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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Snowstorm Batters Northeast; Flooding Concerns Along Massachusetts Coast; Source: Army Nears Bergdahl Decision

Aired January 27, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. I'm live just across from Central Park here in New York City.

The blizzard of 2015 may not have been as bad here as predicted, but farther north and east, it is still going strong. And officials in New England are very concerned. High tide is just minutes away. Floodwaters are rising. Storm emergencies are in effect, and millions of people are dealing with a real disaster.

Long Island got more snow than New York City, close to 30 inches in some areas, but New England is ground zero and it's not over. We have just received the latest totals, as many as 32-and-a-half inches of snow so far. That's almost three feet, and snowdrifts completely covering front doors and windows.

And it is not only snow and ice. It's also fires and floods adding to this misery. Right now, rescue teams are plucking people out of homes that are filling with water. In the coastal town of Scituate, Massachusetts, officials cut power to prevent more fires there, and a nearby seawall crumbled.

Our reporters are bundled up and fanned out across the Northeast, from Massachusetts to Montauk on the eastern tip of Long Island and all the points in between.

But let's go straight to Boston right now and CNN's Brooke Baldwin. She's been outside in that brutal weather all day long.

Brooke, what is it like there right now?

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: It is really kicking up, Jake, right in my face.

We are in the Boston Harbor area. Faneuil Hall is this way. The water is this way. And just walking through this stuff, it's still incredibly thick and continuing to come down. We just heard from the mayor of Boston just minutes ago saying, this could continue until 1:00 in the morning. It is possible this could be a record-setting snowfall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN (voice-over): This blizzard is keeping much of the Northeast shut down at this hour. Heavy snow continues to fall. Here in Boston, there is well over a foot of snow, and forecasters predict the state capital could get close to another foot.

Nantucket, Massachusetts, is definitely among the hardest-hit areas. The police chief tells CNN the entire island is without power after the storm brought heavy snow, flooding and wind gusts close to 80 miles an hour.

GOV. CHARLIE BAKER (R), MASSACHUSETTS: Nantucket, by the way, has been hit particularly hard with respect to power outages.

BALDWIN: The storm continues to blanket the region. By midday, Worcester, Massachusetts, already had at least 25 inches of snow, and that number is quickly rising.

Earlier, firefighters there battled intense flames in blizzard conditions after this multifamily home went up in flames. Right now, officials aren't only worried about the piling snow, but a potentially more devastating aftereffect, coastal flooding.

Officials said areas of Plum Island, Massachusetts, that flooded this morning could still flood again. Farther south, this section of a seawall collapsed in Marshfield during Tuesday morning's high tide. And there's a concern that more of the wall could collapse during this afternoon's high tide, possibly flooding homes right in that area.

In Connecticut, officials there are warning about snowdrifts due to the high winds and light powdery snow. Parts of that state still remain under a blizzard warning. Travels remains an issue in New England. Amtrak canceled trips on several of its busiest lines between New York and Boston. Thousands of flights have been canceled and many roads remain closed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is very bad. These roads are not safe. The snow is still coming down several inches an hour.

BALDWIN: In Rhode Island, where the windchill could dip as low as minus three degrees, the snow is expected to continue through Wednesday morning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: You know, the good news, Jake, I just had the fire commissioner here on my show moments ago. And he was saying to me people really have heeded the warnings. This is Boston. They know snow. They have heeded the warnings. They stayed off the roads.

And I asked him about power outages. And I just want to show you something. This is the snow here. It is incredibly light, powdery snow, and that is the great part. It's so, so cold here, so it's not heavy snow. So, we're not having the snow sitting on those power lines or sitting on those tree limbs, which would then mean many, many more power outages than they're reporting so far here in Boston.

But, again, we're watching and we will be up riding this out another night in a row to see if this could eclipse 2003 -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Brooke, Brooke Baldwin in Boston, thank you so much.

As you can see, the storm is not close to being over in many areas.

I'm joined now by CNN's Chad Myers to tell us how much more we can expect.

Chad, thanks for being here, as always .

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Sure, Jake.

TAPPER: It looks like it's over here in New York.

MYERS: It is. It is.

TAPPER: But what's going on in New England? And how much longer is it going to last?

MYERS: The storm is kind of doing a little rotation out in the ocean.

The reason why we didn't get anything here, well, we got 10 inches, six to 10, whatever, is because the storm was 100 miles too far to the east compared to where the model thought it was be. If it's 100 miles away, what is 100 miles away from here? A 30-inch snowfall total near Islip. That's what New York was supposed to get with the model. The storm moved away, so the wind moved away.

