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Floods, Fires, Extreme Heat Wreak Havoc Across U.S.; Ceasefire Strained, U.S., Iran Standing Down for Now After Strikes; U.S. Team Helps Rescue 11-Month-Old Baby from Rubble. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 29, 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]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Deadly weather right now and for days to come, major flooding, wildfires, the potential for brutal record-setting heat threatens all kinds of 4th of July plans.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Standing down for now. After a weekend of trading strikes, the Trump administration says the U.S. and Iran are headed back to the negotiating table. But Iran just spoke out and said, not so fast.

A space telescope could plunge back to Earth. How NASA's trying to stop an observatory from crash landing.

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

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news, deadly weather across the country at the worst possible time. If you have any 4th of July plans, you will want to pay attention to all of this. In Kentucky, a state of emergency with deadly flooding, a church crushed in the rising waters there. At least four people were killed. Governor Andy Beshear says one couple drowned inside their own home. 12 inches of rain in just 20 -- in just 48 hours in some places forced dozens and dozens of water rescues. They are ongoing.

Out west, wildfires scorched tens of thousands of acres. Three firefighters were killed on the Utah-Colorado border. Utah will restrict the use of fireworks for the 4th of July because of all the increased risk. And as for the 4th, that is when things get even more interesting and dangerous, potentially record-breaking heat with consecutive triple-digit days expected in some of the country's biggest cities. This will almost definitely impact the celebrations.

Let's get right to CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam with all the latest. Start wherever you want because there's plenty of it, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, John. You know, I just came up from a family vacation, enjoying the freedoms that we've all been afforded. But watching the weather unfold this past weekend, heartbreaking to see what's happening across the country. Tragedy in Utah, firefighters been killed. This is the Cottonwood Fire, you can see on the left-hand side of my screen. And then simultaneously with the flooding across central Kentucky, this coming out of Madison -- Kentucky, Madison County, Kentucky, difficult situation.

So, let's start with the current fire weather on the ground across the Great Basin, the four corners area. Some slight improvement from the weekend's critical fire danger. You can see that elevated today, Grand Junction to Salt Lake City southward into Flagstaff. But pay attention to this area tomorrow, we ramp it back up. Critical fire conditions once again near the four corners there.

Now, let me talk about the fire weather and move over to the flash flooding that occurred across Kentucky. This is the rainfall total since Saturday. Highlighting these areas in shading of pink and purple, those are the areas that picked up over a foot of rain since Saturday. Just like John talked about, that prompted the high water rescues and unfortunately led to some fatalities as well.

The good news is we're going to get an opportunity to dry out across the Ohio River Valley, but the bad news is what comes along with this is the oppressive heat dome that is going to impact your plans and my plans as we head into the 4th of July weekend. This is going to act as a lid on the atmosphere, preventing the heat from the sun from escaping right back into space, and unfortunately, that's going to sizzle us here on the ground. We already have millions, dozens of millions of people just under these heat alerts.

And they're starting to pick up on it along the I-95 corridor too. We have a heat alert, which is a watch for the New York City area, but look at the warnings in place for Western Michigan, and look at the temperatures today. Yes, that's scorching. But when you factor in the dew points, that's what's going to make it feel oppressive.

You can see a lot of pinks and a lot of red. This is just showing you the amount of humidity that will be in place east of the Rockies right through the 4th of July weekend. It's going to really peak on Friday, so 4th of July eve.

But in terms of temperatures, this is what it will feel like as you step outside the door today. That is triple-digit heat from Atlanta to Nashville to Chicago. We're not quite there for the nation's capital, but trust me, it is coming. Look how the extreme heat danger builds across the Midwest this week.

[07:05:00]

John?

BERMAN: Yes, I mean, when I was looking at the forecast, Derek, it was 100 degrees here Thursday, Friday in D.C., Thursday, Friday, maybe even lingering until Saturday. As I said, this is just going to have a major impact on all kinds of plans that people have for the 4th. so they need to pay attention to all of this. Thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, those are some temperatures.

BERMAN: Right, yes. BOLDUAN: Those are some temperatures, and a lot of people are going to be out in it.

All right, let's turn to this right now. The U.S. and Iran are said to be standing down after a violent flare-up near the Strait of Hormuz. But there are, again, maybe we should just say deja vu all over again, mixed messages coming in about whether they will be meeting again to continue talks this week.

