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Melbourne Breaks the Record of Having the Worst Air Quality; Philippines Taal Volcano Still in Alert Level Four; Queen Elizabeth De-escalates Tensions. 3-3:30a ET

Aired January 14, 2020 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hazardous air in one of Australia's biggest cities. Officials say people in Melbourne were breathing the worst air in the world overnight.

Bracing for the worst in the Philippines. A very active volcano is spewing ash and scientists warn an explosive eruption could be next.

And in the U.K. the queen says the royal family is in a period of transition as they work out how to handle Harry and Meghan's decision to take a step back.

Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN newsroom.

And we begin in Australia where a thick haze is enveloping Melbourne as smoke from the bush fires throughout the city.

Victoria's chief health officer says the air quality was the worst in the world overnight. It's making people cough and wheeze and causing nose, eye and throat irritation.

But there is some good news, the countries expected to get some much- needed rain this week. Officials are hoping this, coupled with the drop in temperatures will help dampen the fires.

CNN's Will Ripley joins me now from Mittagong in New South Wales. Will, some good weather news there but what's the latest on efforts to contain these raging bushfires and what's the assessment of the damage and losses so far?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really touch and go right now, Rosemary. Even though, yes, there is rain in the forecast, the temperatures are noticeably cooler, I can tell you from what we saw out on the ground today, all it takes is for temperatures to spike up just a bit, and if there's a spark or just the right kind of condition and all of a sudden the small fires are just triggered right back again. We actually saw it happened.

And even though most the time fire crews were able to get there in time to put it out, if the wind were to pick up and a spark were to fly, well then you're right back to square one because there's still plenty of fuel on the ground here, and that is of course concerning to firefighters across the state.

Here in New South Wales we know there are 100 fires or more that are still burning right now. Even though firefighters say they have made progress and they're hoping Mother Nature will help them in the coming days.

And of course, the damage estimates are just now starting to pile up, people realizing just how much work lies ahead as they try to rebuild their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: In Wingello, Australia, nobody imagined the fire can move so quickly. The front line was miles away from David Bruggeman's home and store last week.

DAVID BRUGGEMAN, OWNER, WINGELLO VILLAGE STORE: But then we all saw the sky go red and we go, that's not normal. Even the sound of the fire, like a furnace, like a freight train right next to you.

RIPLEY: That familiar sound followed by a terrifying, almost apocalyptic scene. The Morton fire so intense it created its own weather, raining down fiery embers on this village of about 500.

BRUGGEMAN: And it has exploding, fire everywhere and I thought the house is gone for sure.

RIPLEY: That picture you took you thought would be the last few ever took of this place.

BRUGGEMAN: Sure. I say, that's it, it's gone.

RIPLEY: A feeling shared Wingello fire captain Mark Wilson.

MARK WILSON, CAPTAIN, WINGELLO RURAL FIRE SERVICE: It's different when it's your own town. Like, I've been everywhere else, helped everywhere else but the emotions and everything kick and going, yes, this is my house, my friends, my loved ones.

RIPLEY: Wilson's team a volunteer firefighter battled throughout the night.

WILSON: It's a feeling like you're losing. You don't realize how much you have saved until the next day. We saved well over 80 houses that night.

RIPLEY: Even the most seasoned firefighters say it doesn't make sense how a house like this can be standing, the bushes are green, and yet, just a few steps away, everything next door gone. The fire danger is far from over.

WILSON: We've got a fire over at Peter and Simona's.

RIPLEY: As temperatures heat up small fires reignite.

[03:05:03]

How quickly can a small, you know, hot spot turn into a dangerous situation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very easy. Because we still have a lot of unburnt trees in this property, and very quick, especially with little breeze that picks up.

RIPLEY: Here in New South Wales, Australia's hardest-hit state, the fire season is only halfway through.

BRUGGEMAN: With the shop, there's no other shop here and we are center where everything is.

RIPLEY: Bruggeman says he's doing everything he can to help neighbors who have lost everything.

BRUGGEMAN: We thought we should've lost about 50 houses and people dead, no one died, no one injured and we lost a dozen houses but all are taken care of now. It's a miracle. I call it's the miracle of Wingello.

RIPLEY: Nobody knows how long that miracle will last.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: Insurance claims are already starting to pile up. We just learned within the last few hours that more than a billion U.S. dollars in insurance claims have been filed here in Australia and that number undoubtedly going to rise in the coming days and weeks as people get back to their homes and assess the damage.

And Rosemary, talking about that smoke there in Melbourne, we experienced heavy smoke just within the last couple of days here. The wind has now thankfully blown out of the way.

But I'll tell you, there is nothing more exhausting than walking around outside and just breathing in that thick smoke, something that a lot of people here in Australia have been dealing with for the last several months and it really does take a toll.