TAPPER: Islip, the airport on the northern part of Long Island.

MYERS: Right. You're talking an hour-and-a-half drive from here or even less, you're at 30 inches of snow. That's what should have been here, but it moved off to the east. So we're not seeing the wind either. This is quite pleasant day out here right enough. We should have winds of 50. It's not happening.

TAPPER: Comparatively. Yes.

MYERS: Everything has shifted to of the east and it's in Boston, and that's where the snow continues. And 32.5, I'm going to see numbers probably 36 inches, and that's even more than they predicted there. But we got significantly less. They got our share.

TAPPER: We will go to some of the coastal areas in a minute. But I want to ask you what exactly is going on there. Why is there such concern? What's different about the fact that there's high tide today than, say, two days ago?

MYERS: It already breached a break wall. There's a break wall there in Scituate that's already been breached the first time, the first high tide. Then we went down to slack tide and to low tide and now we're coming back up again.

Without the break water there, without that wall there, the water will poor right into the streets.

TAPPER: It's because the storm killed the...

MYERS: It already broke it one time and it will smash it this time because the waves are 15 to almost 25 feet.

TAPPER: Chad Myers, stick around.

I want to go now to one of those coastal areas. Millions of people are under this flood advisory or flood warnings. The town of Scituate, Massachusetts, on the South Shore, may be in the biggest danger zone, as you heard Chad say, high tide roaring in.

And let's go there live. Alexandra Field is there.

Alexandra, how bad is the flooding right now?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jake.

High tide is just about an hour away. And people are hoping that what they see next isn't as bad as what they saw this morning. Let me show you this backyard here, which you can see it's just filled with water. And then if we sort of pan down this street here, you will see that this is filled with water.

This becomes more important and more significant when we put all of this into perspective, because, Jake, if you follow me here a little bit, you will see that the beach is actually all the way down that road. So the seawall was breached, the water was whipped around, it flooded these neighborhoods, it came four and five feet high in some people's basements.

And the people who live in these houses here say that that water rushed behind around the back of their houses and it even went across the streets here. There are a couple of people in Scituate who I guess were stir crazy enough to get out for a walk.

But this is probably the time to do it because again that high tide comes in the next hour. Jake, we went up to see the seawall, to take a look at where this water had come in from this morning. Already, even before high tides, we're seeing the wall being breached again, we're seeing waves splash over the wall. We actually determined that for our crew it was too dangerous to be up there with the wind and with the water.

We don't want to be driving around or put ourselves in the kind of instance where we'd be driving through floodwaters. We cleared out, we came back here. These power lines are a big issue of concern at this point.

Scituate took a precautionary step and they actually shut down power to part of the town last night because they did not want to compound problems with the instance, the possibility of having, say, an electrical fire and having roads cut off for first-responders.

This is again the water that people are dealing with right now. In the next hour, we will see if the water breaches that seawall again and if it comes as far back as this street and into these neighborhoods, where we have seen it sitting stagnant here all day, Jake. TAPPER: Alexandra, are the people in Scituate,, Massachusetts, used

to this kind of thing happening? How many of them are still around, if any? I guess we just saw a few of them just there.

FIELD: Yes, Jake. This is actually pretty interesting.

This is an area where I have come before to cover storms because flooding is not so unusual here given the fact we have got the seawall up there and you have got the harbor over here. The seawall is really the issue. When you talk to people, you see that their houses, they are built on these stilts. They know that at some point when you have got that high tide and you have got that surge coming that they're going to see some flooding here.

But a couple of people I spoke to who live in the house up the road say they have been in this community all of their lives, and they have never seen this amount of water come this quickly into their homes and travel this kind of distance. Not so unusual to see some kind of breach, some kind of water on the roads, but this volume, it's got this neighborhood sitting underwater here, basically flooded, this is a lot more than they're used to seeing.

TAPPER: All right, Alexandra Field, stay safe. CNN, of course, will continue to check in with Alexandra as high tide hits in about roughly an hour.

We're going to turn now to neighboring Marshfield. Heavy surf washed out a seawall there. Police tweeted this picture of it. This could be very bad news, of course, when that high tide approaches this evening.

Brian Todd from CNN just arrived in Marshfield, Massachusetts, just minutes ago.

Brian, what can you tell us about the damaged seawall? What are you seeing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, we can tell you that the seawall was breached early this morning.

