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Patricia Losing Steam but Remains a Hurricane; USAF Pilot Flies through Hurricane; Leaders Meet to Discuss Violence in Israel; American Killed in ISIS Hostage Rescue; U.S. Tourists Hunker Down in Mexico; From Hollywood to Terrorist Group; Clinton Hits Campaign Trail after Hearing. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired October 24, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, folks. Welcome to CNN's continuing coverage of Hurricane Patricia in Mexico. I'm Fred Pleitgen in London.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Great to have you with us, wherever you are, in the United States and all around the world. I'm John Vause reporting live from Guadalajara, Mexico.

PLEITGEN: Of course we have a lot to cover this hour. But our top story, that Hurricane Patricia, is, of course, in Mexico, where John is and a now weakening storm.

VAUSE: Yes, Fred. As quickly as this storm intensified it does seem to be weakening as a category 1 storm with winds of around 75 miles per hour. But on Friday when it slammed into Mexico's coast it was the strongest hurricane ever recorded and authorities say it still poses a serious threat, mostly from flooding and mudslides.

They're the main concerns because of the huge amount of rain which Patricia is now dumping across this country. But from the president on down, there does seem to be a sense of relief and maybe even some cautious optimism.

The president did say in a video message a short time ago that maybe the damage isn't as bad as people had expected but he was reminding everyone here, they still needed to be careful.

Puerto Vallarta was one town, one resort town, where many were expecting to bear the brunt of this storm.

Martin Savidge has been there for many, many hours as the storm moves in and he says right now people there are breathing a sigh of relief.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rain continues to fall on Puerto Vallarta. It's been doing that for a number of hours now. But what they did not get was what they much feared and that was the full impact of Hurricane Patricia.

We never saw hurricane winds here and we definitely did not see any kind of storm surge, both of which could have been catastrophic in a city with so many high-rise hotels built along the oceanfront.

This is going to be measured over the next couple of days and weeks, particularly if there's been extensive damage. That's going always is the case. It would be safe to say that any nation would have struggled with that very short lead-up time that they had and then on top of that the catastrophic winds and the potential forward destruction.

The United States, which sets a very high bar as far as structures and the winds that they have to be able to sustain, most of them are built to a 150-mile-an-hour category. This storm well exceeded that.

So the challenges for the government were, one, trying to get people out of the way. And in some cases it might have been just get them away from the water's edge. In other places, it was let's move them to cities. They tried to do that, moving a lot of American tourists to Guadalajara, places directly out of the storm but still have the infrastructure to care for a lot of people.

The rest were asked to shelter where they could. So there were indications that the government was also placing heavy earth-moving equipment ahead of this storm, realizing the need, that you get landslides and mudslides and debris. The only way first responders and the emergency crews can get through is if the roads are open. And that's one of the primary things you have to do.

They say there were about 15,000 tourists that were evacuated. Many of them were actually sent off to places like Guadalajara or other major cities or they were bused out to other locations to get out of the storm's path.

Those who could not were sheltered in place in many of these hotels. They're not staying in their hotel room. The accommodation not quite so nice but at least they were in solid structures, they were protected and that was the safest way to handle things.

The lights have remained on. Communication has remained open. There's no reports of significant damage here in Puerto Vallarta. All of that is good news.

On the flip side of that is, of course, the storm did go somewhere and it's done extensive damage as far as can be told, at least in the darkness, and that is to the south by about maybe 100-135 miles or roughly 215 kilometers.

There seems to be structures, even significant structures that were knocked over. I'm talking about bricks and cement. So the concern is in Puerto Vallarta, for the rain. Elsewhere, daylight will reveal the damage -- back to you.

VAUSE: Our thanks to Martin for that report.

Earlier I spoke to Carl Emberson, he's the manager of the St. Regis Hotel at Punta Mita. That's a --

[05:05:00] VAUSE: -- resort not far north of where Martin made that report in Puerto Vallarta. And he started by explaining to me why he decided to evacuate every single one of his guests from his hotel before the storm made landfall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL EMBERSON, MANAGER, ST. REGIS HOTEL, PUNTA MITA: Upon receiving the communication from the local government authority, we took the immediate steps to secure the safety of our guests. And we got that message on Thursday night.

