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Major Winter Storm Strengthens into Powerful Bomb Cyclone; Tourists Trapped After Violence Erupts in Mexico Over Killing of El Mencho; USA Men End 46-Year Hockey Gold Drought in O.T. Thrille. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 23, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking right now, snowmageddon, widespread blizzard conditions hitting some 40 million people. The bomb cyclone wreaking havoc with power outages climbing and whiteout conditions, forcing cities, including New York to all, but shut down.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A wave of violence. Cartel members, torching cars, blocking streets, stranding tourists after military operation takes out Mexico's most powerful drug king pin and a most wanted fugitive by the United States. Americans in several resort towns told to shelter in place.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New video this morning of the eagle-eyed work crews that jumped in to save a child that had been kidnapped.

I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: The breaking news, millions of people are waking up to this morning, a powerful and intensifying bomb cyclone slamming the northeast and the Mid-Atlantic, more than 40 million people are under blizzard warnings across 11 states, and many of them have declared states of emergency.

Some of the worst of it is hitting, as I speak and look at the map, widespread blizzard conditions are expected across much of the region, including Boston, Providence, Hartford, Connecticut, and the New York City metro area. We're talking snowfall at two to three inches per hour through 10:00 A.M. And it's already knocked out power to nearly 400,000 customers in the region.

The snow, along with winds gusting more than 70 miles per hour, and believe me, we felt it on our way here, it's causing some whiteout conditions out there. More than a foot has already fallen in parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

And it's not stopping. Look at that. Officials are pleading with people, please stay inside and off the roads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D-NEW YORK CITY, NY): New York City has not faced a storm of this scale in the last decade.

We are asking New Yorkers to avoid all non-essential traffic. Please, for your safety, stay home, stay inside, and stay off the roads.

GOV. MIKIE SHERRILL (D-NJ): It's dangerous. This is a very heavy, wet snow. There are incredibly high winds, up to 60 miles per hour. That means that we could see branches and trees falling into the highway, drifts and whiteout conditions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You heard it there, the storm paralyzing travel across the regions, downed trees and impassable roads. A plow truck overturning on Long Island, more than 5,000 flights scheduled for today canceled. By the time this finally ends, the hardest hit areas could get nearly two feet of snow.

We have full team coverage of this potentially historic storm. CNN's Brian Todd is out in the storm zone in Philadelphia this morning. We've also got Derek Van Dam, who is in our weather center.

Let's start with Brian, because he's got the pictures for the record. We all walked to work a block today. The company put us up so that we could get here to tell the story. What are you seeing out there?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, authorities here in Philadelphia have been scrambling overnight and this morning to stay ahead of this storm, and a really good illustration of it is what happened right behind me just minutes ago. This was a large tree that was completely down and across Martin Luther King Boulevard here in Philadelphia an hour ago when I was on live.

Now, since that time, a large front end loader came by and just cleared everything. He just picked up the entire tree and shoved it over. You've got a plow now clearing a little -- oh, excuse me, clearing a little bit more of it. I just stumbled on the snow drift here a little bit. He's clearing a little bit more of it there to try to pick, you know, just get more room for cars to come. But what they really want is for people to stay off the roads.

And last night when our team was coming in, we were coming into a hilly area of West Philadelphia called Manayunk, and they were not messing around in that area too. They were telling people you've got to get your cars off the snow. Emergency route police there were tagging cars to be towed and getting them out of the way as of last night.

The heaviness of the snow is really the issue, because you see what happened to this tree over here. I'm going to walk over here and kind of come up on this embankment here to show you kind of the depth of the snow, but also take a look at that power line there. This is really what the danger is here in the Philadelphia area, especially in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and this area, these down power lines. That's what officials are concerned about and the heaviness of the snow.

[07:05:10]

Is really what the danger is here in the Philadelphia area, especially in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and this area, these down power lines, that's what officials are concerned about and the heaviness of the snow. This is a very heavy and wet snow. It's great for snowballs and building snowmen, but not great when you take into account what's happening with these down power lines all over this region.

It is really kind of a striking scene. Our photojournalist, Tyler Ryan, and I can show you look how beautiful that is. That's just an incredible scene there with the trees, but you see that -- you see that branch over there kind of swaying. Looks like it's about to come down and here's where the danger really is. Tyler, we're going to show them over here. If you could zoom in up there, Tyler, that kind of thing there with these branches and trees kind of being weighed down by the heavy snow and just kind of hanging right over roadways, that's what officials here are warning about. They're telling people, please do stay off the roadways. There was a total ban on road travel in New Jersey. That was lifted a short time ago.

To kind of give you an idea of what people are up against here, they've got about a thousand personnel out clearing roadways. They've got 800 pieces of equipment. We just saw that front end loader here. They've got about 18,000 blocks of Philadelphia to try to clear the way they did here a short time ago, 2,500 miles of roadway in Philadelphia. And it's still coming down. It's not going to end for several hours, Sara. So, they've got to try to stay ahead of this.