CHURCH: It certainly does. And birds are actually falling out of trees dying because they just can't take in that sort of level of smoke, and that's in Canberra and other areas of Australia.

Many thanks to you, Will Ripley, joining us from Mittagong in New South Wales.

Well, a rumbling volcano in the Philippines is forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes for safer ground. The Taal Volcano has been spewing ash and steam since Sunday, and with lava now gushing out, officials fear a more violent eruption could be imminent.

They have declared a state of emergency in one province and are urging everyone in high-risk towns around the volcano to evacuate.

So, let's talk more about this, we turn to CNN's Blake Essig who joins us live from Hong Kong. So, Blake, what is the latest information you have on these efforts to evacuate people living near the volcano? And just how many have already been moved out? How many more need to be evacuated?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, at this point, within about a 14-kilometer radius the Philippine government has issued a mandatory evacuation for about half a million people and within about a 17- kilometer radius that number expands into almost a million people.

At this point there's about 18,000 people that are currently in evacuation shelters and the government is urging people who have evacuated to do exactly that, stay evacuated, do not return home.

At this point, well, that is the case, President Duterte is expected to be on -- to be in that affective area within about an hour. Again, at the same time, his government telling anybody in that affective area to get out.

After more than 40 years of relative peace and quiet, Taal Volcano, one of the smallest in the world, started making a whole lot of noise.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We were afraid and in a panic. We are thinking of how we can save our lives.

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ESSIG: It all started Sunday afternoon, about 60 kilometers south of the Philippine capital of Manila, a violent eruption, sending steam, ash and rock. Roughly 15 kilometers into the sky, raining down on the roughly 25 million people like Noelle Suarez living below.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's difficult to get food because it's difficult to move. We cannot use the vehicle, since it's money and we cannot even clean it since there is no water. Almost everything is a problem now, and then you have the volcano spewing again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ESSIG: And after nearly 150 smaller quakes, Philippine officials believe it's going to get worse before it gets better. Nearly half a million residents have been ordered to evacuate immediately, believing another much larger eruption and possible tsunami could be imminent.

(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)

ERIK KLEMETTI, VOLCANOLOGIST: The real hazardous that it has the potential for explosions. (END VOICE CLIP)

ESSIG: That's volcanologist Erik Klemetti. He says that despite Taal's small stature it's one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, a volcano with the deadly past, claiming more than 1,300 lives in 1911 and another 190 in 1965.

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KLEMETTI: For the people living nearby, the combination of explosions and a large population can really -- are the things that volcanologists really hope don't get combined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ESSIG: A combination that could be fatal and has already proven to be destructive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are many destroyed houses. It's almost like a desert there because of the thickness of the mud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ESSIG: Leaving those like Armando Mendoza to wonder what might be left of his community when he returns home, a decision ultimately decided by Taal.

[03:10:05]

CHURCH: And Blake, of course, it is impossible to know when the second massive eruption might occur. It could be weeks. It could be months. And all of these people, thousands of people, maybe tens or even hundreds of thousands, will have their lives put on hold. What is going to happen?

ESSIG: You know, that is a fantastic question. At this point, again, with the fact that the scientists have rated this as a four out of five as far as the scale of concern, that means that a -- another volcanic eruption is imminent.

So, at this point, again, you want to stay away. It's better to be safe than sorry. But again, as you just talked about how long can you put your life on hold, that is a tough question. But again, when you look at those images of that volcano spewing that ash and lava and whatnot, if it's me, I'm staying away.

CHURCH: Absolutely. It is very good advice and that's what people need to continue to do. Blake Essig, thank you so much for bringing us up to date on the situation there.

So, let's turn now to our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri who has been following this very closely. And Pedram, it is so extraordinary, with all of the ability that meteorologists like yourself have predicting weather, predicting some situations like tornadoes and earthquakes, but it's -- it's not possible with volcanic eruptions. Why is that?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, when you're talking geological scale, Rosemary, it become something entirely different, of course, with humans, as you noted, kind of our lives are dated on a day-to-day basis, that is how we kind of perceive things.

But when it comes to volcanoes it is a matter of months, years or centuries in some cases. And of course, with Taal Volcano you've got to go back to the 1570s, that is when records initially began being observe for this particular volcano but it was not until 1754 when we had an eruption that lasted from May of that year through November of that year, that was the most powerful eruption.

And then some 150 plus years elapsed and then in 1911 we had another deadly eruption there, some 1,300 lives lost. It was at that point, Rosemary, that folks actually kind of evacuated that region. There was a dangerous, a threat zone surrounding that lake, Lake Taal, that was placed across this region. That kind of indicated that people should not live across the area.

And of course, some 50 plus years passed, you get to 1965 and at that time period with the law that we saw, people began kind of inching closer towards this particular lake, another nearly 200 lives were lost.