And by Friday morning at 8:30, we had them all evacuated to Guadalajara, which is about a 4-hour drive from here, from Punta Mita.

Since then we've had inclement weather, lots of rain; thankfully at this part of the region, John, not much damage. We're looking at hopefully opening back within the next 24 to 48 hours, from the property. But that's about an update down here. So I'm in Punta Mita.

VAUSE: And you've -- so the guests made the trip to safety. But I guess the staff stayed behind, along with you.

Can you explain what it was like?

I imagine you were expecting the worst and when that didn't happen, clearly there must have been a huge amount of relief.

EMBERSON: Indeed you hit the button there, mate. It was hearing all the forecasts and what was upcoming or potentially up front, was indeed a little scary. But the comfort of our guests and following Stalwart's (ph) policies security wise and ensuring that comfort, that was very -- that was a great feeling to have done that.

And having the emergency team, that's what we're trained for and that's what, you know, the team was trained for and do and are passionate about. It's making our guests happy, that's what we do and also to take care of the property with a team here, just in case anything else could go wrong here.

VAUSE: I wonder if you could comment on the preparation you've seen so far by the Mexican government, because clearly there wasn't a lot of warning when this storm came in. It intensified very quickly from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane in about 24 hours.

How do you think the local authorities dealt with this?

What is your assessment?

EMBERSON: I think it was exemplary, to tell you the truth, John.

I think, you know, the communication, how they got it down to the field, how they gave us enough warning to react and also the manner in which they communicated, saying, it is time to move. And those that did, I think, are happier hoteliers, you know, than

those who may be dealing with it, who still have to get in hotel rooms. I think that's -- you know, having that communication with enough time for you to react and the right message, I think that's crucial in these types of situations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Carl Emberson in Punta Mita, talking to us just a short time ago.

Well, most people ran from this storm. There was one man who went right through it. Captain Chase Allen with the U.S. Air Force. He felt the storm's intensity firsthand. He flew through the eye of the hurricane to measure the storm's wind speeds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAPT. CHASE ALLEN, USAF: There's a lot of rain associated with the storm obviously. The eye was very well defined and very well wrapped around, I guess you'd say.

And so penetrating the wall was, like I said, severe turbulence and a lot of rain and it was a small eyewall, so we had to work really quickly to drop the weather instruments. Usually in a storm you have an eye that might be 30 nautical miles, so you have more time to work on dropping your weather instruments.

In this case, everything happened so quickly with the small eye like that. There's a lot going on and we were just having to work as a crew together and deal with the task at hand and just back each other up all the way. So it was a pretty intense ride but overall worked out and we got some good data out of that.

I was expecting this going in to Patricia but this was definitely the most severe storm that I've flown to date. Normally when you break out in the eye, you have what we call a stadium effect, so you see the whole eyewall from inside the eye, which is a really good picture. And you can look straight up sometimes, see clear skies.

[05:10:00]

ALLEN: But we didn't have any of that. We could just see lightning flashes and that was pretty much it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: From a category 5 storm, the most powerful hurricane ever recorded now, to a category 1, Patricia is losing steam and losing it quickly.

Karen Maginnis, again, following all of this as she has been throughout the night.

Karen, where is the storm now, how strong is it and what's the path? KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is barely hanging in there at

hurricane intensity. You cannot see any clear circulation that's taking place with this. As rapidly as it intensified, it is really becoming a much weaker system just hour by hour.

National Hurricane Center says there are still 75-mile-an-hour, some higher gusts moving, racing across the interior sections of Mexico but we did receive some reports that there were as much as 10 inches of rainfall reported in some areas.

Water temperatures were very warm here in the mid to upper 80s. And there's an especially deep pool of some very warm water. So right around in this vicinity, that's where it quickly intensified and we saw it make landfall about 6:30 local time in the evening, right between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta.

