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Catastrophic Floods Hit Texas Hill Country; Air Quality in Some U.S. Cities Hazardous from Wildfire Smoke; Pentagon Approves Screening Troops for Low Testosterone. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 16, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: We're going to go back to our breaking news now. Deadly flooding devastating the hill country of Texas, where a year ago, more than 100 people died from a historic deluge there. So far, Texas authorities know of one person who has lost their life from the intense rains and flooding in the last day.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: These images that you are seeing here coming from our next guest, independent journalist Jonathan Petramala, who is in Boerne, Texas. Jonathan, thanks so much for being with us. You also were there year ago. I know this is worse in a slightly different place this year but tell us what you're seeing on the ground.

JONATHAN PETRAMALA, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST: I would say the biggest comparison to last year is just how much more widespread this is. So, in a way, this is more impactful, believe it or not, than that deadly flood last July 4th. Because last year, you had focus.

The focus was the Guadalupe River. It rose around 30 feet in a very short amount of time, and unfortunately, it killed around 130 people. This focus was not just one place. There was several small streams, creeks that exploded out of their banks with the force of a raging river, enough to carry RVs away, carry cars away. And so it was so widespread in so many different areas that it caught a lot of people off guard.

Because when people are thinking about flash flooding, especially after last year's flood that happened on the 4th of July, people think of the Guadalupe River. It's a deadly river, and we've seen it just last year. They do not think about the creeks in their backyard or the streams that they drive across when they're going to the store.

And those are the creeks and the streams that unfortunately have caused a lot of damage and destruction in areas that people just do not expect. I spoke with some people today that survived this from the second story of an apartment building, eight people having to go from the first floor up to the second floor. And they say, when we think of flash flooding, we look down towards the Guadalupe River. This came from above us. And so it absolutely caught many people off guard, even though, of course, they're living in what's famously known as flash flood alley.

JIMENEZ: And you know, to that point, we've been showing some of the images you've gotten from throughout the region, from the air and from the ground throughout all of this as well. You know, it's one thing where any type of natural disaster you're covering, there might be warnings and alerts that go out. Forecasts are saying, hey, watch out for flash flooding. It may grow, you know, this amount and a certain amount of time.

The water rose so quickly here. Did you get a sense that despite the warnings that typically come with the region, that people knew it was going to be this bad?

PETRAMALA: And again, you'd hope that they would take the lessons from last year, but many times, I think there's a real big communication problem between us and the media, weather professionals with the National Weather Service, to communicate to average everyday folks just how serious a flash flood emergency is and what that entails. And too many times, we get bombarded on our phones with alerts almost every day, it seems, right?

And so it's hard to keep every alert and warning and keep it in the front of our minds saying, oh, yes, this is what's going to happen. And another thing is, you got to remember, this happened around two, three o'clock in the morning. So people are not at their clearest thinking. They're not awake. They're completely off guard, exactly like the flood that happened a year ago on July 4th.

And that was a big problem back then. People were not paying attention to their phones. They weren't paying attention to the alerts. They get so many alerts, they just start ignoring them. So that's that overload, and it really comes down to just a communication problem, people not understanding, what does this mean?

You know, again, I talked to people today, and they said, Yes, we got alerts, but we didn't expect this. Like, how can we expect this? You know, they've never seen it, especially like it came down from above.

KEILAR: Yes, it's hard to imagine something that you've never seen before. Jonathan Petramala, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for showing these pictures with us.

[14:35:00]

It really gives us a sense of what people are dealing with this year in Texas Hill Country. We appreciate you.

PETRAMALA: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right and stay safe as well.

Still ahead, thick, hazy air impacting millions of Americans. This is a live look at Detroit where air quality there, you might be able to guess, is hazardous. We'll have more on the dangerous conditions next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: Right now, major cities in the Great Lakes and Northeast are in a shroud of smoke from wildfires in Canada, and it's severely diminishing the quality of air people there are breathing. Detroit is one of the more extreme examples. You might be able to see it on your screen here.