And then you go multiple decades beyond 1977 and you arrive to this past weekend where we had the eruption take place.

So, again, the activity in place, we know the frequency of earthquakes has picked up here in the past several days to 200 or so since the initial eruption, and there is that evacuation zone sits at around 17 kilometers away from the center of the lake.

The population density extreme across this region. We know tens of thousands already evacuated. And then work your way just north of this region, of course you get into Manila metro and points to the north there where over 20 million call home.

So, the threat level sits right at the four as we've noted, one scale below what would be considered a major eruption. So far, the eruption we've had has been steam driven in nature.

The water here, Rosemary, of course, the volcano sitting on top of the water, 1,100 degrees Celsius is the magma temperature, and that interacts with water, we get to steam that essentially forms on contact there.

So, the concern now is that we have violent eruption in the way of having magma ejected towards the population. That's what folks are concerned about here for a level five, potentially, in the next few days.

CHURCH: Yes, absolutely. And that advice stay away for now until this can be figured out.

Pedram Javaheri, many thanks to you. JAVAHERI: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, some news just in to CNN. Several people have reportedly been arrested in Iran over the downing of that Ukrainian airliner last week. A spokesman for the Iranian judiciary tells the Farce News Agency the investigation has begun, but he gave no details on how many were arrested or what their rules might have been.

Also, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says the government is accountable for what happened and he stressed as well those ultimately responsible will be punished.

Meantime, the White House is struggling to provide a clear and consistent rationale for why the U.S. killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Now President Donald Trump is attacking Democrats for questioning why he brought the U.S. to the brink of war.

CNN's Jim Acosta has more now from the White House.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Facing persistent questions about his decision to take out Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, President Trump blasted away at Democrats, with one of his most offensive social media posts yet.

The president retweeted a photoshopped anti-Muslim image showing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in front of an Iranian flag wearing traditional Islamic clothing.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham defended Mr. Trump's swipe doubling down on his false attack.

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STEPHANIE GRISHAM, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think the president is making clear that the Democrats are have been parroting Iranian talking points and almost taking the side of terrorists and those who were out to kill the Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The Trump administration is back to ramping up the rhetoric with Iran with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo standing by the decision to kill Soleimani while warning leaders in Tehran to behave themselves.

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MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: On the military side, we've warned the Iranians repeatedly, done so personally myself, that an attack that took American lives would not be tolerated. If Iran escalates, we will end it on our terms.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Top officials are still struggling to state why Soleimani was

targeted. With the president claiming the administration's explanations have been consistent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think it's been totally consistent but here's what's been consistent. We killed Soleimani, the number one terrorist in the world by every account. Bad person. He killed a lot of Americans. He killed a lot of people. We killed him. And when the Democrats try and defend him, it's a disgrace to our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Defense Secretary Mark Esper wavered on the president's claim that there was an Iranian threat to attack four embassies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ESPER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I didn't see one with regard to four embassies. What I'm saying is, I share the president's view that probably my expectation was they're going to go after our embassies. I'm not going to discuss intelligence matters here on the show. Let me just say --

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: The president did, though.

ESPER: It's the president's prerogative.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCOSTA: Same for national security adviser Robert O'Brien.

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ROBERT O'BRIEN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We know there were threats to American facilities. Now whether they were bases, embassies, you know, it's always hard until the attack happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The president tried to clean it all up with a tweet, insisting the threat by Soleimani was imminent and that his team was in agreement on the decision to strike. Still, State Department officials tell CNN that personnel involved in embassy security were not told about an imminent threat and therefore did not warn embassies.

As demonstrators took to the streets in Iran, protests in Tehran's downing of a Ukrainian airliner, the president issued a warning tweeting, "do not kill your protesters, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free."

Democrats are accusing the president and his team of misleading the public to justify their actions after the fact.

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REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D-VA): Well, I think they making it up as they go along to try to provide cover for the president. I really believe what happened here was, it was not about intelligence, it was about opportunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: As the president left the White House for the college football championship game, he did not offer any new evidence or intelligence pointing to an imminent threat posed by Qasem Soleimani. The president only said that the information coming from the administration has been consistent, but the only consistency has been the inconsistency.

Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: An unprecedented royal summit is over and the details of Prince Harry and Meghan's future are still being worked out. The queen's statement ahead.

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CHURCH: Well Britain's royal family is now in a period of transition after Prince Harry and his wife Meghan's announcement they would be stepping back from their royal duties. Queen Elizabeth convened a crisis summit Monday as a result.

In a statement after the meeting the queen said, and I'm quoting here, "My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan's desire to create a new life as a young family. Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the royal family. We respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family, while remaining a valued part of my family."