So to some degree there was a little bit of protection, thanks to the coastal ranges. Now they jut up to about 4,000 or 5,000 feet; it acted as a little bit of a buffer. Right now, category 1. But it wasn't this blue environment. If this doesn't make a lot of sense, essentially where we see the red and the purple, that's where you've got a lot of the energy.

But it was in this kind of sinus (ph) area. There was nothing taking place here that was going to sheer this hurricane apart, nothing like the mountains or anything like that. So it was in a very, very favorable environment, very conducive for it to just explode.

A sneak hurricane, a lot like we saw back in 1959, the last time they had a category 5 hurricane make landfall.

Now what happens to this moisture? It's moving up into Texas. And some areas in Texas already 20 inches of rainfall. Not from this but this is going to enhance the rainfall in Texas over the weekend. So we'll closely monitor that. We're be back at the bottom of the hour to give you another update -- back to you.

VAUSE: Karen, we appreciate the update. Thank you very much for that.

And Laurie Segall in London has been following Patricia on social media as residents and tourists share their experiences. These are some fascinating snapshots of what was happening when Patricia was probably at her strongest. Of course, not only were they sharing their experiences, Laurie; at some point they were also asking for help.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. They're also at the same time expressing gratitude online as the storm has been downgraded, as things aren't turning out as bad in many cases for some of the folks.

I want to read you one tweet from a woman, a resident in Guadalajara. Her name is Alicia Martinez and she's expressing relief that her dog came home, that her Labrador has come home. What she said was thank you to whoever gave him shelter, thanking her neighbors. Our two guests are asleep. And she's using that #HurricanePatricia and she said I'm #determined.

So you can really see people going online to put an outpouring of support.

Another one that I thought was pretty interesting, John, was a woman expressing her gratitude that her family is safe. The way she expressed her gratitude that her family is safe is very interesting; it's a Facebook feature. Her family actually was able to check in on Facebook's safety alert which they built -- it was actually an engineering tool that they used within to make sure some of the engineers were OK during a disaster years ago and they decided to build this for folks all around the world during natural disasters, where they're able to check in on Facebook and say, hey, I'm safe and all their family around the world will get an alert.

One woman tweeted, "Props to Facebook for this. Glad to know my family in Guadalajara is safe," because she'd seen that alert on Facebook. So you really are hearing people know that -- hearing that people are safe, that their family is safe and they're going to social media to express that -- John.

VAUSE: Also on social media we've seen a lot of information coming out from aid agencies, who have basically been putting out information as well.

SEGALL: Yes. You know, this is how they're connecting directly to people. A lot of people are picking up their smartphones right now, looking at their computers, trying to get an idea of what's going on. You look at someone like the Red Cross. The Red Cross has been actively tweeting.

One thing they tweeted recently after the downgrade, they reminded people that --

[05:15:00]

SEGALL: -- despite the downgrade, this storm is still dangerous. That was a tweet they put out there. You know, a lot of people are relieved that it's not as bad as they thought it would be but they're also saying, you know, look, you need to still take precaution, you need to still take shelter and we're hearing that from the aid groups -- John.

VAUSE: OK, Laurie. Thank you for that. And some interesting stories there. Well done on finding the happy dog story out of the hurricane here.

And CNN's Impact Your World team has compiled a list of resources to help those who have been affected by this storm. For more information, please head to cnn.com/impact and you can find out how you can help.

Of course, a lot more coverage from Mexico, the impact of Hurricane Patricia in the coming hours.

In the meantime, back to London and Fred Pleitgen. PLEITGEN: Thank you very much, John Vause in Guadalajara, in Mexico. Of course, we'll be going back to you throughout the hour. We do have some other very important news that we'll have to cover as well.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Jordan today to meet with King Abdullah and the head of the Palestinian Authority as they try to find a solution to the recent wave of violence in Israel. That's coming up.

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PLEITGEN: Welcome back to all of our viewers in the United States and of course around the world. We're monitoring Hurricane Patricia as it moves over Southwest Mexico.

The storm is now a category 1 hurricane but it hit Mexico's Pacific Coast on Friday without much warning as a category 5, which is, of course, the fiercest on the scale. Thousands of people have been forced from their homes while others are waiting it out.