Both sides exchanged fire, with Iran targeting U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain, but a U.S. official says that no Iranian drones or missiles hit their intended targets. President Trump at one point threatened to fully resume fighting, posting that, quote, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist if he goes that route.

But U.S. officials say that talks remain on track. Both sides are expected to meet in Qatar tomorrow, but stand by to stand by, because it is unclear, as an Iranian negotiator just said, that no technical talks are scheduled on any major issues.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is live at the White House for us this morning. Julia, I don't know if you've been able to get any clarity on if talks are happening or not, or they're just, again, talking past each other. What's the latest you're picking up?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are learning from officials here that both sides, as you mentioned, have agreed to stand down for now, that there will be a halt in the fighting between the United States and Iran, and that there are plans for a meeting on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.

As you mentioned, the Iranian comments are now putting some of that into question, but the White House has said that would be the plan. Officials here have told our team that. And a senior administration official told me specifically that these talks are going to go on as they have been planned, despite the escalation that has taken place in recent days.

Going on to say this, nothing has been canceled. Technical talks regarding the implementation of the MOU, the memorandum of understanding, are on track for the coming days as planned, and de- confliction channels are up and running after the Lake Lucerne Summit. All of this after that intense back and forth that really started on Thursday.

And one of the key areas of escalation there came when U.S. Central Command confirmed that it had launched additional strikes at multiple targets at President Donald Trump's direction in response to continued Iranian aggression.

That is when Trump took to social media and ramped up the rhetoric once again. He said that, The Iranians may never learn, and added this, there may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist. Now, a reminder, it was just last weekend that Vice President J.D. Vance had traveled to Switzerland to lead the high-stakes, high-level talks on the memorandum of understanding, and that agreement, which has been signed by the United States and Iran, is really just a starting point. It kicked off this 60-day time period to address some of the bigger issues related to Iran's nuclear program, like the fate of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

So, again, officials have told us that there is an agreement to a halt in fighting, and that there are plans for a meeting tomorrow. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Julia, thank you so much. It feels like we need to stay very close to this one today. Sara?

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much.

Amongst so much death, a miraculous rescue in the earthquake devastation of Venezuela, a baby pulled from the rubble, and there are more rescues like this. We are live on the ground in Caracas on the desperate search for survivors at this hour.

Plus, a terrifying close call, a United flight nearly collides with a drone as it comes in for a landing.

And NASA, racing to stop an aging space telescope from plummeting back into Earth's atmosphere. What they're doing to stop this potential problem, ahead.

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[07:10:00]

SIDNER: In Venezuela this morning, rescuers are working really around the clock searching for any signs of life. Right now, they are trying to pull a 21-year-old from the rubble in one of the hardest hit coastal cities, La Guaira. The death toll is now at 1,450 people five days after earthquakes struck. The 72-hour golden window for rescues is now passed.

Still, there is hope. After 11 hours of digging, rescuers pulled out a 60-year-old woman alive. She has been trapped under the debris of the building for more than three days. An 18-day-old newborn and his mother were pulled out from a collapsed building on Friday. And on Saturday, an American search and rescue team helped pull out an 11- month-old baby and the child's mom.

It is just amazing to see these pictures.

Stefano Pozzebon is in Caracas for us this morning. Give us some sense as to what these rescuers are experiencing because the shaking of the ground isn't over yet, is it?

[07:15:00]

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, exactly, and unfortunately we just reported, Sara, an aftershock here in the city of Caracas. According to the Colombian Geological Service, it was a 5.1 magnitude tremor that hit not so far away actually, unfortunately, the epicenter from La Guaira, which is this coastal region between the capital, Caracas, where I'm currently speaking to you from, and the Caribbean Sea and the coast.

So, La Guaira is where the sea meets the mountain. It's where all of this damage has been located because of the morphology of the terrain down there. And, unfortunately, like I was saying, we just heard -- we just had and felt another aftershock, which means that the rescue -- the search and rescue operation is going to be even more hampered.

You can see that here from Caracas, they're trying to prepare and move some excavators, some heavy machinery. We've talked about it, Sara, in the last few days, the importance of heavy machinery. Because of the way the earthquake has developed, a lot of the buildings have collapsed with the floors one on top of each other.

Seismic experts call it a pancake collapse. That means that in order to rescue someone who maybe is trapped under five, six, seven, or eight floors, eight slabs of concrete, these machines are really what is going to save those lives. And they're trying to bring them as many as possible into the disaster zone.

