, GEORGETOWN COUNTY EMS CHIEF: This guy could have lost his life. Luckily, we were able to get manpower down here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he just made a mistake.

VALENCIA: Another motorist doing exactly what officials say not to do: try and drive through the deluge. Moments later, the truck's bed is the only thing above water as a tree stops the vehicle from continuing to drift downstream.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have lost everything.

VALENCIA: For many, their cars left submerged.

MAYOR STEVE BENJAMIN, COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA: We continue to go through this. It's unlike anything any of us has ever seen.

VALENCIA: Officials closing all highways across the city as roadways collapse and dams were breached. The historic rain overflowing lakes and rivers across Georgetown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lake is all the way past the tree line.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: This is a life-threatening storm, just within the last 24 hours here specifically in Columbia, South Carolina. We're hearing from the mayor's office that there have been three fatalities. This rain has just been relentless -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN: Nick, you're right. It's been absolutely relentless. And in terms of what they can expect, the torrential rain is unprecedented, as you heard Nick say. And only getting worse this morning.

How much rain is going to fall? How long is it going to last? We turn to our meteorologist Chad Myers, live from the CNN Center with the forecast. And also, as you mentioned before, just because the rain stops, the trouble does not cease.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. Because we talked about low country, we talked about upstate and what that means in South Carolina. I'll go over it again. But it means all of the water has to run downhill.

We're going to see 1 to 2 inches today in Myrtle Beach and maybe down toward Charleston. But that's it, 1 to 2. A lot of the energy from this system now will move on up into North Carolina on up here into the Outer Banks. And so kind of spread it around a little bit.

It's what didn't happen over the weekend. We didn't spread it around. There's your 1 to 2 for today. The low-pressure center was there. There goes the hurricane. That was Joaquin, way out here. It was a separate low that made all of this happen. It was the low pressure that grabbed the tropical moisture and slammed it into North Carolina.

Let me take you to a map here on the floor. Here's what's going on. This is the low country, about 100 feet above sea level. This is upstate, thousands of feet above sea level, 2,000 to 3,000 feet. All the rain happened in the middle part of the state, and it all has to rush downhill.

So even if you don't have rivers now that are flooded in your area, those rivers may be flooded up above you. And all that water still has to come downhill, Alisyn. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN: Oh, my gosh, Chad, thanks so much for laying

that out for us.

Joining us now is Stephen Benjamin. He's the mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, the state's capital. But as you've seen, it's been so hard hit by these historic floods. Mayor, thanks so much for being with us on NEW DAY. Tell us what the situation is there in Columbia at this hour.

MAYOR STEPHEN BENJAMIN, COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA: Alisyn, it's dire.

We continue to work together, I will tell you. We couldn't have had greater support from our federal government, our U.S. Army base here, Ft. Jackson, our governor that's leading on this issue. All the local law enforcement, National Guard folks are working together with the primary mission of preserving human life.

We're working, of course, every single day to preserve property. The property can be replaced. We are going to make sure to preserve human life.

We have three fatalities yesterday. We're going to continue working to try and deal with this incredible challenge. Thousand-year challenge. But we're doing it together. We appreciate you guys helping to help us get the word out. We're going to make sure that you remain engaged so you can keep our citizens engaged as to how, logistically, we're going to start dealing with some major day-to-day issues, housing and potable drinking water, exactly where shelters are, and the like.

[07:05:13] CAMEROTA: Let's talk about that, Mayor, because the fire chief has said he has lost track of how many rescues his guys have had to perform. Do you have the manpower for what it's going to take to save lives today?

BENJAMIN: Well, absolutely. As we speak, as the sun rises, we're going to have a team of dozens of city police officers, dozens of sheriff's deputies and dozens of firefighters fanning out via copter, via boat or via vehicle, going to rescue folks.

We're going to be knocking doors. As we check doors, we're going to be marking them with an orange "X." Just making sure that we've crossed every "T" and dotted every "I" in trying to preserve human life. Firefighters have indeed rescued so many people.

Obviously, that's why the curfew was so important. We had to get people off the streets so that our first responders didn't have to go and fish out someone who didn't need to be on the streets.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BENJAMIN: They needed to be getting people out of their homes and helping people who needed help right now.

CAMEROTA: Mayor, you mentioned drink -- potable water. People don't have drinking water. At least, it's not safe right now. Do you think that people who you're asking to stay home, do they have enough supplies?