Mexico's president says so far damage has been much less than feared but, of course, it is still dark in Mexico. Rain and mudslides are now a main concern. Forecasters expect Patricia to become a tropical storm and then dissipate later today.

Other news now, one person is dead and dozens more wounded after a bomb attack outside the main Shia site in Bangladesh's capital city. A series of blasts went off early Saturday in Dhaka as Shia Muslims gathered to mark the holy day of Ashura.

Police are investigating the bombing but say they're unsure who might have carried it out.

To the Middle East now, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Jordan this hour to discuss the recent --

[05:20:00]

PLEITGEN: -- wave of violence in Israel and in the West Bank. He's meeting with King Abdullah and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Kerry met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week in Berlin. He expressed cautious optimism about finding a way to defuse the violence that has killed nearly 60 people this month.

And we have our own senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, who joins me now live from Jerusalem.

Ben, you've been on the ground there in the West Bank, in Israel.

Is there any sign that the violence might be dying down? BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not really when you

go around. And we've just heard news that there's been another attempted stabbing by a Palestinian teenager at a checkpoint just outside of Jenin in the Northern West Bank. According to Israeli army spokesman, that assailant has been shot.

Now Palestinian eyewitnesses are saying that, in fact, this teenager did not have a knife and that the soldiers opened fire on him for no apparent reason.

So we're still waiting for more details to clarify that situation.

But, no. When you go around the West Bank, there is no sense that things are fizzling out. Yesterday we were going around the Bethlehem area. There were clashes at the northern end of the city, clashes at the southern end of the city and you could see, on the horizon, black smoke rising where protesters were lighting tires. So there doesn't seem to be a diminishing of the violence at all.

Now we're hearing that already Secretary of State John Kerry has met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Reporters there say that when they asked President Abbas if he's hopeful that these meetings will result in an improvement of the situation, he said mere, "We're always hopeful."

We understand the secretary of state is trying to work out between Jordan, which has custodianship for the Al-Haram al-Sharif or the Temple Mount between Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Israel, so there will be clear understandings about the arrangements there.

At the moment what exists is the so-called status quo, which is unwritten. It's informal.

And I think what we're -- what we understand is Secretary Kerry wants to formalize this so everybody understands -- the Jordanians, the Israelis and the Palestinians -- exactly what the red lines on that very sensitive piece of real estate are -- Fred.

PLEITGEN: How much faith, Ben, do people actually have in diplomacy there?

We've been talking so much in the past couple of days about the fact that many of these Palestinian protesters don't really feel represented by Mahmoud Abbas, either.

WEDEMAN: No. And you have to realize that if -- let's say you're 20 years old -- neither you nor I are -- but you have lived your entire life in a situation where there are talks for peace; there are negotiations, there's shuttle diplomacy, there are agreements signed. But, in fact, nothing really changes on the ground.

I'm going to spots at the moment, covering clashes where I was covering them 20 years ago. And so for people who have lived this entire life -- their entire lives, watching this go on, there's not much faith. And that also applies on the Israeli side. If you're a 20-year-old

Israeli, you have seen wars with Lebanon, wars with Gaza. You've seen uprisings and flare-ups like we're seeing now.

So when they think of the other, all they think of is violence on both sides. And despite what all the diplomats are saying, the violence continues year after year after year -- Fred.

PLEITGEN: Ben Wedeman, our senior international correspondent there in Jerusalem.

Of course, neither of us are 20 years old but we are still very young at heart.

Now on Friday Secretary of State Kerry also met for two hours with the Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, to discuss the civil war in Syria.

According to Reuters News Agency, Kerry said new talks on the conflict could begin as soon as next week and that all parties interested in resolving the conflict will meet.

But he didn't specify if that would include, for instance, Iran. Lavrov wants countries like Iran and Egypt to be at the table.

Russian officials are in Damascus today where they plan to meet with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. This comes a day after Russia's foreign minister reiterated that the Syrian people and not the international community must decide the fate of Assad.