SIDNER: Yes, Brian, you and Tyler out there doing the Lord's work, because it is cold and it is wet. Thank you so much for showing us all that you, you show the dichotomy of just how dangerous it can be with the power lines there, and I was freaking out when you're starting to get close to them and how beautiful it is as well. We also saw Rocky there with his hands in the air at the top of those steps covered in snow. A really incredible scene that we are witnessing now.

Thank you so much, Brian Todd, you and your crew out there. Over to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: And we are tracking not just there, but all across the northeast where the storm is all morning.

Let's get over to CNN's Derek Van Dam with much more on this. Derek, what are you watching right now?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Kate, we're already approaching two feet of snow in Freehold, New Jersey, wind gusts exceeding 70 miles per hour across the coastal areas of New Jersey through the coastal regions of Maine. This storm acting like a hurricane.

Let me show you a live picture. This is the Statue of Liberty, familiar looking shot, right, looking down at the beautiful Statue of Liberty. But the camera, it's been shaking back and forth. There's been these snow squalls that have moved in. And when I say that the storm's been acting like a hurricane, I mean it, it's down to 972 millibars. That's equivalent to a typical category two hurricane. So, what is it doing? Yes, it's producing snowfall, but it's also producing a lot of wind. That's why we have blizzard warnings in place because that whips around the wind. It reduces the visibility at a moment's notice.

And this is a future satellite. Look at that, almost an eye like feature. That's what I'm saying when I talk about this being more of a snowcane versus a nor'easter of course, two different types of features there.

But this is interesting. Look at these totals. We're approaching two feet, but even into Long Island, we're almost at 20 inches of snow, and that's where we're seeing some of the heaviest snow bands moving through right now.

So, what we'll see through the course of the morning is snow coming to an end in around the national -- into Washington, D.C. But along the I-95 corridor, as we go a little bit further to the north and east, as the storm continues to bomb out, look at Philadelphia to New York and Long Island.

This is where we have those two to three-inch-per-hour snowfall rates. This is going to snarl traffic along the I 95 corridor as well as the Massachusetts Turnpike. The winds will become incredibly intense for Boston. They're already gusting over 55 to 60 miles per hour, and that's where we'll see the heavy wet snow continue to accumulate over another foot or more, especially for the outer cape.

This particular region here has the potential to see widespread power outages because of the addition of this heavy wet snow and the strong winds. There's a lot of pine trees across Northern New England that will come down and that will be responsible for seeing this nearly 400,000 customers without power. That number will increase.

By the way, Kate, the snow comes to an end from west to east, but the winds continue into tonight.

BOLDUAN: Into tonight. So, buckle up and hold on. Many hours still to go, Derek. Thank you very much, watching that forecast for us. John?

BERMAN: Yes, it was hard to make it across the street heading into the building this morning. Everyone was so fierce.

All right, happening now, American tourist trapped in a popular resort town, an explosion of violence after a drug kingpin is killed by Special Forces.

And then breaking moments ago, a brand new CNN poll just out on the eve of the State of the Union, some of the lowest numbers the president has ever seen. Nearly half the country not just disapproves but strongly disapproves of the job that he's doing.

An amazing new video, officers catch a man leaping from the second floor of a home engulfed in flames.

[07:10:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: We got a new video this morning showing the violence and destruction of car across parts of Mexico following the death of that country's most wanted drug cartel boss, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as El Mencho. The head of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel was killed in a special operation carried out by Mexican Army Special Forces. The White House says he U.S. provided intelligence support for it.

The killing sparked widespread unrest. Suspected gang members torched cars and businesses.

[07:15:02]

The U.S. State Department urged U.S. nationals to shelter in place. There's been some panic at airports that tourists have been stranded there because some of the airlines have canceled flights in and out of Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara.

Let's get to CNN's Valeria Leon with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Fire, smoke and chaos across several Mexican states, cities brought to a standstill, as criminal groups retaliate after Mexico's most wanted drug leader died following a military operation Sunday, blocked highways, drivers forced out of their cars at gunpoint, trucks and buses set on fire.

Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, a former police officer, known to most as El Mencho, was the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel wounded during a Mexican military operation and later died while being transported to Mexico City.

The U.S. played a role in Sunday's operation, according to U.S. defense officials, though it's unclear to what extent. As fear spread, many Mexicans spoke out calling for an end to the violence.

EUTILBERTO ROJAS, SINALOA RESIDENT: People are aware of this violence and what they want is peace to live in harmony and justice, not in war.

LEON: Blockades were reported across various states and classes were suspended in at least three states, as officials tried to contain the violence and keep civilians off the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm tired of seeing this continue every single day.