We're in the city of Caracas, which is as you can see, I'm coming to you quite clean. We have reception, phone services. Most of the basic services have already been restored here in the capital. That, of course, is not the case down in La Guaira. We spent the day yesterday, or the whole of Sunday, in the disaster zone. We stayed there up until around 7:00, 8:00 P.M., and the devastation, it's just beyond words. It's just the magnitude of the catastrophe is just beyond words, unfortunately. Sara?

SIDNER: Stefano, can I quickly ask you? I saw that you were standing outside of a building late Sunday, where there were some knocks that they thought they heard, some taps they thought they heard. What was it like being there and listening to all of that and watching that unfold?

POZZEBON: The feeling -- if there is something that will remain with me in this story, Sara, is the silence. You may think of chaos and a lot of noise when it comes to rescue because -- a rescue operation, because you see people screaming around, moving. Actually, getting people out of buildings and after an earthquake of debris and rubble, it's a very silent operation because the rescue workers, and yesterday we spent the day with the rescue workers from Fairfax County in Virginia, they try to make contact with the survivors with sound.

So, they do tap on the rubble or they send they send impulses with machines, hoping that the survivors would hear it, understand that someone is coming for them, and maybe even respond back. So, they heard the tap, like you said, when we sat there. And because of that, every couple of minutes, rescue worker shout for everyone to stay silent, for everyone to, to be quiet because of that situation.

Clearly, it's not the case here, where we're seeing heavy machinery coming, but this is a complete different scenario. If the rescue workers believe that somebody could be saved, everyone needs to stay silent. Everything muffles out, because any noise could actually be a life saved. Sara?

SIDNER: Stefano Pozzebon, thank you so much. As things are really moving, you can see that apparatus starts trying to get to the places where they need them. John?

BERMAN: Thank you so much.

All right, we are standing by this morning. Alex Murdaugh returns to court for the first time since his convictions for killing his wife and son were overturned.

And then one princess, three mountains, just 24 hours. Why Princess Kate attempted this epic hike.

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[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: Today, Alex Murdaugh is due back in court in South Carolina for the first time since his double murder convictions were thrown out. The big question is will there be a retrial? Murdaugh is accused of killing his wife and son. We followed that trial very closely. He remains in prison, though, still today, after being convicted of separate financial crimes.

CNN's Diane Gallagher is outside court. What is the latest? What could happen from here?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, Kate, this is the very first step in what could potentially be the Murdaugh murders trial 2.0. I want to be clear, this is a pretrial scheduling and status hearing. But what we will see today is Alex Murdaugh for the first time since the state Supreme Court overturned those murder convictions for killing his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul, saying that the clerk of court had improperly influenced the jury.

Now, today, we're not expecting a whole lot of fireworks or any sort of bombshell. Again, this is a status and scheduling conference. Both sides are going to meet with the new judge who is tasked with everything surrounding a potential retrial for these murders, because Alex Murdaugh, while not a convicted murderer, does remain charged with those killings.

Now, we expect today for them to go over how they want to exchange evidence, what the timeframe for that will be, and potential dates for subsequent hearings, and maybe even a retrial.

[07:25:08]

Now, Judge Debra McCaslin, the new judge, is going to meet with both sides, discuss their thoughts on discovery, what their schedules are moving forward, and how they want to approach things.

Now, we do anticipate Alex Murdaugh's defense to talk about several motions that they filed. We don't know exactly what that's going to entail, but chief among them is the request to change the venue from Colleton County, where the original murder trial happened back in 2023, and instead move it to somewhere else in South Carolina.

They argue that the media attention was so intense back in 2023, of course, international wall-to-wall coverage for many networks, and they also point to the Murdaugh family history there, of course, the Murdaugh legal dynasty in the low country area. If you remember, they had to remove a portrait of Murdaugh's relative from the courtroom in the original murder trial, going back generations they are seen there.

So, his team wants to move. I don't anticipate that the judge is going to rule on that today. The state has not responded to that motion. There's also motions from the defense asking for independent retesting of some male DNA that was found under Maggie Murdaugh's fingernail, and for Alex Murdaugh to have access to a computer while he is in prison on those 27 and 40-year concurrent federal and state sentences so he can follow along with his case.

BOLDUAN: Dianne, thank you so much for that. Let us see what happens today. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Ahead, is there a possible federal plea agreement in the Luigi Mangione murder case? Details ahead on that.

And what we're learning about a skydiving plane crash that killed 11 people.

Those stories and much more ahead.

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