BENJAMIN: Well, we have two situations right now. We obviously have, when the system is working, we have low pressure and we have a boil water alert, encouraging people to boil water before they drink it. And some people are without water.

So what we're trying to do right now, obviously, is identify where the system breaks are and repair them into the fact that they're not submerged under deep water. In lieu of that, we'll be rolling out some details that we'll be sharing with you guys at CNN as to where people can logistically go during the day to receive potable drinking water. Not just bottled water. We have some great corporate partners who are helping, like Walmart and others, who are helping deliver thousands of bottles of water here.

But we're also in search of water buffaloes and other ways to try and effectively get water out in these types of situations.

CAMEROTA: OK. Well, we are happy to help you get the word out about this. Mayor, you've said that this is unlike anything you have ever dealt with before. Can you just give us a sense of what is making it so unique and dire?

BENJAMIN: Well, this is -- a couple days ago we were talking about a hundred-year storm and one of our great local meteorologists said 200, 300-year storm. This is a thousand-year event. No one has seen something like this.

So we're talking about dams breaking, at least a half dozen breaking across the -- across the city. We're talking about roads being damaged beyond repair, bridges being compromised. Power lines and trees down.

Prior to the storm coming, we had ten solid days of rain. So obviously, the ground is saturated. If we have strong winds, the ability for trees to fall down. So it's a perfect storm.

Look, but I will tell you, our folks are coming together here locally, not just our first responders. Our citizens, as well. We're going to get through this. One hundred and fifty years ago, this great city burned to the ground. It's risen like a phoenix from the ashes. We're going to do it again.

CAMEROTA: OK, Mayor. If people do have power in your area this morning, what is the one thing you want to tell them?

BENJAMIN: Well, if they have power, remain engaged, stay close to your TV. We're going to make sure we get as much information out as possible. We know that an engaged and informed citizenry is an empowered citizenry, a more confident, a more comfortable citizenry. So we're working together to make sure we get some water. We're working with SE&G and everyone else to make sure that people have power.

But this -- this is a situation in which a lot of us, we don't have the control that we want to have. So remain by your TVs. Stay engaged, and we're going to remain comfortable that everyone is working together on your behalf.

CAMEROTA: Very good. And stay inside.

Mayor Stephen Benjamin, we know you have a busy day. Thanks so much for taking the time with us. And we'll get the word out any way you'd like us to. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

BENJAMIN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN: All right. Another big story breaking this morning, a 225-square mile debris field in the search for the cargo ship El Faro, which disappeared last week as Hurricane Joaquane [SIC] -- Hurricane Joaquin passed over the Bahamas. Are we any closer to finding the 33 people on board, 28 of them Americans?

CNN correspondent Martin Savidge Johns us from the CNN Center. What do we know.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Morning, Chris.

We have two Coast Guard cutters, we know, that are in the area that will continue searching overnight. Aircraft took off that first light. They'll be descending on that area, that debris field. This debris field, by the way, we should point out, has a lot of stuff in it, but they can't be certain all of it is coming from this missing container ship. Some of the items that they have retrieved so far include a life ring that actually had the vessel's name on it, so you know that came from the ship.

[07:10:09] There is also a container that was discovered. They're not sure, but it looks like it came from the vessel. And then you've got things like wood, life jackets and Styrofoam that is spread across the sea's surface there. They also have found an oil sheen, so that's another possible clue.

But what they haven't found is any sign of the 33 members that were the crew. This vessel was on its way from the United States, Jacksonville, Florida, headed to Puerto Rico, as you mentioned, ran into trouble because it ran into the hurricane. Last heard from 7 a.m. Thursday morning. It reported it had a 15-degree list. It was taking on water. And most worrying, had lost its propulsion. That was the last communication that was heard from the vessel. Nothing has been heard more.

Family members obviously greatly concerned. There has been some questioning about sailing off when a storm was coming. However, the families right now say their focus is on finding their loved ones as is, of course, the Coast Guard, the Air Force and the Navy -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: They'll feel comforted knowing that there are a lot of eyes out there looking for some answers. Martin, thank you.

SAVIDGE: You're welcome. PEREIRA: Meanwhile, authorities are digging up new disturbing

information about the 26-year-old who carried out that massacre on an Oregon college campus. CNN's Sara Sidner joins us live from Roseburg, Oregon, with the very latest for us -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, police gave us some new details about the shooter, basically saying that they've found yet another gun, bringing the total number of guns to 14. They found that gun inside of his home as they went through his home once again to make sure that he had gotten all the evidence out.