This is why. And we want to show you actually a time lapse of air conditions over several hours yesterday in the thick haze.

[14:40:00]

This actually, I think, is the time lapse. It's just not moving. The haze, not at all. Also, while not as severe looking, you can see people in Minneapolis are also being exposed to poor air quality today with that slight coloring as well.

I want to bring in Matt Taraldsen. He's the supervisory meteorologist for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. He's also its lead smoke forecaster. So can you just tell us about the current air quality across Minnesota? Are there certain areas worse than others that you guys are keeping an eye on?

MATT TARALDSEN, SUPERVISORY METEOROLOGIST, MINNESOTA POLLUTION CONTROL AGENCY: Yes, yes. A good chunk of the state is in that maroon or hazardous air quality. There is a part, southwestern Minnesota, that is actually in green right now, good. But we have a stationary front that's parked right across, just south of the Twin Cities, right across Minnesota, and that has brought the smoke down through most of the state, and the entire state that is being impacted is in that maroon or the highest category.

JIMENEZ: So, you know, one of the things that we've been watching for me, a lot of people are wondering is how long is something like this going to last? I mean, I know you guys are tracking it pretty closely. What are the estimates you're seeing on your end?

TARALDSEN: Yes, we've been advised by our partners that these fires are likely to burn until the snow puts them out in the winter. But I'd also caution that although these fires might burn that long, they might not be producing smoke in sufficient quantity to cause air quality issues. So it's really going to be dependent on the fire behavior. It's obviously very hard to forecast, but it's something that we are fully prepared and think will last for weeks, if not months.

JIMENEZ: You know, a lot of times in when there's a lot of smoke like this, it's other weather conditions that sort of exacerbate the effects of it, whether it's wind, whether it's dry air, whatever it might be. But, you know, some people are looking at sort of the northern edge of this week's heat dome. It seems like it's perfectly placed over northern Minnesota, southern Ontario as well. How much is that having an impact? And are there other sort of extra weather conditions that you think are making the effects of this felt a little bit worse in a wide part of this country?

TARALDSEN: Yes, yes. So we've been in northern Minnesota, there is temperatures, you know, between 100 and 105 degrees, and this is an area of the country that sees 100 degree readings once every several years, and the average highs are in the upper 70s this time of the year. So we had an extreme heat wave that went through that rapidly dried out the vegetation.

We also have some lingering drought concerns. And so the combination of both of those, along with lightning strikes, is what produced the wildfires in northern Minnesota and the extreme fire behavior that then created all the smoke. And so It is very unusual. It's also a one-two punch when we do have extreme heat and air quality at the same time, that creates kind of a one-two punch for people for extra impacts.

And so that's why we're particularly concerned about this one. It's very hot out in addition to having poor air quality.

JIMENEZ: Yes, I mean, look, you don't have to look further than any of the images and videos we've been seeing. You don't even have to feel it to know that it's something that people are trying to get away from as quickly as possible. Matt Taraldsen, really great to see you. Thanks for taking the time here.

TARALDSEN: No problem, thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right, still had Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announcing a new requirement for service members getting an annual testosterone screening. But is it really necessary? We're going to talk to a doctor next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's new testosterone testing policy for troops is sparking questions and debate. The Pentagon plans to screen service members for low testosterone with mandatory annual tests proposed for all soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardians over 30 years of age. Hegseth says the program is aimed at improving military readiness and restoring health.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: If treatment is recommended, it's entirely your choice to receive testosterone replacement therapy. This initiative -- it's not about artificial enhancement. It's about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity, and ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain the fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We're joined now by Dr. Peter Snyder, who is an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Thank you so much for being with us. This testing is mandatory.

The treatment is not, he's saying. Does this policy make sense to you, someone who has led NIH-funded testosterone trials in older men?