[05:25:00]

And all of this comes in the wake of Friday's attack on a Syrian hospital. Aid workers say Russian jets are to blame, which Moscow strongly denies.

Now we're learning more about the first U.S. ground operation against ISIS forces in Iraq. A daring hostage rescue mission left one U.S. special forces commando dead but it also saved the lives of dozens of people believed to be facing imminent execution by ISIS terrorists.

Our own chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto has all the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Faced with the first U.S. combat death in Iraq in four years, Pentagon Secretary Ash Carter made clear that U.S. troops will continue to face danger there.

SCIUTTO: The U.S. administration has taken great pains, the president, in various permutations, to say it's not ground combat. It's not a major combat role.

ASH CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: They will be in harm's way, there's no question about it. And I don't want anybody to be under any illusions about that.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): A U.S. military official confirmed to CNN that Master Sergeant Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, of Roland, Oklahoma, a 20-year military veteran, was a member of the elite Delta Force.

The deadly battle was the first time U.S. forces have directly engaged ISIS fighters on the ground in Iraq. In a joint operation with Kurdish commandos, U.S. special operators from the Delta Force raided an ISIS compound to rescue hostages thought to be in imminent danger of execution.

U.S. warplanes bombed makeshift ISIS training camps, staging sites and bridges in the area. And five helicopters brought in nearly 30 U.S. special forces and 40 Kurdish troops.

The U.S. forces were not meant to enter the walled compound or directly engage the ISIS fighters. But when Kurdish forces inside the compound were overwhelmed, the U.S. commander made the decision to enter the firefight.

Master Sergeant Wheeler was shot inside the compound and died later after being transported to a military hospital in Erbil.

When the mission was over, U.S. aircraft overhead destroyed the compound. U.S. troops are deployed to Iraq on a train, advise and assist mission. However, under current rules of engagement, they are allowed to return fire when they or their partner forces come under attack.

CARTER: When a firefight ensued, this American ran to the sound of the guns. And all the indications are it was his actions and that of one of his teammates that protected those who were involved in breaching the compound.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): This risky mission was launched, say U.S. military officials, after U.S. surveillance spotted freshly dug mass graves inside the compound.

U.S. officials say that 70 prisoners were rescued, 20 Iraqi security forces as well as Iraqi civilians and, interestingly, ISIS fighters accused by their own group of spying.

Missing, however, were the Kurdish captives they were originally sent in to rescue.

SCIUTTO: Defense Secretary Carter said that he was proud of Master Sergeant Wheeler. He said, in his words, that he ran to the sound of the guns. He made a decision to go into that firefight. He lost his life for it.

But Secretary Carter said as well there will continue to be risky missions like this for U.S. forces in Iraq. He said they said they will continue to be in harm's way -- Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PLEITGEN: Officials in Southern France say their priority right now is to identify the victims of a fiery road crash that killed more than 40 people there on Friday.

It happened as a bus and a truck rammed into each other an a narrow road near Bordeaux. The bus burst into flames. Most of the people on board were pensioners.

Local media call it the worst road accident in France in at least three decades and a witness described the scene as a war zone, as you're seeing this helicopter footage.

And there is much more ahead here on CNN. Our own John Vause will update us on our top story, Hurricane Patricia, live from Guadalajara in Mexico. And we'll also hear how the Red Cross is preparing to help.

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[05:30:00]

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VAUSE: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm John Vause in Guadalajara, Mexico, with our breaking news coverage of Hurricane Patricia, which has now weakened to a category 1 storm.

But when it made landfall it blew in as the most powerful hurricane ever recorded. And while it's now losing strength, authorities warn Patricia is still dangerous. Right now flooding and mudslides are among the major concerns.

Fifteen thousand tourists were forced to evacuate because of the storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (voice-over): Mexico's Red Cross has been collecting donations here since Thursday, officials still waiting to see the full impact before assessing where those resources should be directed and CNN spoke to the International Federation of the Red Cross a short time ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Mexico Red Cross is clearly of assistance to the government. So they have been mobilizing assistance since yesterday. They have mobilized relief items, including food items and blankets. And it's close to the coastal area. And they have mobilized response teams as well. They're waiting for the impact of the hurricane in order to start making assessments and identify the immediate needs.