Several people have had to be evacuated from their homes. It's a very dangerous situation. Alexandra just mentioned high tide coming back. High tide will be back in less than an hour, and they're worried that the rushing seawater could actually short out some things if power is on in some of these homes and maybe start fires.

That's an issue. I'm going to show you also out the front window of our vehicle, as we're trying to get to that scene in Marshfield, check this out. This is a complete whiteout situation. This is what the crews are working against as well, as they try to help the people who are stranded in their homes in that section of Marshfield that was flooded.

Look at this. This is complete whiteout in front of our vehicle as we make our way to the sea here. We actually had to stop for a second here to meet someone who is going to take us to the scene, and this is what the rescue crews and others are going to be facing later on if they have got to go back to those scenes of flooding, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Brian Todd in Marshfield, thank you so much.

It's not letting up in Boston, of course, the city bracing for up to another foot of snow, and that snow, combined with the high winds, it's all making it very difficult and extremely dangerous for first- responders to do their jobs, all of this, of course, as high tide approaches on the coast, where flooding could be the biggest problem, as you just heard from Brian and Alexandra.

So how are emergency management officials dealing? How are they preparing? We will talk to them when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD, live from New York City, where it is bitterly cold, though nothing compared to the havoc the storm is wreaking on New England.

Coastal communities are dealing with widespread power outages and flooding. In Boston, they brace for another foot of snow on top of the nearly two feet already on the ground there.

Joining me now by phone is Peter Judge. He's from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency to talk about how fist responders are dealing with this.

Mr. Judge, thank you so much for joining us. First of all, how are the people of Massachusetts doing? Have there been any fatalities? Have here been any serious injuries?

PETER JUDGE, MASSACHUSETTS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: No. We're not -- no word of any fatalities, whatever. Not aware of any storm- related injuries at this particular time.

TAPPER: OK, that's great news. What are conditions like along the coast right now? How concerned are you about the high tide? Is that the most pressing concern right now?

JUDGE: That is the most pressing concern. We're coming right into the afternoon high tide. You've shown some of the pictures of what it looks like along the coast. So, we expect it to be maybe a little bit more impactful than what we saw at 4:00 a.m. this morning.

So, in that regard, we're kind of geared up for the potential of some major impacts from this high tide, all along the coast from North of Boston down to Cape Cod and the islands.

TAPPER: We know that a foot section, about 80 to 100-foot section, of a seawall collapsed in that coastal town of Marshfield that Brian Todd was visiting a few minutes ago. Has that caused significant flooding in the Marshfield area?

JUDGE: Not really, no. It's really very localized. It really impacted one house, and it was a vacant home. So, no lives were kind of put in harm's way there. A lot of those areas that you see the flooding, this is not an incredibly usual thing for them. These people have sort of been down this road before, so to speak. So, it's just raised up to a different level. So, that's what we're concerned about.

We have those people out of there. They've all pretty much self- evacuated because they know what's coming. And earlier this morning, some local officials with some help from National Guard actually helped a handful of other folks in Marshfield, Scituate and Hull leave their homes. It wasn't an emergency evacuation. They had just -- they changed their lives about leaving and realized the water was too deep for their automobile.

TAPPER: So, I know you're not done with this storm yet. It's still affecting Massachusetts. But how does it compare historically with other storms you've had that were officials, governor included, were saying this was going to be like a top five storm for Massachusetts. Is it?

JUDGE: Oh, definitely, definitely going to be a top five storm. I mean, there are areas that will get over three feet of snow before all is said and done. I mean, the snow has not stopped in most of the state, and it's going to be impactful. We were just very, very lucky that this turned out to be light and fluffy snow and not the wet, heavy snow that we were anticipating. We were expecting literally hundreds of thousands of outages.

Our top number today was like 36,000 total and the number is going down as we speak. So, that's the giant bullet we dodged today, was the lack of power outages, only because Mother Nature decided to give us a break on that.

TAPPER: Thank God for that, although, of course, the poor people in Nantucket are facing an island-wide power outages. We're going to go to there a little later in the show.

Peter Judge, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Of course, it's not just officials in Massachusetts keeping an eye on the coastal flooding. CNN's Ana Cabrera is live in Montauk, in Long Island, New York -- in New York state, obviously.

Where -- what are the conditions where you are, Ana?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still snowing, still gusty conditions, and waves up to 16 feet high are battering the sea shore here in Montauk. Of course, this is the very eastern tip of long island, one of the areas hardest hit when it comes to the state of New York.