Anna Stewart joins us now from London with the details on all of this. And Anna, you know, we look at the careful wording from Queen Elizabeth, going to great pains there to show her support for Harry and Meghan and their decision. What stands out though, in that statement is the fact that she avoids using their titles. What does that mean?

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Yes, it feels like a deeply personal statement. She was like, my family, my grandson, really a lot of warmth there and possibly trying to quell down all of these rumors that there was this huge rift between the Sussexes and the royal family, maybe trying to stop that sort of backlash.

But, you're right. Also, people reading into this the fact she doesn't use titles and she only talks about the Sussexes later in the statement people wondering what that could mean. Could it mean they get stripped of HRH, his and her royal highness, that is a title that's only have been stripped from royals who have divorce out of the family, say, Princess Diana, Sarah Ferguson, Prince Andrew's ex-wife.

Perhaps the couple more will choose to relinquish those titles, but clearly there is a lot more to be done on their future roles. I find it interesting when she said that she would have preferred them to remain full-time working royals.

I think that is trying to also quash all these rumors that they were being frozen out of the royal family. So, line by line, there is a lot to go through in that statement. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Yes, indeed. And of course, it's worth mentioning that BuzzFeed went to great lengths to show 20 headlines comparing Meghan Markle to Kate Middleton saying, this may explain why she and Prince Harry are cutting off royal reporters.

And of course, various headlines there comparing a much softer treatment of Kate compared to how they treat Meghan. But of course, Kate was treated very badly in the beginning as well. We can't forget that, can we?

STEWART: You can't. There is no doubt that Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, have really struggled with the media, but Kate had many negative headlines more in the beginning of her relationship with Harry. You can never forget that awful nick names the tabloids gave her waity Katie, simply because a proposal didn't seem to be forthcoming.

The paparazzi followed her when they had a brief split before they did ended up getting about together and getting engaged. So, she had some difficult times. She never rose to it, though. She went for the royal mantra of never complain never explain.

Now the duke and duchess of Sussex refused to do that. You know, they released statements. They say in interviews about the pressure, now also suing several tabloids.

I also want to say on this story particularly, particularly the beginning, there was a lot of focus on Meghan, on the duchess of Sussex, from her being responsible for this decision to take a step back, much less focused on Harry.

That's possibly shifting. We had hash tag Megxit right at the beginning. This is the Sun on Friday, soon after the story broke "Megs mugged us off." The Sun today, look, it's "Orf you go but one is not amused."

The Daily Mail similar story. The first headline we had on Friday was "Meghan flees to Canada." Today the Daily Mail, "Go, if you must." So perhaps we're seeing a slightly more even treatment. But I'm hoping hash tag Megxit is balanced out by hash tag Harryvederci. What do you think, Rosemary?

CHURCH: There you go. Very good, very, clever. Anna Stewart, thank you so much for joining bringing us up to date there. At least it's nice to see a little bit of a quality when it goes to pointing the finger at people, but anyway, they'll be happier. Many thanks, Anna.

With great power comes great responsibility. Why the White House needs to double check its tweets. That's after the break.

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CHURCH: Well, U.S. President Donald Trump doesn't have the best track record when it comes to being weatherman in chief. Well, now the White House Twitter account is facing online trolls of its own.

Our Jeanne Moos has the latest on the snowy tweet generating lots of heat.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First snow of the year read this White House tweets Sunday. Snow or snow job. What are they on? Temperatures in Washington Sunday reached a high of around 70. First snow?

The response was frightful. People were wearing shorts today in Baltimore. My son asked if we could put on the AC. At the time the White House snow tweet was posted, it's 54 degrees, is there anything you don't lie about? Actually, the snow fell almost a week earlier.

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JAVAHERI: Maybe we'll see some wet snow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: That day the White House first posted its snow shot on Flicker, but when they tweeted it on a Sunday so warm it generated fog, the tweet got roasted. The last time the weatherman in chief got slammed was when the Washington Post reported he used a sharpie to doctor a hurricane map.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These were right here.

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MOOS: Even his description of the weather at his inauguration got cold water poured on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But God look down and he said we're not going to let a rain on your speech.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he didn't. First, it did rain while you are speaking that's why your wife was holding up an umbrella and people behind you were wearing ponchos.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MOOS: Already critics are calling the snow tweet early entry for

stupidest Trump lie of 2020. Our forecast is that they are saying, maybe a 70 percent chance that the White House tweet was posted accidentally.

Maybe someone tweeted an earlier draft, the GOP's rapid response director suggested that hostilities with Iran meant there were more important things to communicate so the White House just save the tweet, or maybe we're just looking at it wrong. What you're actually seeing is the ashes of the Constitution.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

CHURCH: Ouch. Got to tell the truth about the weather. Thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Inside Africa is up next. But first, of course, I'll be back with a check of the headlines. You're watching CNN.

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