There are around 50,000 people have been evacuated around the coast area of Jalisco, (INAUDIBLE). Evacuation centers have been set up and are equipped to shelter approximately 258,000 people. Also the Mexican Red Cross has established a donation center in Mexico City to capture all donated items for the affected people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Many residents here as well as tourists took those warnings seriously to evacuate. They took to shelters ahead of the storm and throughout the day CNN has been talking to a lot of people in Mexico who were in the path of the storm. They talked about not just their fear of Hurricane Patricia but how many people came together support one another.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALISON NORMANTON: Many people this morning, when I drove through town, they were putting the sandbags, taking the usual precautions, taping up the glass windows --

[05:35:00]

NORMANTON: -- moving everything inside. It's just very eerie. There's just nobody around, nobody, not even the taxi drivers. It's very strange.

I've been here for over 12 years and I've never seen it like this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were concerned about another. They thought about putting us in, they were concerned the roof was going to ripped off. But that's why right now we're kind of all in here. You can kind of see behind me, there's lots of people. I have kind of a motley crew here with me, people from Tennessee, New Jersey, West Virginia, California, all over the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I closed the business down early so the employees could go home and secured my apartment as best I could. I'm fairly close to the ocean. We've moved the pool furniture and did the best we can. And it looks like, you know, hopefully that things will be fine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The hotel guests throughout the day have been pretty positive about it and I want to commend the hotel employees. They volunteered their time. They're not with their families. They're here with us, making sure that we're safe here. And they've been with us every step of the way, making sure (INAUDIBLE) we needed.

We've basically in the bathrooms most of the time. They wanted to make sure doors that their doors were closed. They were departed (ph). They provided food, they provided drinks. And as I said, they pretty much spent their entire day here instead of being with their families.

We even actually collected a little bit of a donation for the workers since they were so gracious with their time and making sure that we're safe out here.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: This hurricane intensified so very quickly from a storm to a category 5 in about 24 hours and now it seems to be weakening just as fast. Karen Maginnis joins us once again at the CNN Weather Center to explain just how all of that happened -- Karen.

MAGINNIS: It is stunning. When we were looking at this 24 hours ago, this was an incredible hurricane. National Hurricane Center was using words like "unprecedented" and it certainly has been. This is one to be analyzed. You might quibble with a few of the statistics but you can't deny that this was one of the most powerful storm systems, if not the most, that we've ever seen, certainly for the Western Hemisphere.

It slammed on shore between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta right around 6:30 local time. It is now nothing like we were looking at, barely at hurricane force winds.

Why did it erupt so suddenly?

Called the sneaker hurricane. Just like in 1959, the last category 5 that slammed into this coast. Water temperatures here exceptionally warm. That's why people love it. It's beautiful. Gorgeous sunsets, beautiful buildings, nice resorts.

Well, it gained intensity right about in this vicinity. There is just really nothing that was impeding it. A very favorable environment, very warm water temperature and nothing in the way of shear. When we talk about shear, something that could rip apart the system, either upper levels or lower levels.

But this was a vicinity where you see the blue. You may not pick up on what is happening elsewhere but those would be unfavorable environments. This was a very favorable environment. Now it's just being ripped apart. If there's a center to this system, you really can't see it on the satellite imagery or on the radar imagery.

Already it's produced about 10-plus inches in some sections of Mexico. We're not getting a lot of reports but once the sunup happens, we'll see the damage, we'll see what has happened when this category 5, 201- mile-per-hour winds did when it slammed on shore.

Now we'll watch some of those remnants move into Texas. And already parts of Texas are seeing exponentially heavy rainfall enhanced by this, about 20 inches forecast -- John.

VAUSE: Yes. I think you're right, Karen, when you say the word here is it could have been a whole lot worse. We still don't know just how bad Patricia was because it is so dark. As the sun comes up and as emergency crews reach some of those outlying areas, we'll get a better handle on exactly what damage has been left behind in the wake of Patricia. And, of course, that will come in the next few hours.