They also have said and read through the medical examiner's report of saying that he, indeed, died of suicide. But we also know from police that he was shot. They said they neutralized him at one point. And we spoke to a victim who talked about that moment.

She said that she heard him say, "Ow," at some point and that she believes that, after he was shot by police, he decided that he couldn't do anything more and took his own life.

Now, here at the school, they are going to be offering counseling today. They have still kept the school closed. It will be closed for the week. But they want to make sure that students will get counseling. And we have talked to a victim who was in that classroom who has said she will return to school. She knows it's going to be hard, but this is something she has to do for her family, her three children and her husband -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, she is brave. She is brave to talk to you so openly about all of this, as well, Sara. Thanks so much for that report.

We're following more breaking news. An NYU college student detained in North Korea since April just released. The 21-year-old was handed over to South Korean officials, and CNN's Kathy Novak is live in Seoul with the very latest. What do we know, Kathy?

KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've seen pictures of Won-Moon Joo being handed over at the border, and we have just had a statement from North Korea's state news agency, KCNA, simply saying that Won- Moon Joo was returned in line with a humanitarian gesture and adding that he had illegally crossed into North Korea from China back in April.

It seems from these pictures that he looks like he is healthy, but South Korean authorities will have their own questions not only about what happened to him in those six months or so that he was in North Korea, but also what he was thinking doing there.

He is a South Korean citizen, even though he's a U.S. green card holder, and South Koreans are not allowed to simply go to North Korea without permission. So now the National Intelligence Service here will have questions of its own investigating whether Won-Moon Joo broke South Korean law -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Thank you very much. We'll follow up on this in the show ahead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising, quote, "a harsh offensive against Palestinian violence. This comes after the deaths of four Israelis in separate attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem's old city. Police are now restricting access to that city, preventing all Muslim men under 50 from attending prayer services at the holy site.

PEREIRA: The death toll is soaring in Guatemala after a landslide engulfs a mountain village. A public ministry official now says 131 people were killed when the side of a hill came crashing down suddenly on homes Thursday night. Hope is fading now in the search for survivors. More than 300 people are missing.

CAMEROTA: Well, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton expected to release her gun control plan today. We will examine her solutions. Will other candidates also offer solutions? We'll be asking some.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:18:28] CUOMO: Just days after the massacre on an Oregon college campus, Hillary Clinton is expected to release a new plan to curb gun violence today. What does it include?

Well, she's going to use executive action, she says, if she becomes president, therefore sidestepping Congress and closing loopholes in current gun laws.

Here's the good news. We know it works in the fight against gun violence. This has been studied and practiced in communities all over the country.

Let's go over some real world solutions with someone who knows what they're talking about. Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research and professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins.

Thank you very much. Let's start with the reality. We're violent: 11,000 homicides a year, 30,000 homicides a day, 406,496 firearm deaths since that period, 2001 to 2013. We're violent by any measure. Isn't that true, Professor? Give us the lay of the land.

PROFESSOR DANIEL WEBSTER, DIRECTOR, JOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR GUN POLICY AND RESEARCH: Well, sure, we have an enormous toll from lethal violence in the United States.

However, it's interesting that we're actually, in most measures of violent or aggressive behavior, even risk factors for violence, when you compare us for other -- other high-income democracies, we're actually pretty average. What makes us very un-average is our incredible high rate of homicide that's driven entirely by an enormous rate of gun-related homicide.

CUOMO: All right. So let's look at the problems and the solutions. First, high-risk can own guns. High-risk people can own guns. The solution is to increase ownership standards.

[07:20:08] What does that mean? How do you know who's high-risk? Look at this guy, this -- who just shot up in Oregon. He passed background checks. What law would have made that different? How do you know who's high-risk and who isn't?

WEBSTER: Well, in the case of the Oregon shooter, it's hard to narrow in on one specific policy. However, a gun violence restraining order that California adopted could potentially address a situation like this. When there are many warning signs, if family members or others close to them know, based upon their behavior and the stockpiling of guns, that something is amiss, they can go to a court, just as you would for domestic violence restraining order and take at least temporary action to remove firearms.

CUOMO: All right. That's a specific statute, though, because certain states like New York state has that for a handgun carry permit. They go, they talk to neighbors. You've got to fill out all this paperwork.