It's not just the water that we're concerned about here, of course. The snow is still continuing to pile up on top of feet of snow that have already fallen, and you can see looks are very deceiving because you don't know exactly how deep the snow is in some locations, given all of the drifting that's been happening because of the very high wind gusts. In fact, 60-mile-per-hour wind gusts were recorded at the West Hampton Airport, just down the road in where we are. We know over in Orient, which is across the bay, they're seeing up to

30 inches of snow earlier this morning. And so, that snow continues to pile up, still making a very dangerous situation for drivers, and the winds also scaring a lot of residents here overnight. While no major damage was recorded we talked to the woman who lives at the lighthouse, the historic Montauk lighthouse, she's the caretaker there. She says it really rivals what she experience during Superstorm Sandy and even scarier because it happened at night when the height of the storm hit this area. Listen to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Being by yourself, what was going through your mind?

MARGE WINSKI, LIGHTHOUSE CARETAKER: Well, I was just praying I didn't get sick or the roof didn't blow off. What was I going to do? Because you know no one is coming to get you. You're at the end of the line here. No one's coming to save you. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: She's breathing a sigh of relief today, and much like a lot of the folks here in this community. Grateful that no major power outages, no major damage is reported.

Sadly, though, Jake, I do need to mention that two people have died in the storm here in Suffolk County. There was a 17-year-old boy who was out tubing trying to enjoy this wintry weather and got into kind of a tubing accident, suffered injuries and just couldn't be saved. There was also an elderly man with dementia who we are told who was found by his wife outside and frozen this morning. So, it's still dangerous weather conditions we're experiencing here in New York.

Back to you.

TAPPER: Very sad. Ana Cabrera, thank you so much. Bostonians are being told not to let their guard down just yet. A blizzard warning still in effect and first responders are pleading with people in Boston to stay off the roads.

I'm joined now by Boston Police Commissioner William Evans.

Commissioner Evans, thanks for joining us. Tell us what the road conditions are like right now.

COMMISSIONER WILLIAM EVANS, BOSTON POLICE: Yes. I mean, emergency arteries (ph) are down pretty good, but the snow is still coming down pretty good. You know, I just met with the mayor and we expect probably another six inches. So, we're still hoping people stay in their homes, stay off the roads so we can get our plows in and get the city back so we can open for business tomorrow.

TAPPER: So, if Boston gets another half a foot of snow, as predicted, are you worried about the fact that the power outages might be much worse in not just Massachusetts but more specifically in Boston than has happened so far? EVANS: No. I mean, for the most part, we haven't been hit too bad

with the power outages. I think this is the lighter snow. Our main concern honestly is getting the streets plowed, the secondary roads so people can get back to work tomorrow. We've been pretty lucky. We've gotten a tremendous amount of snow, but we really haven't been, at least in the city, hit too much with the power outages.

TAPPER: Are you worried that, because of this kind of lull in the storm, people might get lax? They obviously responded and adhered all the warnings emergency officials put out before. Are you worried that Boston might let its guard down?

EVANS: Yes. And that's why I was just with the mayor and he did a press conference where we again reiterated to people that, you know, we expect this to go until 1:00 a.m. this morning. It's no time to think you can bring your car out, you know.

The more people we can keep off the roads, we can move our police vehicles, our fire vehicles and emergency medical technicians around. So, again, for people who are listening, we've got a long way to go still with this storm, and I encourage them to stay in, you know, buckle down for the night and let us do our job.

TAPPER: All right. Keep your car parked in the yard, as they say.

Commissioner William Evans, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Coming up, stranded in the airport. Why passengers all the way on the West Coast are having to deal with this blizzard in the East. That's ahead.

But first, he spent years as a prisoner of war held by the Taliban, the Pentagon says. But will Bowe Bergdahl also face prison time in the U.S. for deserting his post? The Army is now close to making a decision on how to proceed. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD.

You're looking at live pictures, the result of the storm. That's Boston, Massachusetts, hit hard. They're going to get about another half foot of snow, we're told.

We're going to have more on that nasty blizzard and the potentially life-threatening wind, keeping much of the Northeast shuttered today in a moment. But we're going to turn right now to another breaking story.

Our national lead, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl who spent five years in Taliban custody, the Obama administration brought him back last May. Critics insist the cost trading five Taliban detainees held in Gitmo was too high.

And now, CNN is learning it might be a matter of just days before Bergdahl finds out if he could face even more years as a prisoner of sorts, this time in a U.S. military jail. Today, a senior defense official told CNN that a decision on whether to charge Bergdahl with desertion or any other crime will come down very soon.

As of this morning, the commander officer in charge of the case, he has not signed or forwarded a charge sheet we're told.