But, Karen, thank you so much for keeping us informed throughout the night on just what Patricia was doing and where it was headed. It's much appreciated. Of course, if you'd like to help anyone who has been affected by this storm, our Impact Your World team has been compiling a list of resources and of aid groups who are vetted who can actually help the people here. That's over at our website cnn.com/impact if you'd like to help.

In the meantime, let's go back to Fred in our studios in London -- Fred.

PLEITGEN: Thank you very much, John.

We do have the latest headlines coming up for you. One of them is this from Hollywood's top social circles to fighting terrorists in Syria and its strange son. That's next.

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[05:40:00]

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PLEITGEN: Welcome back, everyone, to our special ongoing coverage of Hurricane Patricia, which has now been downgraded to a category 1 storm but not before it slammed into Southwestern Mexico Friday night as a category 5 hurricane, which is, of course, the fiercest level.

Even as it loses steam, forecasters warn this is still a very strong and, of course, also a very dangerous storm. Flooding and mudslides remain big threats as the rain continues across the country.

All right. I want to get you caught up on some other world news now.

South Africa's president says the government will not hike university fees next year as students have demanding in week-long protests. But Jacob Zuma canceled plans to make this announcement in person in Pretoria after clashes erupted outside government offices.

Some demonstrators threw rocks at police, who responded with water cannons and stun grenades.

Students have been protesting the high cost of education with some calling for free tuition.

The rapid recruitment of young adults by ISIS in Al Qaeda has many Western leaders very concerned and now the son of a Hollywood director has appeared in a new video from an Al Qaeda affiliate. Our own Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCAS KINNEY, AL QAEDA RECRUIT: In the northern countryside of Aleppo --

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a slickly produced video, featuring a militant who knows a little something about making a good film.

KINNEY: These are the houses of your brothers, of your sisters, of your fathers, of your children.

TODD (voice-over): Heavily armed with a distinct British accent, the man says he is with the Al-Nusra Front --

[05:45:00]

TODD (voice-over): -- Al Qaeda's branch in Syria.

KINNEY: Destroyed and shattered in the explosion

TODD (voice-over): And in the video he slams the competing terror group ISIS for decimating a village in Northern Syria.

KINNEY: The followers of the so-called Islamic State decided in the middle of Ramadan that the best worship they could perform was to bomb the houses of innocent Muslims.

TODD (voice-over): According to the site intelligencegroup, which posted the video, the militant goes by Abu Basir al-Britani. CNN has learned his real name is Lucas Kinney and his family once moved in Hollywood's top circles.

A distraught family member tells CNN Lucas Kinney is the son of Patrick Kinney, an assistant director, who worked on blockbusters like "Braveheart."

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Kinney's father also helped direct a "Rambo" sequel and worked with Steven Spielberg on "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

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TODD (voice-over): Now it appears Lucas Kinney is on his own terror crusade.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: This is a guy who had every advantage in life yet still ended up with Al Qaeda, with a terrorist group in Syria. Somebody who appears to have traveled to Syria because he believed it was his religious duty to fight jihad.

TODD (voice-over): CNN has learned Kinney's father and his mother, a British national, divorced years ago. He attended the best schools in Cairo, Saudi Arabia and Britain. One relative said Lucas was a rock- and-roller who once played in band called Hannah's Got Herpes.

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TODD (voice-over): It appears Lucas Kinney is using those performance skills to aid a brutal terror group and experts warn he could exploit his familiarity with Western culture to deadly effect.

CRUICKSHANK: Some of these recruits are becoming suicide bombers, ready to give up their lives. The worry is that they could be sent back to the West to launch attacks, that they could be trained inside Syria by Al Qaeda. Right now the group's focus is on Syria. The worry is that could change.

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PLEITGEN: Some very troubling reporting there from our own Brian Todd. And CNN reached out to U.S. and British officials. But they wouldn't comment. The family member CNN spoke with doesn't know when or why Kinney became radicalized.

The relative said, quote, "This is not our proudest moment," and their hearts are, quote, "broken."