DR. PETER SNYDER, ENDOCRINOLOGIST: No, and the reason I say no is that it doesn't make sense. It's because the likelihood that this testing will find men with low testosterone is very low because men who are in their 30s and 40s are very unlikely to have a low testosterone. The incidence is, say, roughly one in 100, so not many men would be found to have a low testosterone.

The other reason that it doesn't make sense is because to make the diagnosis based on a blood test for testosterone, the test has to be done under certain circumstances, early in the morning, fasting, and what is the likelihood that that will be done early in the morning in the military? So I think the chance is greater that men will be misdiagnosed. They'll be told that they have a low testosterone when they really don't.

KEILAR: And then what would the effect of being treated for low testosterone, if you don't actually need to be treated for it, what would that be?

SNYDER: Well, at a minimum, it would turn off the body's own production of testosterone so that if later that treatment was discontinued, the body's own production of testosterone would remain low for some period of time.

KEILAR: There is something in the military called operator syndrome, which is where you have special operations folks or you have service members who are just under really physical demands in the kind of work that they're doing. Think SEALs, Green Berets, Rangers, Marine Raiders, they have this disrupted sleep. They may not be eating regularly or much at all.

They have these incredible physical situations they're in.

[14:50:00]

And it does, in some of those cases, lower their testosterone and cause problems significantly more than the general population. How does that fit into this discussion? How would you see a policy addressing that?

SNYDER: Well, I don't think -- I'm not aware that testosterone is measured under those circumstances. And of course, it's easy to picture. That would be difficult to make that determination.

No one is going to have a boy testosterone measured while they're on a dangerous mission.

KEILAR: Of course, the military is not just about men, right? What about hormonal imbalances in women? It's really unclear if women will be tested in this case, but how might they fit into this?

SNYDER: There is no known condition where women would make less than a normal amount of testosterone. And for that reason, testosterone treatment is not approved for use in women.

KEILAR: So talk to us about -- you mentioned the logistics of just how difficult it can be, because we're talking multiple tests, fasted at a certain amount of time. When there is proper treatment for low testosterone, how is that something that is done over time? I mean, how do doctors monitor to make sure that they are properly treating patients?

SNYDER: So if a man really has a low testosterone, and some men do, there are men who have diseases of their pituitary gland or of their testicles, so they make very little testosterone. Those are known, accepted conditions that are recognized to cause very low testosterone concentrations. And so those men legitimately are treated with testosterone.

And when they are, the adequacy of the treatment can be monitored by measuring their blood concentrations of testosterone.

KEILAR: So when you see a policy like this announced, I mean, how do you see it? It seems like you're not necessarily seeing it for a medical reason, a compelling medical reason that is widespread here. How do you see it?

SNYDER: Well, I see it as contrary to the recommendations of the Endocrine Society. So the Endocrine Society, which is the professional organization of endocrinologists, makes recommendations about all kinds of hormonal conditions, including low testosterone. And what the Endocrine Society recommends is that testosterone should not be measured unless a man has symptoms that are suggestive of testosterone deficiency.

KEILAR: That symptoms would prompt the testing here. Dr. Peter Snyder, we really appreciate your expertise. Thank you so much for being with us.

SNYDER: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: And we'll be right back.

[14:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The World Cup final is set. Spain is taking on Argentina, and it's truly going to be a clash of the titans.

JIMENEZ: CNN's Don Riddell joins us now with all the details. Don, what a match yesterday.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It was absolutely insane. Let's just jump into the highlights because you're going to want to see this. England, Argentina, these are bitter, bitter rivals on the world stage.

England thought they had it in the bag, thanks to this second half goal from Anthony Gordon. But if you've been watching Argentina in this tournament, you will know that they are just never, ever beaten. In the 85th minute, Enzo Fernandez with a stunning equalizer.

And just when you thought maybe the game would go to extra time, Lautaro Martinez headed in the winner. Heartbreaking for England, extraordinary for Argentina. Lionel Messi with both those assists.

I was in the Atlanta fan park and saw the fans absolutely lose their minds when this finale played out. Just incredible ...

END