LEON: Under El Mencho's command, the cartel expanded rapidly, challenging rivals like the Sinaloa cartel, for control of territory and trafficking routes. According to us and Mexican officials, El Mencho managed to avoid capture for years. His attention and death is one of the most significant blows to organized crime in recent years and the first high profile operation under President Claudia Sheinbaum.

The fall El Mencho may mark a major security milestone, but with tourism, foreign investment and security for the 2026 World Cup at stake, the world is watching how Mexico handles what comes next.

Valeria Leon, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: It's an incredible story and we'll have much more on that story.

Coming up ahead, a shotgun and a gas can. New details after law enforcement shoots and kills an armed man who entered the secured perimeter around Mar-a-Lago.

And the FBI director doing the most at the Olympics, why his locker room celebration with Team USA hockey raising some eyebrows this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

SIDNER: Team USA men's hockey ended a 46-year gold medal drought, and they did it in overtime against Canada.

For more on this historic moment, let's go to CNN's Andy Scholes. This is the first time that USA hockey's gotten gold since the Miracle on Ice in 1980, really?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. I mean, Sara, what a moment for our country, right? You know, I just love the Miracle on Ice Team. The movie's one of my favorites. I cry almost every time I watch it, you know? But I wasn't even born when that happened. So, you know, I, like so many others, just could not get enough of this moment. I spent hours scrolling. I wanted every angle. I wanted to see every interview about this.

And Jack Hughes, he's now an American hero after scoring the game winner in overtime for Team USA. And my favorite angle of the goal was the view from the Team USA bench after he scored. You see this just absolute jubilation.

Now, Hughes, who had got smacked with a stick and lost his teeth earlier in the game, just as tough as they come, and here he was after one of the greatest moments in U.S. sports history been,

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK HUGHES, SCORED GAME-WINNER FOR USA: This is all about our country right now. I love the USA, I love my teammates. It's unbelievable. The USA hockey brotherhood is so strong. And we had so much support from ex-players. I'm so proud to be American today.

TAGE THOMPSON, HAD THREE GOALS IN SIX GAMES FOR U.S.: Every kid grows up watching Miracle, you know, every USA hockey player dreams of this moment. And now we're sharing that exact feeling that they had. It's pretty special.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. That was our Coy Wire with Tage Thompson after the win.

Now, if you weren't wiping away tears after the victory, good luck after seeing what the team did while celebrating.

So, Auston Matthew, Zach Werenski and Matthew Tkachuk, they skated around the ice holding up the jersey of Johnny Gaudreau. Now, Gaudreau was killed along with his brother by a suspected drunk driver while they were riding bikes in 2024. Gaudreau likely would have been on this squad.

Now, the team had Gaudrea's wife, kids and his parents there in Italy for the game. And in an awesome moment, the team brought out Gaudrea's children, Noah and Johnny Jr., to the ice to be a part of that team picture. And here was Matthews on that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTON MATTHEWS, FORMER USA TEAMMATE OF JOHNNY GAUDREAU: His jersey in the room here at the Olympics and just a subtle reminder that, you know, him, his brother, that they're kind of with us in spirit and, you know, to be able to get it done like that to win, to have his jersey out there and the team and the team photo and have his kids come out and be with us. We're obviously, you know, thinking of him and, you know, we just felt like the impact that he's had on so many guys in our room was special.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Just what a way to end the Olympics and what a successful games it was for Team USA. We finished with our most golds ever and the most medals ever for a Winter Olympics, Sara, just an incredible performance by all the athletes there in Italy.

[07:25:03]

The Winter Games are now going to be in France in 2030, going to be tough to top this one though, just all the emotional moments, the women ice hockey team, the men ice hockey team, it was just an incredible, incredible Olympics for Team USA.

SIDNER: It was so beautiful. There was elation. But there was that moment that could have been sorrowful and they brought the kids out, and just the whole thing was wonderful. But don't sleep on L.A. because the Summer Olympics are coming and they're going to be in 2028 and we expect to go. So, start making plans for us to be there, okay. And when I say us, our whole crew.

All right, and also I did notice the flex that you did on how you weren't born when the Miracle on Ice happened. So what? I was well here. I understood everything. I could watch it. I watch it when it came out. You're welcome.

SCHOLES: I'm jealous.

SIDNER: Bye.

SCHOLES: I'm jealous. What a moment. You got to enjoy both of them.

SIDNER: Thank you. Andy Scholes. Kate?

BOLDUAN: All right. I mean, okay. I'm just going to go here now.

Millions of Americans are waking up facing blizzard conditions where the snow is hitting the hardest and when this is all forecast to finally pass. We've got new updates for you.

And new polling is out this morning just ahead of President Trump's State of the Union. So, what is the mood of the country on how he's doing just ahead of this address?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]