Presidential Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was all smiles as she returned to the campaign trail a day after 11 grueling hours of questioning on Capitol Hill.

The House committee grilled the former secretary of state on her handling of a deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. Republicans weren't satisfied with her answers, as you may imagine, but many analysts say she emerged largely unscathed from the hearings.

Clinton mentioned the hearing Friday while addressing a women's leadership forum.

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HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: It's been quite a week, hasn't it?

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CLINTON: Well, thank you all so much. I am absolutely delighted to be here. As some of you may know, I had a pretty long day yesterday.

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PLEITGEN (voice-over): And here might be one of the reasons why she's smiling. A new poll released by Quinnipiac University indicates Hillary Clinton has recaptured the lead among likely Democratic caucus-goers in the key early voting state of Iowa.

The survey of almost 600 people showed 51 percent backed Clinton while 40 percent support her biggest rival, Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders.

And the World Series of baseball is set. It will be the Kansas City Royals versus the New York Mets.

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PLEITGEN (voice-over): The Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays Friday night in a final of a best of seven series. The Mets see the Chicago Cubs earlier in the week, of course, for the (INAUDIBLE) on that series.

The Royals lost last year's World Series to the San Francisco Giants. Game one of the 2015 series is Tuesday night. And, of course, many people will be looking forward to that.

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PLEITGEN: Hurricane Patricia is down but it certainly isn't out. We're live in Guadalajara with the latest details on a rapidly weakening storm. That's coming up next.

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PLEITGEN: Welcome back, everyone, to our special coverage of Hurricane Patricia, which has now been downgraded to a category 1 hurricane as the storm loses steam over Mexico's mountainous regions.

It hit the country's Pacific Coast on Friday without much warning as a category 5 storm, which, of course, is the fiercest category. Thousands of people have been forced from their homes. Others decided to wait it out.

Mexico's president says, so far, damage has been much less than feared. Mudslides are a main concern as heavy rain continues to fall.

Let's bring in our own John Vause once more for the latest from the ground in Guadalajara in Mexico.

And, John, one of the things that you've been pointing out as the morning progresses is that the sun isn't out yet and it's only then that damage will be assessed.

VAUSE: Yes, exactly, Fred.

And when we look at the storm, it came in a little further south than where it was expected to make landfall, a little further south of Puerto Vallarta and just a bit north of another major city, Manzanillo. And in some ways that could almost be like a Goldilocks path if you'd like.

If it was going to make landfall as the most powerful hurricane ever recorded, that probably wasn't a bad place to come in because it's nearly isolated; there's not a lot of population centers there, Puerto Vallarta, 100,000 or so people there. And a similar situation in Manzanillo as well. So that was the best-case scenario from a very bad situation. But

right now we have to wait and see what the situation will be in those isolated areas. There's a lot of rain which has been dumped on this country, up to a foot in some parts, maybe even more than that, maybe double that in some isolated areas.

And so as you say, there comes the threats of mudslides and landslides as well. And roads being blocked will make it very difficult to get --

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VAUSE: -- into some of those areas. But certainly right now, as we heard from the president, it could have been so much worse, seems to be the cry coming out of Mexico -- Fred.

PLEITGEN: Thank you very much, John Vause there in Guadalajara in Mexico.

Now Hurricane Patricia is also having an impact in the United States, where the state of Texas is experiencing significant rainfall and also significant flooding this morning.

We'll have more on that plus the latest from Mexico's Southwest Coast in just a few moments. Thank you very much for joining us on CNN NEWSROOM this hour. I'm Fred Pleitgen. See you soon.

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CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: Always so grateful for your company. Thanks for starting your morning with us. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Good morning. I'm Victor Blackwell. We welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. And we're starting with the breaking news.

The most powerful hurricane ever recorded is losing some of its punch this morning as it moves inland across Mexico. But do not be deceived here. It is still a large and dangerous storm that poses serious risks to people and property.

PAUL: Think about it, 12 hours after it hit land, it's still a hurricane. And this is what Patricia looks like from space as it made landfall along Mexico's Pacific Coast as a category 5 at the time, the most severe rating.