But you don't have to do that for most gun sales. You certainly don't have to do it in a person-to-person gun sale. But that would be a legislative change that is possible, possible, but every time you add to the process, you get political pushback.

Criminals can buy guns. This is the big one that you hear from the pro-gun lobby. "Don't put it on me. I'm the good guy. Don't make it harder for me to get the gun, because the bad guys buy them out of the back of a trunk." So how do you deal with that?

WEBSTER: Well, we've made it incredibly easy for those bad guys to get guns. And what we found in our research, when you address those loopholes, it's not -- you don't prevent all shootings, but you do have a very measurable impact on gun violence.

As everyone knows, I think, we have a very illogical system for background checks. We require if you're going to purchase it from a licensed dealer. But in most states, you can go to a private seller, no records, no background check. That makes as much sense as having an airline security system in which you have passenger screening in Atlanta but not in New York. That makes absolutely no sense.

So we need to address that loophole. It can be difficult to enforce those. However, one way that we found is particularly effective as having a handgun purchaser licensing system. We've conducted research that shows pretty large effects in reducing both homicides and suicides.

CUOMO: Well, one of those -- the big number of gun crime that we're not touching on is, obviously, that urban impoverished area gun crime, gang-fueled gun crime like what you have in Chicago, a lot of these remedies don't apply there.

But there has been effective policing in these communities where they go in. They talk to these gang guys and say how it's going to go, what happens if they use guns, versus if you don't, and that's worked. So that's something else that could be done more across the country.

Enforcing background checks, handgun purchaser licensing, that's what you were just talking about. So we'll move past that. There's a more aggressive and complete system of background checks and accountability, especially where handguns are involved.

Negligent gun dealers. All right, now this is something that many people believe, Professor, is on the wane, that dealers have been stepping up their game. But what do you see?

WEBSTER: Well, it's hard to -- actually, to see. And Congress has actually done a lot to protect the gun industry, where it's even difficult to actually see the data, to see who our problem -- where our problems are.

But generally, what we find is about 5 percent of gun dealers put into the stream of underground gun markets roughly half or more of the guns used in crime. And typically, they have very specific issues going on that could be addressed with very reasonable regulations.

CUOMO: Right. Hold on, Professor. Let me get that stat out there again, because I didn't catch it.

The legitimate gun dealers, how much crime are they responsible for? Not the -- not responsible in terms of their own actions but guns that come from them.

WEBSTER: Yes. Very small percentage, no more than 5 percent account for more than half of the guns that are used in crime in -- throughout the United States. In some communities, that's even a more concentrated problem.

So there's a relatively small number of individuals, gun dealers, who really are taking advantage of a system that lawmakers have created to really minimize greatly their accountability. And this makes no sense to gun owners or people who don't own guns.

CUOMO: What's your best guess at what the number is of sales that are nonregistered dealer sales? There's 40 out there. Comstat had a number. Obviously, it's somewhat proving the nonexistence of a fact, because you don't track them. But what's -- what's the best estimate?

WEBSTER: Well, very old study now estimates 40 percent of transactions are between private individuals, rather than through a licensed gun dealer. My best guess is that's probably a larger number now.

We've done a variety of things to make that easier, one thing just through being able to connect buyer and seller through Internet. So I suspect that, you know -- you know, at least probably half of our gun sales are in these private transactions where there's no background checks, no record keeping and no accountability. Gun owners think this is ridiculous. Eighty-five percent of them want to close this loophole.

[07:25:16] CUOMO: All right. And this last point here, is few crimes are linked to owners require gun micro staff. This is a much bigger conversation. This goes into how you track the gun and what is an unreasonable invasion of somebody's privacy. This is an ongoing part of the discussion, as well. Not based in stats, but largely in feelings and politics.

Professor Daniel Webster, thank you very much for making some gun sense for us this morning. This conversation has got a much longer way to go. We'll come back to you on it.

Thank you.

WEBSTER: Thank you.

CUOMO: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. Up next, we're going to speak to a different Daniel Webster. We're going to talk to Congressman Daniel Webster, who wants to replace John Boehner as House speaker. Is he worried about his competition? We'll ask him. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Breaking news in flood-ravaged South Carolina. The death toll now stands at six this morning, as first responders resume search-and-rescue operations at first light this morning. Hundreds of daring water rescues were carried out over the weekend. Governor Nikki Haley calling that historic flood a thousand-year event.